Solar Poweroptimized Cart
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Solar PowerOptimized Cart (SPOC) Senior Design Project Documentation Due: December 2, 2013 Group #28 Members: Jacob Bitterman Cameron Boozarjomehri William Ellett Table of contents 1. Executive Summary 2. Project Description 2.1. Motivation 2.2. Goals 2.3. Objectives 2.4. Project Requirements and Specifications 2.5. Limitations 3. Research related to Project Definition 3.1. Existing Similar Projects and Products 3.2. Relevant Technologies 3.3. Strategic Components 3.3.1. Cart 3.3.2. Microcontroller 3.3.3. User Interface 3.3.4. Battery 3.3.5. Solar Array 3.4. Possible Architectures and Related Diagrams 3.4.1. Solar Array Architecture 3.4.2. Motor, Battery, Micro Controller Integration 3.4.3. Electrical Integration of Battery, Cart, Panels, and UI 3.4.4. User Interface Layout 4. Project Hardware and Software Design Details 4.1. Initial Design Architecture and Related Diagrams 4.2. Solar Array Subsystem 4.3. Cart Subsystem 4.4. Power Subsystem 4.5. User Interface Subsystem 5. Design Summary of Hardware and Software 5.1. Solar Cell Charge System 5.2. Battery Motor Integration 5.3. Sensor Integration 5.4. User Interface 5.4.1. Hardware components 5.4.2. Software I/O 5.5. Vehicle Mode Modeling 6. Project Prototype Construction and Coding 6.1. Part Acquisition and Bill of Materials 6.2. PCB Vendor and Assembly 6.3. Final Coding Plan 6.3.1. Eco System 6.3.2. Performance System 6.3.3. User Interface 6.3.4. Vehicle Monitoring Integration 7. Project Prototype Testing 7.1. Hardware Test Environment 7.2. Hardware Specific Testing 7.3. Software Test Environment 7.4. Software Specific Testing 8. Administrative Content 8.1. Milestone Discussion 8.2. Budget and Finance Discussion 8.2.1. Outside Funding 8.2.2. Personal Contributions 8.2.3. Personal thanks to Duke Appendices Appendix A Bibliography 1. Executive Summary This project sprang out of a desire to create an electrically powered cheap, efficient, and clean method of transportation for use over short to moderate distances. Many products currently exist that achieve the goal of electric transportation, but comparatively few of these use solar energy to help generate this electric fuel. Solar energy can be entirely sustainable, which has several advantages to the user and the environment. Solar power offers a cheaper alternative for the user, while also reducing the reliance on coal-based power plants. In addition, the overall cleanliness of the transportation is dependent on the electric generation methods in place within the community. The primary objective of this project is the creation of a solar-assisted electric cart capable of recharging its own batteries via the sun’s rays. This objective includes several sub- objectives that depend partially on efficient use of funds. The clearest method of evaluating the completion of the primary objective is by the range of the vehicle, the distance that it can travel without requiring additional conventional recharges via electric outlet. This range will be affected by a number of other attributes, such as solar cell efficiency, electrical system design, multi-mode operation, as well as the quality of the parts in use by the vehicle. While maintaining a financially feasible design for our team’s funding, the design will optimize all of these factors within the cart. Designing and building a vehicle like this could have a powerful impact on the way consumers in America get from place to place, particularly in large cities or other close- packed communities. The large majority of commuters are wasting gas and clogging roads with excessively large vehicles to transport a single person to and from their various destinations. A cart sized platform would minimize energy waste while maximizing space in our cities. Such densely populated locations would benefit tremendously from a practical and efficient cart design. The solar cells would allow for charging without the cost of additional infrastructure, and the small size of the vehicle would aid in increasing the efficient use of our limited transportation networks. With such a complicated design, it is necessary to set specific milestones to ensure continuous progress. Each stage on the project timeline will be discussed in greater detail in Section 8. These stages will individually come together to help achieve the most important goals of the design. The primary goals that this project hopes to achieve are as follows: environmental sustainability, market feasibility for a maximum number of viable consumers, power optimization for increased range, and financial minimization to stay within our desired budget. For each timeline stage that is reached, the project will be one step closer to maximum achievement of the previously listed goals. 