Engineering Commons^™

High Voltage Pulse-Width Generator For The Algae Biofuel Project, Philip Yu, Stephen Leung

Electrical Engineering

This purpose of this project, sponsored by Boeing and advised by Dr. Arakaki and Dr. Taufik, is to build a high voltage pulse width generator that lyses algae cells to harvest the biofuel within. This project uses Emmanuel Loza's thesis on a cascaded high voltage converter with variable control to build a portable pulse width generator with independent control on the peak voltage, pulse width, and frequency. The project focuses on creating a pulse width generator capable of finding the most optimal pulsed electric field to lyse algae. The pulse width module ranges from 10V-80V peak voltage, 60Hz-100 kHz frequency, …

Energy Harvesting From Exercise Machines: Lt8705 Dc-Dc Conversion For Elliptical Trainers, Braden Burk, Raj Bhula, Nathan Mckay

Electrical Engineering

Cal Poly’s Energy Harvesting from Exercise Machines (EHFEM) program aims to power the grid using human energy harvested from exercise machines in its gym. Doing so could save the school money and increase the total supply of power available on the grid. This document belongs to one of many groups attempting to design a suitable DC-DC conversion system for an elliptical trainer using an LT8705 Four-Switch Buck-Boost converter. Past teams have built other converters and developed system compatibility characteristics such as filtering, safety, and stability for interfacing components. These teams fall into one of two departments in EHFEM: DC-DC Conversion …

Microprocessor Management Of Energy Harvesting Buck Boost Converters, Timothy O'Sullivan

Electrical Engineering

No abstract provided.

Power Chest Strap, Adrianne Thoroddsson, Dennis Lin

Electrical Engineering

The Power Chest Strap is an unobtrusive device, like a heart rate monitor, worn around the chest that harvests energy from the expansion of the chest during breathing. The chest strap stores electrical energy that can charge electronic devices such as cell phones. Since small portable devices grow in number, the power strap allows a convenient way to charge your device without having to find a wall outlet for a charger. Research on systems that scavenge energy from arm or leg movement already exist, but these systems require the ability of the user to move their arms and legs. The …

Wirelessly Controlled Smart Outlet, Andrew Godsil, Ariel Dubinsky

Electrical Engineering

Popularity of home automation devices has increased greatly in recent years due to higher affordability and simplicity through smartphone and tablet connectivity. For the purpose of this experiment, we have developed the Smart Outlet: a stand-alone communication unit, used to connect home outlets to the internet. The Smart Outlet controls lighting and simple appliances throughout the home, remotely, using wireless commands from the web. A Google Calendar interface directly controls the outlets’ function by scheduling them with dedicated calendar events. The calendar’s interface can even be accessed from multiple different platforms (i.e. phones, computers, tablets) for the convenience of all …

Buck Converter, Bowen Liu

Electrical Engineering

The recent sustainable energy growth triggered a huge power electronics demand, specifically related to power conversion. My senior project is a design of a buck converter which steps down the voltage from photovoltaic cells ranging from 5 to 40V to a rechargeable battery with 5V. This converter has a high enough power efficiency to effectively convert the energy harnessed from PV panels.

Transimpedance Amplifier For Polymer Photodiodes, Sheridan Knighton

Electrical Engineering

Dr. Braun’s students in the Polymer Electronics Lab currently have a way to measure the light intensity from their light emitting devices however it consumes an unnecessary amount of space and power. I offer to improve upon the existing transimpedance circuit that Dr. Braun currently uses, reducing the total space occupied by the circuit and the power consumption of the current setup. The transimpedance circuit measures the incidence light intensity from the polymer-based photo detector and outputs an accurate, discrete, and measurable voltage. The current setup however utilizes two 20V wall warts for the positive and negative rails of the …

Clear Circuit Contact Lens, Paul Hecker Ii, Phillip Azar, Alexander Do, Benny Ng, Errol Leon

Electrical Engineering

The clear active contact lens project aims to address safety and hazard awareness with an unexplored field of eye wear technology. With advancements in nanotechnology and the advent of circuits on contact lens, this project is one of the first research and development into this new field, following University of Washington and Google. The team focuses on the safety and biocompatibility of the contact lens for a comfortable ease of use. The designs push the limits of thin film printed technology with its pursuit of fine designs of 250μm antennas. The project streamlines the manufacturing process for a combination substrate …

