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Outputs
Scheduled:
Work
Planned Work: (Requirements are ordered by due date)
Designing and interfacing the mechanical parts that will carry and move the PV system.
Will involve 3D design.
Designed a connection diagram between electronic components using fitzring and added it to milestone report 2.
feedback on mechanical design, and ideas, as well as sourcing of mechanical parts
Worked with Daniel on Mechanical design for the micromanipulators and for the gimbal. He was on Sketchup, and I was drawing on paper and thinking about more solid structures for the gimbal, shapes. And the profile for the Micromanipulators.
I gave feedback to Daniel on the design of the micromanipulator. I posted on Forum and on the working doc.
https://groups.google.com/d/topic/pv-characterization-project-forum/kQo1QDtAenI/discussion
I did some work with Daniel on the design of the micromanipulator. I suggested a new design of the rails. Daniel mentioned my contribution on the Forum.
https://groups.google.com/d/topic/pv-characterization-project-forum/kQo1QDtAenI/discussion
We also discussed set screws for adjusting the micromanipulator for 3D printing errors, to relax the requirement on tolerance.
Discussions during the Hackathon about mechanical design. We also had a discussion about the orientation of the Gimbal. some other discussions about the micromanipulator.
Choosing, sourcing parts (motors, motor driver, Arbuino, Limit switches, electrical connections, ...) and describing how they are connected together.
Motor selection and shopping
Performed some outreach and helped defining a way the BLDC motors could be driven using ESCs and a dedicated power supply.
Emphasized a possible caveat of using stepper motor together with a control loop system. Proposed an alternative with regular DC motors https://groups.google.com/forum/#!category-topic/pv-characterization-project-forum/control-system/bnJLMI1czgc
Calculated torque needed for motors and found stepper motor and drivers
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hytLn5PmsUcz4aPx9dcKzZ70zfBq_Vlh4PgTFrKelmY/edit#heading=h.15s5vwyl4o2b
Helped Tibi with the choice of Motors and Limit switches. Also gave other advice.
During the hackathon, I communicated with Adam to suggest motors and limit switches. I reviewed the Bill of materials.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1WtMcgn96mZZbb8nZ14ywIjrIZ6MPW5pc8zmueae0IqY/edit#gid=1472514798
Further define the functions of the arduino software component for the PV device
redesigned and printed the micromanipulator. Changed the 3D printed rail design to slots and V-grooves for stainless steel precision rods (2mm diameter) and solved the wavelling and tolerances problems. Micromanipulators are ready
redesigned and printed the micromanipulator. Changed the 3D printed rail design to slots and V-grooves for stainless steel precision rods (2mm diameter) and solved the wavelling and tolerances problems. Micromanipulators are ready
Built communications protocol and working software prototype.
Code is here:
https://github.com/Sensorica/PVCharacterization
Discussed with Ahmed about the SW architecture and the role of each components within the project. Working toward a solid consensual architecture before starting to implement the firmware.
Proposed additional functions to be implemented in the firmware. Those functions would map the driver's API.
Provided some input for the software working document with the newly adopted design (hemisphere + IMU + control loop). Presented an old project of mine that uses Python, Glade, Gtk and matplotlib so that the team working on the UI can see a working example of the technology we have chosen.
Review and add to design document
Created description and visual flow of basic UX that was added to the design document.
-Adding command types for PV software functions
-Rearanged PV software functions
- Added Flowcharts (i.e. set speed, setstep, get position)
- updated flowcharts (i.e. processing, GoTo, GoHome, GoRelative)
- Added PV software functions (i.e. single scan, double scan)
Worked with Tibi on the UX/UI. We went through some motion control software to see examples of UIs and to understand how this device would be used in the academic environment. I am going to produce a preliminary design.
Worked with Maria on the UX/UI. We went through some motion control software to see examples of UIs and to understand how this device would be used in the academic environment. Maria is going to produce a preliminary design.
