Engineering Commons^™

Dyl-Light: An Acn Controlled, Rgbw Led Light Fixture, Dylan Pavelko

Electrical Engineering

The Dyl-Light is a LED lighting fixture that is controlled with a recently released suite of entertainment technology protocols called A.C.N. This new protocol has a number of advantages to its use over the existing protocol, DMX512, used for controlling entertainment lighting fixtures. This project attempts to use this new protocol to directly control a light fixture, something that currently is not available on the market.

The project includes several aspects of engineering from electronics, embedded systems, applications, networking, power electronics, and computer interfacing.

Programmable Household Led Light Fixture, Jordan Locano

Electrical Engineering

This report details the development and construction of a LED light fixture to be used for household lighting. This document details background information, design ideas, project specifications, production, assembly, testing, and conclusions involved with this project. The goals of this project is to design and build a cost-effective replacement for traditional room lighting that can perform better and last longer than traditional methods.

Programmable Solid State 12ax7 Triode Gain Stage, Ian Campbell

Electrical Engineering

This project demonstrates the viability of vacuum tube replacements made from solid state technology and programmable logic. A collection of operational amplifiers, digital converters and a field programmable gate array (FPGA) achieve this goal. The project emulates a 12AX7 vacuum tube triode as it would operate in a Fender Champ guitar amplifier. While the prototype works specifically with the Fender Champ, minor modifications could provide the versatility for operation in different amplifiers, including high end vintage hi-fi equipment. The addition of a micro controller into these amplifiers allows for the use of digital filtering and effects while not requiring modifications …

Discrete Alarm Clock, Travis Moore, Collin Barth

Electrical Engineering

The standard alarm clock, as used daily by millions worldwide, has clear room for modification and improvement. This paper documents an implementation that rectifies many of these flaws. Improvements include adjustable snooze length, an IR remote for ease of use, and an RF headset for discrete alarm use or potential incorporation into a device much like a hearing aid. The processes involved in creating a digital alarm clock, as well as the obstacles met in the implementation of the enhanced design, are detailed within.

Development Of Wind Tunnel For Laboratory Wind Turbine Testing, Danny Alexander Zepeda

Electrical Engineering

A wind tunnel with a 0.5 HP motor was purchased by Cal Poly Electrical Engineering Department from Hampden for $16,000. It can only simulate winds of up to 10 MPH. The tunnel has a manual dial that controls the wind speed. It also measures the voltage and current output with an analog measure display. This wind tunnel was expensive and unfortunately cannot achieve very high wind speeds. For this reason, a similar wind tunnel with more potential and with a smaller budget was proposed to be built for use in the Sustainable Energy Lab. The new wind tunnel that was …

Solar Powered Electric Clothes Dryer, Roger Mai, Alan Swe

Electrical Engineering

Appliances that consume the most energy in a household usually involve heating, and an electric clothes dryer is one such appliance, consuming up to 4KW of power. The most environmentally friendly way is to hang clothes outside to dry, a natural solar and wind powered method, but unfortunately most people are unable to do so as some neighborhood communities do not allow the hanging of laundry outside as it is regarded as “unsightly”, for example. This project aims to provide an alternate solution to the wall-powered electric clothes dryer by designing one which operates entirely off the grid.

Constant Conduction Angle Bias Generation For Monolithic Rf Power Amplifiers, Stephen Garber

Electrical Engineering

There is a need for linear, efficient monolithic power amplifiers used for the wireless transmission of signals with amplitude variations. This paper proposes a circuit that actively biases a bipolar transistor so that it operates as a Class C amplifier, with a conduction angle that is constant over a range of output powers. This results in a linear amplifier with a very low two tone intermodulation distortion. By forcing a scaled DC current vs. input magnitude curve from a Class B amplifier on to a Class C amplifier, a constant conduction angle can be maintained in the Class C amplifier. …

Rem Sleep Alarm, Shaun Kelsey, Brendon Soltis

Electrical Engineering

This paper explores the REM Sleep Alarm project that deals with the sleep cycle of the average human, and how it affects our ability to function when waking up in the morning.

The purpose of this project is to build a device that has the ability to wake a person up when they will feel the most rested. From research done, it appears that most people feel the most rested when woken up during the REM stage of their sleep cycle. Our goal is to have the device detect when the user is in this stage of sleep, determine how …

Current Tracking Power Supply For Sensor Calibration, Joshua Brookley

Electrical Engineering

This report highlights the steps taken to design and develop a constant 5V power supply capable of tracking load current. The background of its previous design, its necessary specifications and steps taken to achieve specifications are highlighted throughout the report. The report also contains conclusions and final recommendations for the design chosen, including its strengths and drawbacks.