2. Project Description 1 of 76 2.1 Motivation We look to the future and hold ourselves responsible to the generation that we will leave behind. As innovators, we desire to progress and advance the human condition; America’s history of practical innovation still runs deep within our academic culture. For centuries, mankind has sought ways to find comfort, security, and convenience. In the recent past, our gaze has turned to the environment that we live in; our carelessness has brought pollution and a rapid depletion of resources to the earth. Our motivation comes from a desire to leave this world better than we found it. Our team has desired to confront a series of problems common to cities across the globe. For centuries, cities have struggled with pollution, and they still do. Since the invention of the internal combustion engine, global urban air environments have grown thick, dirty, and unhealthy. In the past 50 years, we have started to do something about it, but there is still so much work to do. Gasoline-based engines still exist as our primary source of transportation. The development of electric cars has come along way, and that is likely the way of our future. Right now though, electric cars still rely on the power of fossil fuels; improvements and innovation are continually necessary to reach a better, cleaner, and more sustainable status quo. Transportation in America has become terribly inefficient, specifically within densely populated regions. Americans live with privilege and prosperity, but this has created unnecessary issues in our transportation systems. We transport 100 people within a city in a little less than 100 cars, trucks, or vans. The design of our streets and the dense population of the city does not allow for this ratio of people to cars. There are two obvious solutions: maximize the number of people of per vehicle or minimize the “footprint” of the personal transportation. The advantage of this second solution relates to the individual autonomy of private transport that Americans strongly cling to. Our team has decided to approach the issue of inefficient inner-city transport from this “small vehicle” approach. Lastly, the rising cost of fuel has placed financial pressure on individuals to turn-away from the “traditional” gasoline-fed car. This financial pressure is a game-changing motivation for our country and our world to seek new solutions. our team seeks to address these issues and provide a feasible alternative for the cities of the world. Our whole approach to the following design is to create a personal transport that will drastically reduce pollution, alleviate common inner-city gridlock, and pull us away from our dependence on foreign non-renewable resources. We desire to leave this world better than we found it for future generations to enjoy. 2.2 Goals To the above stated issues and problems, our design reaches out to provide solutions that are feasible and affordable to many. We seek to harness the energy of alternative and renewable resources while responsibly optimizing the use of that power for specific applications. An environmentally conscious and user compatible Solar Power Optimized 2 of 76 Cart (SPOC) offers positive answers to questions that need answering in our commuter- focused transportation world. Even with its current limitations, solar energy is a very strong answer to several problems facing America at the moment. Solar energy is accessible to all and functional in so many applications. Solar-powered components are incomparably cleaner than their gasoline- powered counterparts, reducing the dangerous effects of exhaust, carbon monoxide, and hydrocarbon-based pollution. Solar power is cheap and obviously renewable, whereas gasoline has become cripplingly expensive and hard to acquire with domestic regulation and foreign conflict in the Middle East. Although solar tech has struggles to provide adequate power for larger transportation vehicles, there are many smaller scale applications, which naturally fits with a cart-sized platform. Using a cart-sized platform provides transportation at a fraction of the footprint of modern sedans. Cutting the size of the vehicle will maximize traffic flow and power usage from the cart’s batteries and solar cell arrays. Retaining the autonomy of a personal transport while maximizing the efficient use of space on the roadways. With inner-city transport, most of the distances covered are less than 5 miles. A solar-powered cart can provide the necessary transportation with minimized traffic. Our design seeks to provide a simple and maintenance-minimized vehicle for the busy commuter. Whereas current electric vehicles need frequent recharging, our designed SPOC could be sustained with solar energy for most short distance inner-city commuting. Most electric cars are too expensive for the average consumer; our condensed and simplistic model SPOC would be inexpensive to purchase and to maintain for most potential users. Our designs seek to meet several goals: sustainability, market feasibility, power optimization, and finance minimization. The SPOC of the future will drive quietly and require minimal cost or maintenance. It will be pollution free and run on clean solar energy.