- Suggested parameters to API functions
- Added some API functions
- Added Flowcharts for implementating API function using Low Level functions (i.e. GoTo, GoHome, GoRelative)
- Updated Wait State Flowchart
- Updated state machine diagram
- Added Process flowchart
- Added Control motor flowchart
- Added to the low level functions.
- Started adding basic structures, state diagrams and flow charts.
This is a process for considering design characteristics for the electronics layer of the product.
If this process if the product doesn't have any electronic components.
The output of this process is a design file.
Designing or selecting the right power sources for chosen actuators. Designing or selecting the right electrical interfaces for all devices in the system.
Designing or choosing circuitry for running chosen actuators in manner compliant with needs of the project.
This is a process for considering design characteristics for the mechanical layer of the product.
If this process if the product doesn't have any mechanical components.
The output of this process is a design file.
I 3D modelled the Gimbal parts for 3D printing last Friday and finished them today. After trying fancier design, I decided to keep them simple to make them easily editable and easily 3D printable. These are the main priorities after all. Here is the link https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model.html?id=u8af24f9a-439b-421b-8f5a-7a6e0eef41b7 . Ideally, it should be printed in black Nylon: black to absorb light and Nylon because it's stiffer and more durable. Right now I'm 3D printing the main L-shaped bracket between the 2 motors, in PLA-PHA witch is softer. I'll test it to see how much weight it can handle before it starts bending, so if it passes the PLA-PHA test it should be good in Nylon, but also people can print it in any material they have at hand...
Sorry I have mistaken Nylon, I meant PMMA
Gave feedback for the Gimbal and for the Manipulators mechanical design.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hytLn5PmsUcz4aPx9dcKzZ70zfBq_Vlh4PgTFrKelmY/edit#heading=h.gogjw2fc4g57
Communicated and invited others on Forum
https://groups.google.com/d/topic/pv-characterization-project-forum/ESwdzBUTnUg/discussion
I modelled the 3D printable Clamping mechanism for the PV gimbal, I shared it here https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model.html?id=u7b1f5388-1803-4cd8-b519-8f2303729f63 , please provide some feedback, I will start to 3D print this soon for testing
Brainstormed with Tibi and Jim for motor selection and came up with the idea of the omni wheel spherical drive.
Brainstormed with Jim and Abran for motor selection and came up with the idea of the omni wheel spherical drive.
Did some more 3D modelling on the Spherical Drive Gimball (find it here https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/user.html?id=1554342033592517832346042 ), but I had the feeling it's going to make things complicated and I'm not sure of the precision and stability. I decided to design a Plan B with the same simple principle of tilt and rotation than ''the Ball'' but with 2 motors and worm gears (also in the link above). Also finished one version of the micromanipulator here https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model.html?id=ube5506b4-9ce2-4106-83d7-18c604b062b8
Time modelling the ideas of spherical drive system Gimball for simulating the movements and possibilities. Spent more time talking about it but..
Brainstormed with Tibi and Abran for motor selection and came up with the idea of the omni wheel spherical drive.
did some 3D modelling on the new spherical drive gimbals idea, to see how things mount together and if it's possible and/or viable.
Noticed some problems with this principle and designed a simplified non-spherical version that, in my opinion should be the one to adopt, because it's more compact than the Ball (less 3D printing volume required), there are no shadows from motors or gimbals and the motion through all the experiment is easy to program.
I also designed a more compact low profile 3D printable micromanipulator witch will be the one to use for the experiment and can be used in many other experiments.
did some 3D modelling exploring motors, gimbals, micromanipulators and sample holder shapes and sizes to figure out how to fit everything in 1² foot space, how it would tilt and pitch, how shadows are projected, etc. Found an idea for smaller low profile micromanipulators and started designing them. I documented this idea on the main document Electro-Mechanical Design Considerations. I also shared my designs on the 3D warehouse and Thingiverse and did some outreach trying to attract scientists from Thingiverse that liked and collected my 3D printable micromanipulator. https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model.html?id=u741cce04-f44d-4dd2-93b7-8a16d74b671a , http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:923865 Ex: see this guy: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:239105/#comments
I did some 3D design on the XYZ micromanipulator for 3D printing, most of it last saturday and some of it yesterday `(sunday) This is exploration work because the client expressed some need for xyz precision and pointed us to one existing 3D printable XYZ micromanipulator, I also shared it on the Forum, 3D Warehouse and Thingiverse. I will design other possible and more compact micromanipulators but for 3D printable 3 axis of precision this one is as good as it can get.
