Hi everyone, this is my last and final blog for the module CP5070: Chemical product design & development. Or CPDD.
This is about Project Development which is the development of my group's project.
In this page, I will:
1. Briefly describe my team chemical device
2. Show how the team planned, allocated the tasks, and executed the project.
3. Document the entire design and build process of the chemical device and
include videos, pictures, and screen captures of the processes.
4. Include “Hero shot” of every milestone of the processes, example the part A
that was 3D printed, part B that was laser-cut, electronics components
moved/worked according to the program. Hero-shot is taken with the person-
in-charge holding/working/making the parts.
5. Include the name of the person who was in-charge of every part of the project.
6. Document my individual contribution to this project.
7. Provide the link to the page of the blog of my teammates.
8. Describe problems encountered and how the team solved them.
9. Include all the project design files as downloadable files.
10. Embed the final prototype design file, i.e., the final fusion360 design file
showing the entire prototype.
11. Type my Learning reflection on the overall project development
1. Our team chemical device.
So to briefly describe what my team chemical device, it is a alcohol interlocking system.
Or to put it short and simple it is a breath analyser
To elaborate it is an alcohol detector which detects alcohol in the surrounding air and activates a motor to perform an action
Our needs statement is.
Drivers need a device that prevents them from driving their vehicles upon detecting 35 mg or a higher amount of alcohol per 100 mg of breath surrounding air at the driver’s seat which exceeds legal limits (35 mg of alcohol per 100 ml of breath) to drive, because around 30% of car accidents are associated with drunk drivers
We want to solve this issue, so we came up with a breath analyser to solve the problem of drunk drivers.
The problem that it would solve is lesser and fewer accidents. We also want to prevent drivers from driving their vehicles in the first place when they are drunk.
How it works
It detects high amount or concentration of alcohol in the surrounding air and the system activates a stepper motor to turn a box to cover the accelerator pedal preventing the car from moving.
The LCD screen would read "DRUNK" when the alcohol sensor detects a valve above "300" While the LCD displays "DRUNK", the Arduino would tell the motor to turn, which would turn the box/cover to cover the accelerator pedal.
Only when the alcohol sensors detects no more alcohol in the surrounding air, then the LCD will read "SOBER" and the motor would move in the reserve way and the box/cover would be remove from the accelerator pedal.
As for the system
that prevents driver from moving the vehicle, when alcohol is detected as soon as the engine is started and it would cover the accelerator pedal. This system will prevent driver from moving off. This prevents the chances of drunk driving as the driver is not allowed
to drive when he is drunk.
By
using this chemical device, it will solve issues of the people from drinking
while driving. When the alcohol sensor detects alcohol from the driver, the box/cover will prevent the driver from touching the accelerator pedal and thus prevent him/her from driving. As such, this will
reduce the number of accidents on the road. This chemical device promotes road
safety.
Something unique about it is that it is
Automated
- Drunk user does not need to operate the product.
- They are drunk so operating it themselves will have flaws and complications involve
Reliable
- Breath analyser is always working
- It would be on once the car is turn on
Safe
- It only activates when the car is not in motion.
- It is unsafe for the box to suddenly cover the accelerator pedal when the car is in motion.
- So our team decided to have the device on work when the car in stationary.
Compact
- It fits almost perfectly into a car
- it is also customisable for every car. This is because every car is different from each other. Especially the accelerator pedal. So for each model of car there would be a different size box.
- No awkward extruding parts that would hinder the drivers ability to drive.
Affordable.
- It is cheap so that everyone can afford it.
- It has to be in every car, or every driver has to have it in their car, so it is cheap for everyone
- This makes so there is no exclusivity too.
This is a hand draw picture of our basic design. There are some computer annotations to show the parts.
