Logan Ranger Energy Management System for a Prosthetic Limb: Work Night 5.2.19

Work Night
Date: 5.2.19
Location: Logan HS
Time: 5:15-7:30 PM
Students: Paige, Caitlin, Austin, Tanner, Seth, Thomas and Alex.
Goal: Continue to test to see which motor configuration gives us the most efficient output and test our new Bluetooth module.

We spent some time on Wed. morning working on the tester and mounting our new smaller Bluetooth module so we did not have to do it tonight. The new module is much smaller than the original one Austin designed which used an Arduino Uno. We are not using an Arduino Nano which gives us the same functionality and is 75% smaller which helps us with the over all scale of the electronics. Austin did a nice job designing and programming this.

During the work night we had to first troubleshoot a generator problem as one generator was not operating properly. Our output was confusing which led us to figuring out it was incorrectly wired into a terminal block. We relabeled the terminals so that would not occur again. Part of the problem with all the testing we are doing is nothing is permanent yet. This meaning we are moving components around in testing to see which ones give the the most efficient charging combination. Once we have that combination down, we can permanently label and connect the components.

We started testing with the 12 V generators under load. The idea is to run up the charging circuit while under load, see how it performs and collect data as we do that. Right now it appears the 18 V generators give us the best output although we still want to try one 12 V generator with a 18 V generator. The method is the same for each set of generators we test and an oscilloscope is a key to measuring that output. Alex, Thomas and Austin worked on this.

Paige also spent some time working on the EurekaFest Powerpoint. Seth and Tanner worked on our next generation harvesting system conceptual drawing. This is just a concept on how we could improve the mechanical design. We will not have time to fabricate it, but is could be a next step.

The highlight of the night was testing the new Bluetooth module. This would be the first time we installed it in the charging system. It had been bench tested to simulate functionality but you never know what will happen until you install it in the system. We started the heel strike simulator and within 13 seconds the Bluetooth module had enough electricity to kick on and start showing voltage readings! This was faster than expected. We also got some baseline data on how long we can maintain the reading and how much the Bluetooth mod drains from the capacitor storage. We have it programmed to sample a voltage and go into sleep mode so it does not continue to drain electrical storage. Caitlin worked more on the App interface to clean it up and make it look presentable.

Next week we start to paint the tester and do more work on the Provisional Patent.