ECE 4901 Fall 2020 Developing Electrical Systems for Iloo Facility
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ECE 4901 Fall 2020 Developing Electrical Systems for iLoo Facility Team Members: Austin Caracciolo (Electrical Engineering) Tyler Rourke (Electrical Engineering) Rudy Zhang (Electrical Engineering) Sponsor: Richard Davids Contact: [email protected] Advisor: Professor Liang Zhang Contact: [email protected] Abstract: Team 2123 has been tasked with developing a portable toilet, designed with electrical systems that competitors do not have. The components included in the design include a monocrystalline solar panel, charge controller, absorbent glass mat (AGM) battery, inverter, a lighting and ventilation system, a charging station, and a liquid level sensor. This design should work anywhere in the United States as estimates show our design using less energy than it will draw daily. However, this design is constrained by a limited budget, size allocations, and weathering requirements. Overall, our design accounts for all these difficulties and optimizes all aspects based on what we have available. In order to achieve this goal, we worked with the Civil and Environmental Engineering team (CEE), as well as the Management and Engineering for Manufacturing team (MEM). While the CEE and MEM team focused on different parts of the portable toilet, the Electrical and Computer Engineering team (ECE) focused on the electrical aspect of the system. We designed the system to achieve the desired performance, while maintaining structural integrity and keeping in mind the budget constraints. Table of Contents: I. Introduction 5 II. Problem Statement 6 A. Statement of Need 6 B. Preliminary Requirements 6 C. Basic Limitations 6 III. Proposed Approach and Design 8 A. Solar Panel 8 B. Charge Controller 9 C. Battery 9 D. Inverter 10 E. Lighting & Ventilation System 10 F. Charging Station 11 G. Waste Detection System 11 IV. Project Management 12 A. RACI Chart 12 B. GANTT Chart 12 V. Summary 13 References 14 Appendices 15 Figures & Tables: Figure 1: Solar Irradiance Map of the United States[6] Figure 2: Lighting and ventilation[7] Figure 3: Basic Electrical System Block Diagram Figure 4: Arduino and Raspberry Pi connection diagram for liquid sensor Device Estimated Daily Power Usage Lighting System (5 Watts / Hour when 16 Watt-hours active + 1 Watt / “Standby Mode”) Ventilation System (6 Watts / Hour) 144 Watt-hours Charging Station (Three Devices Fully 16.35 Watt-hours Charged) Waste Capacity Sensors 48 Watt-hours Sanitation System 58 Watt-hours Total: 282.35 Watt-hours Table 1: Estimated Daily Power Usage Glossary: AGM Battery Absorbed glass mat battery that contains a special glass mat separator that wicks the electrolyte solution between the battery plates Photoelectric The emission of electrons when electromagnetic radiation, such as light, hits a material to detect the distance from the transmitter Powercap An encasement that holds all of the power system components, such as the charge controller, battery, and inverter PWM Pulse Width Modulation, which allows for the conversion of analog signals to digital Ultrasonic Detection system that uses sound waves above the upper limit of frequencies that can be heard by the human ear Qi Qi is a standard for wireless energy transmission and it aims to standardize wireless charging across all devices the same way Bluetooth standards standardize data transmission across all devices I. Introduction: The purpose of this project is to design and construct a human waste containment system that contains other amenities that similar facilities do not. For the electrical engineering portion of the project, we are tasked with implementing power equipment to create a system that improves the overall user experience. Some of the systems we intend on implementing involve a solar panel charging station for electronic devices, a lighting and ventilation system, and a system to determine when the human waste must be removed from the facility. These facilities are designed with a limited lifespan in mind, specifically one year maximum. It must also be an extremely low cost design with low levels of maintenance and simple construction. We must also be cognizant of the fact that these facilities are intended for use in impoverished communities where they may not have easy access to basic necessities. The facility must act as a reliable space intended for anyone to use. During the design development, some problems our group faces involve making sure our designs receive enough power to act periodically throughout the average day and withstand whatever weather conditions it may be placed in. Some issues also occur like cost management, as well as system complexity. Also, we must work in collaboration with the civil and environmental engineering groups to make sure our designs fit within the constraints of their structure schematics as well as ethical constraints such as environmental sustainability. II. Problem Statement Statement of Need: