This week’s accomplishments
- Completed the design for the machine’s power management board, which consists of an LDO circuit designed to step down 24V to 6V to power the kettle.
- Generated Gerber files, requested quotes from 3 different PCB providers, and selected JLCPCB due to being the least expensive while also offering the shortest lead time of 5-6 days. Data can be found here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/15BCF3_eEoubYMkufdoqFnto1L8tyWGwUIG01x7TnPSQ/edit#gid=2086984501
- Lastly, attended the design presentations and provided feedback to other teams. I also took in some of the audience’s feedback, both for our own and for other teams, to see if there was anything that could help in our project.
Next Week’s Deliverables
- The part that is missing for the custom PCB is data routing and processing for the boiler + thermocouple setup with a PID loop. This is because we haven’t received the kettle yet, and need to open it to see exactly what the internals look like, and how it can be hacked.
- Once the kettle arrives, I will inspect its circuit, and design the second part of the custom PCB to manage the TC signal and send the signal to the kettle for PID controls.
- Next week, we will also receive feedback on our design presentation. I hope to receive feedback on some of the latest decisions regarding the PCB, like LDO design and having HV AC outside of the board, and incorporate that feedback back into the design.
- Next week, I will also work on the design report which is due by EOW.
Status Report: On schedule