SLIDE 1 The Smart Cloth Rack
a product for a less stressful life
SLIDE 2 Project Idea Outline
➢ Number of rainy days in Melbourne is about 100 days/year1 ➢ Electric cloth dryers cost an average of few hundred dollars ➢ Energy consumption approximately 250 kWh2 ➢ Total electricity bill of a household increases up to maximum of 160$3 Solution to a basic day-to-day challenge
1 http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/averages/tables/cw_086071.shtml 2http://reg.energyrating.gov.au/comparator/product_types/35/search/?
wrapper_search=True&control_type=&model_number=&paginate_by=500&expired_products=on
3http://www.sustainability.vic.gov.au/services-and-advice/households/energy-efficiency/at-home/appliances/clothes-dryers
SLIDE 3
➢ Automatic retractable cover ➢ Stable, Portable and Lightweight system ➢ Waterproof electronic sub-system ➢ Powered by battery ➢ Mobile app to monitor and actuate the system manually ➢ Total Cost less than 200$ Cheaper and energy efficient compared to the available products in the current market
Aims of the Project
SLIDE 4 Subsystem revisions: Base
○ Storage decreased: Due to Fixation of Motorshaft → Same for other proposed options ■ 100%% (Report) → 50% (real product) ○ Weight decreased to to Material thickness unavailability vs Cost ■ 100% (Report) → 0%, but can increase to 70% ○ Attachment of components on bottom ■ 50% as detachable (Report) ■ Durability not tested (100 cycles = 0%) ○ Costs decreased, as for free ■ 80% (Report) → 100%
- Overall 50%, (71% with thinner material)
SLIDE 5 Subsystem revisions: Closing mechanism
○ prone to spraywater as lengthwise overhang was shortened due to manufacturing restrictions ■ ~50% as some water (100ml) can reach the cloths ○ Astethics, not a lot of printed curved parts, but consistent colour with rails. ■ I give it 50%
- Ropes slipe on wheels → Timing belts
SLIDE 6 Subsystem revisions: Sensors
○ Advantage ○ Problems
○ Advantage ○ Problems
○ Add more sensors? ○ Improve algorithm?
SLIDE 7 Subsystem revisions: Sensors
Infrared Sensors
○ Stable digital sensor ○ Easy to Implement ○ Cheap ○ ……
○ Detect distance is limited (ours only up to 2.5cm) ○ The accuaracy can be affected by light
SLIDE 8 Subsystem revisions: Sensors
Rain-Drop Sensor
○ Small and cheap ○ Stable digital signal ○ Accuracy can be adjusted ○ Water proof itself ○ ……
○ Accuarcy need to be consider ○ Easy to get oxidation ○ ……
SLIDE 9
Subsystem revisions: Sensors
SLIDE 10 Further more
○ Temperature & humidity sensor
- Give more options to users
○ Accessories (e.g. WiFi board)
○ Let the motor run more smoothly ○ The whole system is more robustness ○ Curtain open/close time can be strickly controlled ■ When? ■ How long?
SLIDE 11 Subsystem revisions: Motors
- Missing Motor-shaft couplings decreased the
durability and functionality of the system by 90%
- Rubber couplings were used instead which
tends to break under high load. Durability - 10%
- To reduce the torque of the motor we used 5V
SLIDE 12 Subsystem revisions: Computing System
Arduino and Nexpaq
- Combination of Arduino and Nexpaq fulfill the requirements.
○ Arduino being an open source platform and well documented suited us well. ○ Nexpaq provides an open source platform for developing the mobile application.
- Nexpaq was used for the communication between smart phone and Arduino.
- Arduino controlled all the sensors and information.
SLIDE 13 Requirements
Essential requirements
- Promptly detects rain and sun (within 3 seconds)
- Protect clothes by enclosing clothes with curtain within 5 sec of rain detection
- Cost under 200 AUD.
- Entire system is waterproof
Desirable requirements
- Affordable for students (from 50$ → 200$) - Lower the better
- Light weight (from 3 kg → 7 kg)- Lower the better
- Compact / small storage size
- Detects rain beforehand (Using local weather forecast information)
SLIDE 14
Performance / Features of Prototype
Closes curtain automatically within five seconds after rain starts. Opens curtain automatically after five minutes of rain stop. Shows real time data of screen position and weather to user in app. Manual override option to control the position of curtain from app. System is partially waterproof. Here is the working prototype- https://youtu.be/M7lEe6vBJ2s
SLIDE 15
Future Work
Potential Improvement:
➢ Reduce the Weight of whole system ➢ Solutions for Mechanical constraints
Extensions:
➢ The system can get local weather forecast and close the curtain before the rain starts ➢ Temperature and humidity sensors can be added to get more accurate climate feedback ➢ The entire cloth rack can be moved automatically to indoors when it rains heavily (Like to a garage, backyard with shed on top)
SLIDE 16
Thank you for listening
Questions??????
