11. Applications and Implications¶
Assignment:
- Propose a final project that integrates the range of units covered
What will it do?¶
I’m making a lamp with ultrasonic distance sensor. The lamp has Neopixel strip inside. The colour of Neopixel light is controlled by ultrasonic sensor data; lamp colour is light pink when sensor doesn’t detect anything within 1,5 m distance but closer than that the colour starts to turn deeper red.
The goal is that in the future we can utilize this project with our Mobile Fablab. Students could design their own lamp shade with Inkscape for example according to given dimensions. Or alternatively they could use a picture and make some modifications on that. Depending on the time available for the whole process student could also design the lamp stand. The coding part could also be a part of the project; the lamp could be controlled by a sensor data or a slide switch for example.
Who’s done what beforehand¶
I browsed internet to find some ideas for my final project. The lamp is inspired by Marjo’s lamp shade design and manufacturing process, Alok’s lamp base design and Elena’s idea of using distance sensor to control the lamp. The design of the lamp is going to be something like this.
What will you design?¶
I’m going to make the lamp shade with laser cutter and the lamp stand 3D printer. The lamp stand will have integrated places for PCB, ultrasonic sensor, on/off switch and power jack. All electronics are embedded in a single board. I’ll keep the design fairly simple to make it possible to use the same principles in the Mobile Fablab workshop.
What materials and components will be used?¶
I’m using cardboard for the shade. Our Mobile Fablab lasers are not that powerful so it is more efficient to use cardboard than other materials. The lamp stand is going to be printed using PLA.
Components that I’m going to need for the electronics are ATMEGA328P-PU microcontroller, resonator, resistors, capacitors, spring strain, power jack and Neopixel strip.
The exact components used for circuit board are
-
ATMEGA328P-PU
-
28 pin spring strain
-
XTAL_RESONATOR_16MHz
-
Ultrasonic distance sensor
-
Resistor 1 MΩ
-
Resistor 470 Ω
-
Capacitor 2 x 100 nF
-
8 pin connector
-
2 x 2 pin jumper
Where will materials and components come from?¶
Basic electronics components are from Fab Inventory. I used components available in our Fab Lab in Tampere.
Materials used are cardboard and PLA. Those materials are available in our Fab Lab Tampere.
How much will they cost?¶
Electronics:
Board
| Qty | Description | Price | Pcs | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ATMEGA328P-PU | 1.89 € | 1 | 1.89 € |
| 1 | 28 pin spring strain | 0.90 € | 1 | 1.50 € |
| 1 | resonator | 0.49 € | 1 | 0.49 € |
| 1 | capacitor | 0.10 € | 2 | 0.20 € |
| 1 | resistors | 0.01 € | 2 | 0.02 € |
| 1 | ultrasonic sensor | 5.20 € | 1 | 5.20 € |
| 1 | PCB board | 1.00 € | 1 | 1.00 € |
| total | 10.30 € |
Other:
| Qty | Description | Price | Pcs | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | cardboard | 1.50 € | 1 | 0.20 € |
| 1 | PLA | 2.00 € | 1 | 2.00 € |
| 1 | Neopixel strip | 6.40 € | 1 | 6.40 € |
| 1 | power jack | 1.47 € | 1 | 1.47 € |
| 1 | power supply | 7.95 € | 1 | 7.95 € |
| total | 18.02 € |
All parts make a total cost of 28.32 €.
What parts and systems will be made?¶
Lamp shade is made from cardboard since it is cheap and easy to cut with our Mobile Fablab laser cutters. Lamp stand which holds lamp shade’s front and back part together and has integrated places for electronics is made from PLA. Last part that completes lamp’s functionality is the circuit board. The ultrasonic sensor and the LED strip are connected to a one single board that should fit nicely inside the lamp stand.
What processes will be used?¶
Processes used for the final project are 3D design, laser cutting, 3D printing, electronics design, milling and soldering and embedded programming.
Lampshade design is made using Fusion. In order to convert 3D model into pdf files for laser cutting I’m going to use Slicer for Fusion. With the Slicer add-in I can choose my material thickness and direction for the slicing process. I’m going to slice the model so that I can stack the lamp structure from front side to back side.
The lamp stand is also designed using Fusion. I’m going to integrate all the electronics inside the stand. The stand is going to be 3D printed from PLA filament using Prusa printer.
Electronics design is made using Eagle schematics and board design. The board itself is going to have components listed in the “What materials and components will be used?” section. The 8 pin connector is going to be connected to on/off switch with wires and the switch is connected to power jack. Both on/off switch and power jack have their place in the lamp stand.
Circuit board in going to be milled and components are the soldered to it. The ATMega chip is programmed using Arduino board and Arduino IDE. In the code ultrasonic distance sensor data is mapped to control the neopixel colour based on the data received. The closer the sensed object is, the brighter red the light is going to be.
What questions need to be answered¶
How ultrasonic sensor data is used to control the led colour? How to turn the led colour to red based on the sensor data?
How will it be evaluated?¶
My final project is evaluated based on the functionality of the ultrasonic-neopixel system and lamp 3D design. Neopixel light colour should be determined by object distance sensed by ultrasonic distance sensor. Lamp is turned on/off from the switch. Also lamp shade and electronics should fit into the lamp stand and the stand should hold the shade parts together.