2. Team planning, allocation and execution
Shaira --> CEO (Chief Executive Officer)
Alex --> COO (Chief Operating Officer)
Ryan --> CFO (Chief Financial Officer)
Sanjana --> CSO (Chief Safety Officer)
Our team's BOM (Bill of Materials)
Our team's Gantt chart
Project Activity or Task | Duration | Preceding Activity |
A: Discuss specifications of the parts of the breath analyser | 4 days | Nil |
B: Basis Design of the breath analyser | 4 days | Nil |
C: Complete designing the parts of the breath analyser that has to be 3D printed | 7 days | A, B |
D: Complete designing the parts of the breath analyser that has to be laser cut | 3 days | A,B |
E: Use the 3D printer to 3D print the required parts | 6 days | C |
F: Use the laser cutter to cut the required parts | 5 days | D |
G: Source for components of the breath analyser | 1 days | nil |
H: Obtain approval of the Bill of Materials (BOM) | 3 days | G |
I: Collect available components from the laboratory (W319) | 1 day | H |
J: Coding the Arduino | 15 days | A,B |
K: Device assembly | 5 days | E,F,H,J |
L: Prototyping and troubleshooting | 2 days | K |
Final design sketch of our design on computer
3. Design and Build Process
Part 1: Design of the Gear and Chain via AutoCad Fusion360 (Done by Alex)
Link to Alex's blog: https://cp5070-2022-2b01-group2-alex.blogspot.com/2023/02/project-development-documentation.html
Part 2: 3D Printing of the Gears and Chain (Done by Alex and Ryan)
Since I helped with the printing phrase, let me share with you guys about my experience about it and what I did. :))
It was actually very simple first. I just had to convert the files from fusion360 to STL files. Next is to open CURA and slice the files there. After that is to convert the files to either gcode or ufp. This is because our group wanted to try to use both ultimaker and ender-3 printers.
Below are some of the designs we had
Here is a picture of me slicing the gears
Once the file is in the thumb drive. We just had to setup the printer and print.
Thats was the hard part, as I had to come to school at 6.30am just to queue for the printers. Furthermore, I was still 3rd to arrive. We also had to preheat the filament (PLA) and make sure extrusion is smooth and acceptable.
Only then can we start printing. It was very relieving and satisfying to see it print
Here some pictures of the gear and chain printing.
It was fun and engaing. Even though it took like 2hours to print 1 part, I use the time to help Alex to design and prepare for the next one. This is important as sometimes we notices things what we could improve and change.
After Printing, since we printed with a base and support we had to remove the parts that we actually needed. This was very tiring especially for the chain parts. As there are very small.
I
even took a filer and sandpaper just to file down the gears and chain
to make it look nicer and smoother. This is important for the chain.
This is because there are moving parts, so we need to make sure they can
move smoothly.
It took me and alex hours and days just to sand down each chain links.
But even though it was painful and exhuasting. The end result of a satisfying chain was totally worth it
Overall, it was a interesting and unique experience.
Part 3: Programming of motor, LCD, alcohol sensor and Arduino. (Done by Shaira)
Link to Shaira's blog https://shaira214.wixsite.com/cp5070-2022-2b01-gro/post/project-development
Part 4: Design and Build of the acrylic box (Done by Sanjana)
Link to Sanjana's Blog: https://raghuramansanjana.wixsite.com/cp5070-2b01-sanjana/post/project-development
Part 5: Integration of all parts and electronics (Done by Shaira)
Link to Shaira's blog https://shaira214.wixsite.com/cp5070-2022-2b01-gro/post/project-development
Final design of our GROUP'S prototype
Embed of finalise design
Embed of the chain links in fusion360 (Separately)
Embed of the chain links in fusion360 (Together)
Embed of the smaller gear in fusion360
Embed of the bigger gear in fusion360
Embed of the box (separately)
Embed of the box (together)
Embed of all the parts (i added a motor to show where the driver gear is, so just ignore the motor)
Video of the device working
4. Problems and solutions.
In this section I will describe the problems encountered in the design and build process and
how the team solved them
Problems are always annoying. These are some problems that we have faced but we overcame it as a group
1. When our group was designing the gear and chain, we did not know how to start. As we had a lot of questions and doubts. For example: "How was each teeth going to fit into the hole of the chain ?".
This got us confuse for awhile. There was also some terms in the fusion360 that we were unsure. For example "root fillet radius and module"
2. Our codes were not working.
3. Our 12V stepper motor stopped working at the last minute.
Solution. We use the 5V servo motor and research new codes that were compatible with it . We keep trying and trying until we got the desired outcome.