Imu Integration To The Cal Poly Spacecraft Attitude Dynamics Simulator Power System, Wayland Chan

Electrical Engineering

The Cal Poly Spacecraft Attitude Dynamics Simulator mimics the rotation dynamics of a spacecraft in orbit and acts as a test bed for spacecraft attitude control system development and demonstration. Prior to this project, the simulator measured its attitude dynamics from a total of seven sensors mounted on to the platform, including three micro-electromechanical system (MEMs) gyroscopes, and four motor encoders. This project entails the installation of an LN-200 high performance gyroscope, which will provide a greater measure of accuracy. The goal of this project is to design a power circuit that will integrate the LN-200 inertial measurement unit onto …

Wind Power Generator Design For The Dc House Project, Evan Lim, Samson Liu

Electrical Engineering

The purpose of this project is to introduce a cost efficient alternative in converting wind into energy for third world countries. Currently there are approximately 1.6 billion people who have limited access to electricity. As part of the DC House project, we hope to develop a solution for them as the use of electricity is becoming an essential part of life. One of the natural energy resources to provide power to the DC House is wind. The components used for the project are a DC motor and DC-DC converter to translate wind into power and produce DC voltage and current, …

Variable Dc Voltage Wall Outlet For The Dc House Project, Michael Detmers, Tyler J. Blauvelt

Electrical Engineering

This senior project report will focus on explaining the design and operation of a variable DC wall outlet for use in the DC house. Testing will include the use of various loads using different input DC voltages not exceeding a maximum output of 90W.

The most important aspects of the outlet are to have a highly-efficient converter efficiency as well as system isolation from the main DC bus on the input. This report will outline the purpose and way of achieving isolation through use of a Flyback DC-DC converter. The user interface is the second significant aspect and details of …

An Investigation Into Ultrasonic Communication For Near-Body Networks, Eric Joshua Escudero Jr., Gursewak Singh Rai

Electrical Engineering

The following report presents a study of body-area, free-space ultrasonic communication system. Two analog communication systems are investigated. The initial communications system setup relies upon the amplitude modulation (AM) techniques to transmit the signal. Such a system is prone to noise since the amplitude of the signal is directly affected by distance and the signal strength will deteriorate. The secondary communication system involves utilizing frequency modulation (FM). This method avoids the issue of losing information due to amplitude deterioration, but encounters delay issues. The main hardware components used in the approach outlined include ultrasonic transducers (UTs) used for both transmitting …

Bicycle-Powered Ac Generator, Andrew Austin

Electrical Engineering

The purpose of this senior project is to design, build, and be able to present a mechanism that will produce AC power using the mechanical energy produced by a person pedaling a standard bicycle. Also, I would like to be able to show the user and the audience the advantage of using compact fluorescent bulbs, and in doing so, make them more conscience of energy-saving products. To do this, I must present a stand that can support a bicycle with a rider, a way to convert the wheel’s motion to DC power, to convert that DC power to usable AC …

Photovoltaic System Design For Dc House, Luis B. Perez, Hao Ming Mai

Electrical Engineering

The objective of this project is to research and design a practical 200W photovoltaic system at the lowest cost and highest efficiency in order to support the DC House Project. The impetus for this project stems from the necessity of delivering energy to people in developing countries who otherwise lack the benefits of electricity. The Photovoltaic System Design is divided into two main parts, the buck DC-DC converter and the optimized photovoltaic panel. The converter consists of schematics, efficiency calculations, load/line regulation calculations, component comparisons, data plots from simulations and testing. The optimized photovoltaic panel section includes component comparisons, complete …

Digital Modulations Using The Universal Software Radio Peripheral, Daniel Keith Artis

Electrical Engineering

Software defined radios (SDRs) are versatile systems that integrate hardware and software to create a reprogrammable wireless system. Due to the versatility and hardware requirements of a SDR, they are typically expensive and not always affordable for educational institutions. GNU Radio is a free software package that allows users to do signal processing on any computer using python and C++. Using the Universal Software Radio Peripheral (USRP) board in conjunction with a standard personal computer (PC), a RF daughterboard, and the GNU Radio software, we can create a software defined radio that can transmit, receive, and process signals. Because the …

Audio-Triggered El Wire Sequencer, Benjamin (Ben) Paik

Electrical Engineering

“Development of an Audio-Triggered EL Wire Sequencer” California Polytechnic State University 2011, Ben Paik and John Oliver, Ph.D. (advisor)

The purpose of this project is to investigate and develop a method for switching electroluminescent wire (EL wire) such that it can be activated by some audio source. EL wire is essentially a coaxial capacitor that luminesces when an alternating electric field excites the insulating phosphor layer in the wire (a 100Vp, 1kHz AC source is sufficient for this). The system involves the EL wire, a six channel sequencer to switch the EL wire, an method for processing the audio signal, …

Solar Instrumentation Lab, Rene Canedo Iii, Rong Gui Chen

Electrical Engineering

This project is a mobile platform that will allow experiments on different solar panels to be done easily while keeping the cost of the lab to a minimum. California Polytechnic State University’s motto is ‘learn by doing’ and this lab structure will allow students to get practical experience with photovoltaic cells and the instruments that are required to take measurements. The solar instrumentation lab is a potential hardware lab for the electrical engineering department’s Sustainable Electric Energy Conversion class EE 420 and Solar-Photovoltaic Systems Design EE 520. This group took the current solar structure as a base for the lab’s …

Exercise Bicycle Dc-Dc Converter For The Energy Harvesting From Exercise Machines Project, Ryan Rickard, Logan Stowe