Merry-Go-Round Human Powered Generator, Sarah Lorraine Ashe, Salvador Navarro

Electrical Engineering

How do you bring electricity to families who have limited resources in a developing country? The DC House project, advised by Dr. Taufik, provides a way for kids to have fun, exercise and generate power for their homes – play-park human powered generators. This project intends to create a more efficient and cost effective way for playground equipment to be implemented for power generation. The redesigned and reconstructed merry-go-round human powered generator converts mechanical energy into electrical energy to power the DC house. This was a fully functioning generator that needed a better voltage gain, as well as, a more …

Human-Powered Swing Generator, Danny Cai, Timothy Lai, Brandon Wong

Electrical Engineering

Many developing countries lack sufficient resources to provide enough electricity for every family to live with a satisfying level of comfort and convenience. Our project proposes a solution that provides families with an alternative access to electricity using a playground swing. This project addresses the design and construction of the Human-Powered Swing Generator, which converts mechanical energy to electrical energy for charging a battery. The charged battery serves as a source of DC energy for potential DC purposes, such as charging a cell phone.

Rfid Door Lock, Ralph Ting, Mackenzie Keane

Electrical Engineering

The RFID Door Lock is a lock that is simple to install and allows the user to easily lock and unlock doors. It will contain a RFID reader/writer and a magnetic door lock for simple use. All the user will need is an RFID tag to be able to unlock and lock the door. A LED will be used to let the user know when the door is in fact locked. The components included in the module are small and compact. Additionally, the door lock is simple and easy to install. It does not require the consumer to disassemble the …

Smart Weights, Luke W. Rafla-Yuan, Austin C. Fox

Electrical Engineering

The goal of this project is to design and implement weights which can record and analyze work out patterns. Motivation for this project stems from the high cost of personal training. The hope is that this device will provide many of the benefits a user receives from personal training at only a fraction of the cost. The Smart Weight is designed with an on-board Inertial Measurement Unit providing acceleration, gyroscope, and magnetometer data. A microcontroller records and analyzes changes in motion, feeding this data into Multiplicative Recurrent Neural Network (MRNN) for exercise classification. A Raspberry Pi was chosen as the …

Bipolar Pulse Width Modulation Inverter, Xin Chen, Ryan Harada

Electrical Engineering

The project entails the design of an improved PWM inverter circuit for the inverter lab experiment in the introductory power electronic course. The improved PWM inverter uses bipolar switching with a half bridge control circuit. The inverter utilizes two ICL8038 chip to generate both the control and carrier signals. The improved inverter enhances the system's portability, protection and is easy to understand from the prior design. The improved PWM inverter provides AC variable single phase 65 Hz AC output voltage from DC input signal. The finished product will be used specifically in the EE 410 laboratory course.

Protection System For The Energy Harvesting From Exercise Machines (Ehfem) Project, Eric Funsten, Cameron Kiddoo

Electrical Engineering

The goal of the Energy Harvesting from Exercise Machines (EHFEM) project seeks to harness the energy generated by people using exercise machines and deliver this energy to the electric grid [1]. The implementation consists of a protection system, DC-DC converter, and an inverter. This project involves redesigning the existing DC-DC input protection circuit and current limiter for the EHFEM project [2]. The DC-DC converter takes in the power from the exercise machines and converts it to a manageable voltage level for the inverter. Due to a problem where the inverter may overload the converter, a current limiter sets to limit …

Automated Pet Food Dispenser, Kevin M. Shibley

Electrical Engineering

Electronics revolutionize the world and simplify life. The Automated Pet Food Dispenser (APFD) revolutionizes the pet industry and provides unprecedented food capacity and delivery capability, giving pet owners worry-free vacationing. Sensors and timers optimize functionality and reduce waste while improving reliability and usability. User-defined settings and customization gives the device adaptability to meet every customer’s needs.

