Output Devices

So the objective of this week is to get introduced to using output devices. Output devices could be anything that converts a signal recieved from a microcontroller into something sensible, such as a light, motion, representing something on an LCD and many more. There are many output devices in the market that could be used to connect the microcontroller to the outside world. Those output devices could be an LED, a voltage relay,an LCD, a Stepper or Servo motor and many more. Technically everything that allows you to know what is happening inside the circuit or what provides motion to a system. In this section, we will learn on how to use and connect an output device to a microcontroller, and how to use it to produce motion and save data that is collected using sensors from its surrounding.

Group Assinment
The group assginment was to Measure the power consumption of an output device.

An output device is any device used to send data from a computer to another device or user. Most computer data output that is meant for humans is in the form of audio or video. Thus, most output devices used by humans are in these categories. Examples include monitors, projectors, speakers, headphones and printers.

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The main machine used in this week's assignment are the following

• Roland MDX-40 is the Desktop CNC machine used to mill copper boards.
• Tektonix TBS 1052B is the oscilloscope used to observe the operation of the microcontroller circuit board.
• National Instruments VirtualBench was used as a digital oscilloscope to observe and document the operation of the microcontroller circuit board.
• FLUKE 179 was the multimeter used throughout all the process.
• ProsKit SS 207 was the soldering iron used for welding the components.

Measuring the power consumption of an output device

The group assignment is to measure the power consumption of an output device:
We decided to measure the current and power consumption of one of the stepper motors that we used in the Machine Design week.
To do that we used a "Fluke" Amperemeter. As you can mention the current value is 561 mA, knowing that the we are using a battery of 12v.

Power = Tension x Current.
P (W)= 12 (V) x 0.561 (A)
P = 6.732 Watts

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