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:923865/#files
Created table for dimensions, mass etc for quantifying load on actuators. Filled in value where possible using industry standard materials as samples.
- write stepper motor driver describtions, Pros, & Cons
- Adding components (driver board)
- Numbering all components in tables
- Create Voting table
Basic steps for creating a Pi-Top
- added information about Adafruit 10-DOF IMU
- reading technical characteristics of several components to vote for them
- updated the voting table
- Adding wireless charger section
Map out and bring to a consensus the different options for software design.
Forked the Github repo from the Sensorica account and started documenting the work that has been already done. Structured the project directory in meaningful components. My fork can be found here: https://github.com/tvanesse/PVCharacterization
Provided an architecture based on web technologies and identified 3 reasonable options based on the comments found in the working document. Put those options into drawings in order to have a practical baseline for the upcoming team meetings.
Met with Tibi and Daniel and went through hardware concept.
Began putting together categories of interactions and thinking about how to organise UI.
Further mined possibilities for different languages, toolkits and workflows for linux software development. Installed Linux Scientific on a laptop at the lab along with GTK+ toolkit, GtkBuilder and Glade. Updated software design document:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/13aMb15V1RCU8sqTs2lZizhHe6nZX07mYSGQx92iy8l8/edit?usp=sharing
Reviewed and listed options for linux distributions and programming options for software development in the linux environment. Added to the document.
Give some feedback on work.
Researched and assessed various options to implement a live 3D rendering of the stage in the application window
Sourced GTK+ API software development references
Gave some feedback to Ahmed. I responded to some questions in the doc, in comments, and I entered Parameters in the table of functions, as suggested by Ahmed
Ideated and defined software requirements and developer guidelines (social) in the software design document
Process context:
Pattern:
Intellectual - Design
Context: PV characterization
Order:
Work order 164 for R&D plan for PV characterization due: 2015-07-12
Previous processes:
Next processes:
Process notes:
NOTE: you need to create specific design processes here (Design electronic, mechanical, optical, software or other)
This design stage focuses on the product itself and feeds on the Design considerations stage. Designs can be of multiple types: mechanical, electronic, optical/photonic, etc. Designs are Resources in the NRP-VAS system, and are represented by some sort of design file: a sketch, a CAD file, link to a software repository, etc.
INPUT: all from Ideation and Design considerations
OUTPUT: product design - file(s), can be multiple
Distinguish 2 levels of design at this stage:
1- System Level Design: Definition of product architecture, decomposition into subsystems and components, and preliminary design of key components. Plans for the production system and final assembly; Outputs: Geometric Layout of the product, a functional specification of each subsystems, and a preliminary process flow diagram for the final assembly process.
2- Detail Design: Complete specification of geometry, materials, tolerance of all unique parts; identification of all the standard parts to be purchased from suppliers. Process plan established and tooling designed for each fabricated part within the production system. Outputs: Control Documentation for the product - drawings or computer files describing the geometry of each part and its production tooling, specs of purchased parts and the process plan for fabrication and assembly. Three Critical issues: Materials Selection; production cost; and robust performance.
Desired design characteristics
* Shareable (the sharing economy)
* Modular (perpetual products and customizable) - see this link about a specific effort to define a standard for scientific parts.
* Interoperable (standards)
* Socializable (offer value through social interactions and communities)
* Sustainable
See product design philosophy doc
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1EbfyREvQKAtkdz24_NVzosf4f5t6WatMPy5mDsbD0PA/edit#heading=h.k03aelklyu2x