The overall design specifications of an iLoo toilet make it a cheap alternative to other laboratories and provides unique amenities that others in the market do not. In fact, based on the information provided by the sponsor, the iLoo toilet is expected to cost under $1,000. It requires low maintenance, and has rudimentary assembly and disassembly. The assembly should make it possible to sell a modular design that the consumer can put together easily on their own. However, the main focus for our design project is what iLoo has and the rest of the competition does not: a solar powered charging station and a waste capacity detection system. Similar to UPS trucks, previous designs have been installed with plexiglass ceilings to allow for daylight to illuminate the inside of the portable toilet. However, in order to light up the interior at night, an lighting system needs to be installed. The included lighting system will be a two-in-one lighting and ventilation system. The purpose of the two-in-one system is to encourage simplicity as well as compactness. The ventilation system would allow for active ventilation, and will be paired with ventilation slits for passive ventilation as well. In order to generate the power required to power the LED needs to run overnight, a singular solar panel is required and will be installed on the roof. The solar panel itself is monocrystalline and will be included with the electrical subsystem along with a lithium ion battery. The electrical system will include wiring, a charge controller, absorbed glass mat (AGM) battery, and an inverter. The total power output is estimated to be around 100 watts with operational efficiency at 2-3 amps on a cloudy day. With the remaining power, our other big task is to develop other systems that will make the experience more enjoyable. This may include adding systems that focus on odor removal and sanitization as well as a user detection system. Preliminary Requirements: This project will require us to create a subsystem wiring diagram, load analysis, and estimate the output of the solar panels and storage capacity of the battery. Previous knowledge will be used as well as resources provided by the sponsor and advisor. The internal components of this circuit must be housed in materials that are weather and vandalism resistant. Electrical softwares will be used with past experience and online resources. After a system is designed to meet the basic requirements of a charging station, adequate lighting and ventilation, and a waste capacity sensor, other systems may be added to improve the user experience. Basic Limitations: Based on our conversation with the sponsor, one of the biggest initial limitations involves the size of the solar panel. Depending on the specifications of the civil engineering group’s initial plans for the facility, there may not be enough space for a larger solar panel. Therefore, it is imperative to our design that we coordinate an area in which the solar panel can reside. Also, since our designs will have a finite space to work with, we must optimize the amount of energy we can harness given whatever size solar panel we are able to obtain. Environmental sustainability must be considered when doing the design, and it also has to follow all legal guidelines. The total solar energy generated is another limitation of our system. The amount of energy that we are able to generate for the facility will dictate the amount of electrical systems that can be added. This means that we may not be able to add as many electronics as desired or any power intensive components. Unfortunately this constraint only worsens as we also need to accommodate for varying weather conditions. iLoo toilets may be placed in various locations within the United States or in more rural areas of other countries such as India, as it’s designed to be cheap and consumable. Another area of focus our group needs to keep in mind when selecting components is to focus around cost. Since the average cost of a iLoo facility, at minimum, is about $1,000, we must minimize the cost of the components used while designing the systems. The sponsor did not directly constrain the financials of our portion of the project, however, since these facilities are expected to only last one to two years, we should not use considerably expensive equipment. Not to mention, these facilities may be used in places such as rural areas of the United States and India, so some of our components will be exposed to varying weather conditions. This ultimately means that our components must be specialized to endure various types of conditions and climates with humidity being one of the biggest concerns. As our sponsor had told us, we must keep the prices low and the efficiency high. One big factor that must be considered when making the design of the iLoo is vandalism. Thieving may not be big in every culture, but it is definitely something that is an issue in American culture, as anything expensive left out has a high chance of getting stolen.