Electrical Engineering

Project is a continuation of previous projects that seek an efficient DC to DC converter for the existing exercise bicycle system created by Mechanical and Electrical Engineering students. This DC-DC converter is to integrate with the wide range of DC voltages produced by the bicycle in order to produce a constant optimal voltage for charging a car battery. This converter will boost voltages when the bicycle outputs below the optimal voltage and buck voltages when above. The converter will take EHFEM one step closer to its overall and final goal of harvesting energy from the exercise machines in Cal Poly’s …

Solar Powered Backpack, Saagar Sabharwal, Tom Poonsopin

Electrical Engineering

One popular motto in electrical engineering today is “going green.” This project will convert the sun’s energy into reusable energy. The purpose of this senior project is to develop a solar powered backpack that can charge certain portable USB devices for students. Many students walk around campus with an iPod or cell phone, which has surely died or ran low on batteries at least once when needed most. This backpack will allow students to charge their devices “on the go.” When students walk or bike around campus, the solar panels attached to the backpack will allow recharging of their portable …

Brushless Dc Motor Design And Build, Justin Damele

Electrical Engineering

Complete Design and Build of a Brushless DC Motor. Everything was manufactured using various Lathes and End Mills. Everything built from scratch.

One-Pin 32 Khz Low-Power Crystal Oscillator, Aaron Plata-Ruiz

Electrical Engineering

This design is a one-pin, 32 kHz, low-power, crystal oscillator suitable for battery-operated systems. The design is based on a design published by Ali E Zadeh, “A Micropower, Battery-Operated, One-Pin Crystal Oscillator”, but redesigned for standard positive power supply configuration, which is suitable for typical n-well CMOS process.

Heart-Rate Monitoring Control System Using Photoplethysmography (Ppg), Wesley Nguyen, Ryan Horjus

Electrical Engineering

No abstract provided.

Low-Power Self-Sustaining Schedule Display, Samuel (Sam) August

Electrical Engineering

The completed project is an Amazon Kindle, powered by a USB solar charger, running a student designed program to display a weekly schedule for a faculty member. The purpose of the project was to design a sustainable electronic schedule display for use outside a faculty office. It was designed in the hopes that faculty members could more easily update their schedules, and possibly allow for students to schedule appointments. The program was designed using Java and the solar-charger was designed using a solar cell, Schottky diode, and a USB to micro-B USB cable.

Rfid Techniques For Passive Electronics, Ryan Behr, David Cobos

Electrical Engineering

No abstract provided.

Android Application Controlled Surge Protector, Lok An

Electrical Engineering

A significant amount of consumer electronics cannot be switched off completely without being unplugged. Standby power, also known as phantom power, refers to the electric power consumed by electronic appliances when they are switched off. There are some devices that need constant power; items like alarm clocks and security systems need constant power to function correctly. Some devices, such as video game consoles and televisions, consume power without offering any features. Electricity lost from standby power has been increasing with the amount of consumer electronics increasing in households.

This project’s goal is to create a low power remote that can …

Wireless Sensor Network For Energy And Environmental Monitoring: Helping Old Buildings Go Green, Jacob Power

Electrical Engineering

Today, the rising cost of energy and social trend of “going green” has put increasing pressure on commercial property owners to improve the efficiency of their investments. There is good reason for this, too. In the State of California, office buildings represent the single largest user of energy in the commercial sector. This project consisted of the design, implementation, construction, testing, and deployment of a wireless sensor network for energy and environmental monitoring in retrofit commercial office installations. The analyzed data generated by this system can be used by building management and owners to identify areas of inefficiency within the …

Rfid Home And Office Automation System: Based On Localized Room Entry, Nolan Clark

Electrical Engineering

Design and build a proof of concept model demonstrating an application of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology for use in a home or office lighting automation system. The system provides new means for reducing energy consumption through active light switching based on simplified location tracking. Often lighting systems use motion sensors and timers to determine when a person enters or leaves a room, but these platforms are based purely on motion meaning “no motion, no light.” The RFID based system utilizes medium range RFID readers and tags located at doorways or narrow passageways in the environment to provide a general …

Dc House Modeling And System Design, Jessica E. Chaidez

Electrical Engineering

This project entails the study and design of DC power distribution for the DC House Project. Wire size, common high efficient loads, maximum power input, and different distribution system implementation (ring or radial) play a major role when designing an efficient, low-voltage distribution system. Efficiency is determined based on which main bus voltage powers all the loads with minimal power loss. Power efficiency is heavily dependent in DC-DC converter efficiencies due to the power loss in converting the voltage from high to low, or vice versa. Selection of the wire size plays a major role in power losses. There are …

Design Strategy For A 3-Phase Variable Frequency Drive (Vfd), Omar David Munoz

Electrical Engineering

This paper describes the design processes for a 3-Phase Variable Frequency Drive (VFD) as broken up into two stages: The AC-DC converter and the DC-AC converter. It acknowledges three (3) design versions, all. The output of the motor drive is 3-phase pulse width modulation (PWM) ranging in possible operation frequencies from 0Hz to 13kHz. The frequency control circuit uses an Arduino Uno based of the ATMEGA 328p.