All Purpose Mobile Gps, James C. Smith, Matt Weege, Kevin Peters

Electrical Engineering

The aim of the All Purpose Mobile GPS (The System) is to create a GPS tracking device that can accurately record location and calculate velocity, distance traveled and elevation change even when the satellite signal is lost. This data can later overlay on existing internet-based maps illustrating a trip to oneself or others. The portable tracker consumes very little power achieving several days’ worth of power in a single charge. A solar cell provides a quick battery boost in a pinch. SD Card storage increases compatibility with computers and other forms of data transfer. Data processing, such as viewing the …

Rapid Battery Exchange Safety And Sensing, Ben John Froelich, Isaac Sungjin Kim

Electrical Engineering

The Rapid Battery Exchange system (RBX) swaps batteries in an electric van, allowing almost continuous operation of the vehicle. The RBX system is designed and built by The Cal Poly Electric Vehicle Engineering Club (EVEC). The system includes the exchange ramp, two battery packs, and the electric “G-Van.” While the vehicle drives using one of the battery packs, the other pack charges in the exchange ramp. When the van’s battery depletes, it drives onto the ramp and swaps the dead battery for the charged one, and the process repeats.

The RBX battery pack safety and sensing project divides into two …

Battery Management System, Michael Desando, Kyle Woody

Electrical Engineering

Problem Statement:

There have been recent reports of multi-million dollar companies having to recall entire projects due to their BMS’s malfunctioning or operating incorrectly. The purpose of this project is to analyze the future of batteries, the Lithium-Ion cell, and to exercise a BMS to better understand its capabilities and possible cases for errors. Lithium ion batteries are intolerant of overcharge and overdischarge. Abuse of this kind can result in high temperatures, venting of gases, fire, or explosion. Therefore battery management systems have been devised to prevent such abuse. Recent events such as fires on the Boeing Dreamliner and the …

Portable Nano Hydro Generator For The Dc House Project, Caleb David Fink, Victor Olusoji Ojewole, Christopher Mapua Tan

Electrical Engineering

This Senior Project entails the design and testing processes of the Portable Nano Hydro Generator for the continuing DC House Project. No natural resources should go unused, especially in developing countries where they are found in abundance. Small streams in particular have potential to further Professor Taufik's DC House Project that will provide electricity to 1.6 billion people in the world without access to electricity upon completion. The goal of this project is to create a small portable generator that utilizes the discharge from small streams and convert it into useable electricity that could charge a car battery as an …

Wind And Ventilation Turbine (Wvt) Generator, Anthony Lloyd, Jacob Michener

Electrical Engineering

This project aims to create a more compact and accessible renewable energy source using the Wind and Ventilation Turbine (WVT) Generator. The wind turbine provides ventilation while generating “clean” electricity using solar and kinetic energy. The electrical generation causes no functional losses to the ventilation as rising heat and passing wind turn the turbine, ventilating the house. Placing a generator beneath the spinning turbine allows for the transformation of mechanical motion into electrical energy. The system charges a battery, supplying recharging power into small standard electronics (i.e. cell phones, tablets, etc.) through a USB output.

Integration Of Pv & Simulated Dc Sources For The Dc House, Arvind Ramesh, Kevin Gingrich, Scott Chau

Electrical Engineering

The DC House, an ever improving project, uses only pure DC power which most renewable energy sources generate, from solar to wind power. The DC House and this project expect a donation of photovoltaic modules to supply a constant source of DC power. At the moment, the DC House desperately needs power sources because not only does the house have various loads unaccounted for, but the distribution system to determine proper power flow needs a redesign. The project chose to account for these issues by implementing a solar panel onto the DC House and a power distribution module to have …

Low Temperature Battery Monitoring And Control System – Lithium-Ion Low Temperature Case Study, Aaron Lee, Richard Tham, Ken Huynh

Electrical Engineering

This open-ended research project, co-advised by Dr. Prodanov and Dr. Dolan, studies electronic and battery failures at low temperatures (between -70 ºC to 0 ºC). The main battery technology used for this project is Lithium-ion. The research project consists of two systems: the monitoring system and the actuating system. This project accomplishes the first part and assesses the feasibility of measuring the internal impedances of batteries for low-Earth-orbit (LEO) satellites as a means to monitor battery health. It also monitors the effects caused by low temperature conditions through internal impedance measurements from 0 ºC through -70 °C. It includes designing …

Buck-Boost Dc-Dc Converter With Input Protection System For The Energy Harvesting From Exercise Machines Project, Byungjae David Yoo, Sheldon Tyler Kong Ming Chu