4. During the laser cutting design, we forgot to account for the thickness of the acrylic while making the dimensions.This causes the top piece of the box to be misaligned with the rest of the pieces. It was so annoying and irritating to see it. Furthermore, we didn't had much time and had to re-book to re-cut the part.
It also didn't look nice and cause a lot of PSTD
Solution: This was actually an easy fix. We just had to re-cut the top of the box with the modified dimensions that we took. And it fits perfectly.!!!!!
5. During the integration al the parts and electronics together, we realise that the stepper motor didn't had enough power to turn the gear and the chain. This is because our chain was too heavy for our motor. This causes the gear to not spin at all
We were actually shock with how heavy the chain was.
There is a picture of the chain below. Every piece was so small but the entire chain was heavy, due to the large number of parts
As all the chain parts were so light. But when they were put together the weight really added up.
Solution: So instead of having 2 gears and a chain. We removed the chain and used a gear system with 3 gears
5. Project design files and downloadable files.
Here is the link the the drive with all the files we did
https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/1WZT2Syntra2GF_2_FU-Rq1du_qYpwNsz
6. Below is my learning reflection on the overall Project Development.
This project has been ups ad downs for me and my group. Personally, I felt our group did things at the last minute. From the planning to the designing, to the researching and even the "DOING" part we all procrastinated till the very last moment. For this project, we did a lot of
things such as designing prototype using CAD Fusion360 and printing it
out using 3D printer and laser cutting the steering wheel. In addition, we had to use past skillets like laser cutting and Arduino programming.These were tough for me to remember especially Arduino Programming. I had mention in the past blogs e.g. Arduino, that I out right hated it. That is why I didn't really help with it till the very last moment. I also, just help to research the code and not type / trial and error it.
Apart from hands-on skills we also applied soft skills from ICPD. I
would say it is not easy to build a breath-analyzer in a short semester
because not only it was our first time building a smart device, our group was confuse on how to proceed / begin. We didn't really had a raw idea to start out with. To add on things not going as to plan on the way particularly the final part. This made us both frustrated and annoyed.
But we just went back to BRIGHTSPACE and referred from there. An example is the Arduino programming, we
learnt in tutorial was important and our group forgotten already so we just refereed. However, it was not sufficient to meet our objective so what we
did was to do a lot of research and find resources and videos that could
potentially help us to make our breathanalyser works.
We tried the
codes on our circuit and see if it works, if not we improvise the codes
so that it meets the objective. We tried and tried day and night non-stop. For me personally, I keep watching videos on youtube and tried to learn. I even contacted very suspicious people and click on very suspicious links just for the answers. But sadly all didn't work. We had to do by ourselves and it is all trial and error.
What we learned
from this experience is that it is important to have growth mindset and
perseverance because we would not have come this far without that
mindset. When met with challenges, instead of giving up, we always try
again and encourage one another that it can work. We kept encouraging each other and telling each other that this would work (but it wouldn't) Once it work for example the LCD and the alcohol sensor together, we were so delighted and excited.
For
every class or practical session, we always set a goal to finish by the
end of the day so that things are going according to our plan. However, it was abit hard to meet the target at the start as it was just researching. Though it sounds easy to do research but when non of the sketches for the chain work or the code for arduino work, it was so frustrating and annoying.
In
conclusion, even though we learned a lot of technical skills, we also
learned a lot of soft skills such as communication. Communication is key
and, in our team, we respect and listen to one another opinion so that
no one is left out. During the process, we also find out about the
working style of each member, so we know the strength and weakness of
one another.We always try to help each other. I wasn't good at coding and hated it so Shaira helped me do it while I just spam her with codes that might work. Sanjana did laser cutting while me and Alex design and printed the gears.
At the last 3 days before the presentation our code actually failed. We all scrambled to fixed it. We did it through the Weekend and weekend nights. I stayed up till 2 am on Sat and 1 am on SUn to do it. But Alex and Shaira stayed till 4am on Sun, and still gave their best during the presentation. I am so happy to have these great group members.
Overall, it was a
fun and fruitful experience that I am glad we are part of.
This concludes for my blog.
This is the last part for my CPDD blog and it is the end.
It was interesting and special but it ends now :)
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