Category: Team Status Reports

This week we aimed to reach our MVP requirements. With this, we were able to get the speaker and amplifier components working together. The robot chassis was built, and the imaging model was able to detect different fires that we set up well. The most significant risk that could jeopardize the success is the what if case on not being able to extinguish a fire. More specifically, even with the speaker built, it was not able to extinguish the fire. However, we are currently still working towards the idea that using a collimator will be able to put it out. On the other hand, increasing the power would also be able to be tested.

There are changes to the existing design of the system that could or may not remain the same. That would be the existing RC filter that was initially implemented. We thought that this would help with getting rid of any noise and distortion, however, with testing this week, the amplifier itself was able to fine tune the signal so there was no need for the filter. Although, if needed in the future, it is still in consideration. Cost-wise, this doesn’t change in particular as all parts were able to be found in TechSpark and such.

Part A:

This product will meet the consideration of global factors as fires exist globally. No matter the country or continent, fires, especially at home and not wild, are found commonly. This product will be able to help individuals who live in an home environment extinguish fires with ease. Furthermore, it helps for those of all ages. Whether old or young, in different stages of life, tech or not technologically savvy, this device is easy to use and requires little to none involvement on the user’s end. Governments and international organizations all emphasize the importance of fire safety regulations, which is why this further fits with in consideration of global factors.

Part B:

This product does not apply with consideration of cultural factors. It does not apply as it has no part in beliefs, values, traditions, language, etc. Since it is a technical product for a technical use, it does not take part in any cultural factors. The purpose is for safety which is designed for a universal functionality which is why it considers global factors. It relies on scientific principles of fire extinguishing which makes it universal and independent of cultural factors.

Part C:

This product applies with consideration of environmental factors as one of the main reasons as to why we are using acoustic waves, is to eliminate harmful environmental consequences that traditional extinguishing methods dispose of. For example, the powder extinguishing method continues many different types of chemicals that have proven to be harmful to bodies of water, the ecosystem that takes part in the cycle of water, and the soil and ground around as well. It is hard to throw out the extinguisher as it is then considered hazardous waste, and furthermore, it would then have to be rebought to fight more fires. Our product is reusable and does not contain any harmful chemicals and does not damage any parts of the environment that it is used in.

Part A was written by Cole MacSwain. Part B was written by Kushaan Misra. Part C was written by Stephanie Mao.

This week, the design presentation and finalization of design were completed. Apart of that, we took in feedback on the timeline of our testing and since receiving the parts, we tested the amplifier. The following images showcases our circuit. A waveform is hooked up to the breadboard and the oscilloscope is connected to the amplifier. The amplifier itself is connected to the power supply and everything is connected to a common ground.

From this test, we were able to successfully boost our output from 100mV to 600mV with a 60Hz wave. Along with testing, we took more into consideration the heating concern as well as distance between the speaker and the fire. This would need to be continuously tested in the future which is part of our Gantt schedule already.

The most significant risk currently is trying to figure out the most ideal power supply to use to power the amplifier and all the other components in our design. This is concerning since we have a maximum of 50V and 10A which is really high, however, the plan that we currently have is to have 3 LiPo batteries in series with each other that are each 14.8V which would roughly give 44.4V (as long as it is between 36-48V).

As of now, there are no changes to the existing design presented at the design presentation this week. Moving forward, the only other costs necessary are the robot kit which we are waiting a little longer to buy since we want to fully focus on reaching  MVP first.

This week we had our first successful proof-of-concept test! Using an app on our phones we were able to generate a 60Hz wave that put out a candle several times. To ensure our test was what we believed was going on rather than simply the air from our phone speaker we played a song at full volume at the candle. What we observed was that the song at full volume was NEVER able to extinguish the fire while the 60Hz wave consistently able to.

We also worked on our design presentation this week, incorporating feedback we received from Gloria Chang to better specify the parameters and our Minimum Viable Product.

Our next steps will be presenting this week and giving feedback to other groups. We also hope to receive the parts we ordered so that we can start assembling the parts and running tests using the full size sub-woofer magnet.

 

 

A: We are aiming to build a non-invasive, reusable fire extinguisher. This addresses a significant gap in current public welfare. With fire extinguishers that exist now a human being has to identify a fire, react quickly to find the nearest fire extinguisher and then spray a foam on the fire that puts it out. Now what was previously on fire is covered in a foam spray that needs to be cleaned off. We are eliminating all of these by having a device that can identify the fire on its own, fully extinguish the fire within 20 seconds, and it uses sound waves that will not have to be cleaned after use.

B: Does not apply. Our project aims to eliminate the human factor of a single user application and thus does not have a social interaction implication.

C: Currently, fire extinguishers expire and need to be replaced regularly. We are planning to offer a solution with rechargeable batteries that will not expire. Our solution will certainly have a higher initial cost than the ~$80 that a fire extinguisher costs, but because of the longer lifespan our solution will cost less amortized over decades.

Currently, the biggest risks for our project lie in robotics and the results of our testing. As a group, we don’t have tons of robotics experience, and this will be an important part of our project. We feel we have enough similar technical skills to figure this out, however. During the presentations, someone raised the concern of the impact of smoke. We want to test our behavior under smoky conditions, but also have a contingency involving thermal camera sensor fusion. 

 

Our progress is on schedule so far. Currently, we don’t have any plans to change our design, but we are planning to do more due diligence next week. There may be changes during this step as we solidify the design.