Electrical Engineering

Cal Poly’s Energy Harvesting from Exercise Machines (EHFEM) project comprises of multiple subprojects seeking to effectively create a sustainable energy source through harvesting electrical energy generated from physical exercise machines. This project designs and implements a Buck-Boost DC-DC converter using a LT3791-1 4-Switch Buck-Boost Controller, replacing the previous SEPIC design. The DC-DC converter must operate within limits set by the maximum input range of the LT3791-1 controller. An input protection system prevents inputs higher than rated values, which may adversely damage the Buck-Boost DC-DC converter. These inputs include overvoltage transients, average voltage, and current output by the Precor EFX 561i …

Real Time Swim Instructor, Konrad Antoniuk

Electrical Engineering

Both competitive and recreational swimmers want an efficient swim stroke but often lack consistent feedback with technical insight. Competitive swimmers rely on coaches for instruction but have to stop swimming to listen. The Real Time Swim Instructor project provides live feedback to a swimmer so they can feel their stroke correction while they’re swimming. The developing swimmer feels the difference between correct and incorrect form instantaneously.

The project takes on the responsibility of measuring the moving body, accurately determining stroke improvement, functioning under water, and providing recognizable feedback. Additionally, the user can review their swim from data stored in memory. …

St. Jude Medical - R&D Robot For Sensor Testing, Andrew Chanul Kim, Stanley Logan Laszczyk, Edgar Nava, Nathan Gall

Electrical Engineering

No abstract provided.

Piezoelectric Powered Led Street Reflector, Collin Shane Douglass

Electrical Engineering

In many areas of Washington, it rains for a majority of the year. During rainy weather it becomes difficult to see street lanes and dividers, causing hazardous road conditions. The Piezoelectric Powered LED Street Reflector solves this problem. The PPL Street Reflector modifies a street reflector with LED lights. These lights help drivers clearly see where dividers and street lines are in non-ideal weather conditions, such as rain, fog, and snow. The PPL Street Reflector capabilities include harvesting energy through the Piezoelectric Effect, creating a self-sustaining device with minimal maintenance.

Rapid Battery Exchange (Rbx) Charger Interface, Adam Morris

Electrical Engineering

As fossil fuel prices steadily rise and concerns associated with burning the fuels increase, electric vehicle sales continue to grow. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, EV sales “tripled from about 17,000 in 2011 to about 52,000 in 2012” [1]. In order to meet consumer transportation expectations—molded by fuel-powered vehicles—electric cars must have the ability to “refuel” quickly. Rapidly charging an EV’s traction battery poses one solution but doing so requires large power levels “five times as much as the average office consumes,” [2] making rapid charging less than ideal for the masses. Alternatively, swapping an EV’s depleted battery …

Low Voltage Cmos Sar Adc Design, Ryan Hunt

Electrical Engineering

This project centers on the design of a single ended 10-bit successive approximation register analog to digital converter (SAR ADC for short) that easily interfaces to a micro-controller, such as an Arduino. With micro-controller interfacing in mind, the universal data transfer technique of SPI proved an easy way to communicate between the ADC and the micro-controller. The ADC has a range of 1V (highest code value) to 0V (lowest code value) and operates from a single voltage rail value of 1.8V. Typical SPI clock speeds run on the order of 2MHz and with a 10-bit ADC this means a sampling …

Power System Fault Detection Using The Discrete Wavelet Transform And Artificial Neural Networks, Kevin Keegan

Electrical Engineering

This project focuses on detecting various phase to ground faults in three phase power systems. In this research, the faults are generated using a power distribution system simulator; and the three phase voltage waveforms are analyzed using the discrete wavelet transform. Multi-layer feed forward neural networks are employed for fault detection and classification. The effectiveness of this approach is demonstrated by computer simulation results.

Analog Violin Audio Synthesizer, Brandon E. Davis

Electrical Engineering

Abstract In the past decade, music electronics have almost completely shifted from analog to digital technology. Digital keyboards and effects provide more sound capabilities than their analog predecessors, while also reducing size and cost. However, many musicians still prefer analog instruments due to the perception that they produce superior sound quality. Many musicians spend extra money and accommodate the extra space required for analog technologies instead of digital.

Furthermore, audio synthesizers are commonly controlled with the standard piano keyboard interface. Many musicians can perform sufficiently on a keyboard, but requiring a specific skill set limits the size of the market …