Smart Blinds

Smart Blinds Weekly Log

Proposal

Overview

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The goal of this project is to create a set of blinds that is able to automatically adjust the tilting angles of the slates the with real time temperature and luminous intensity. The blinds will also feature an timing function which will drive the blinds to open and close at certain time according to user's preference. The apparatus will contain a stepper motor to open the shades paired and an Arduino processor will be incorporated to measure the temperature and luminous intensity. In order to achieve the project goal, data obtained by the Arduino sensor will be processed and transmitted to the step motor, while a timing mechanism will work independently to control the motor as well.

Team member

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• Xinquan Liu (Toby)
  
• Sam LaSota
  

TA: William Berndt Parkinson

Objects

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• Build frame and blinds
  
• Connect and test the step motor on the blinds
  
  • Adjust the motor to control the tilting angle
• Program Arduino to obtain and send temperature and luminous intensity inputs
  • Obtain the real time inputs
  • Filter and process the inputs
  • Send instructions to the step motor
• Add timing function to Arduino

Challenges

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• Build the frame and fit in the blinds
• Learn the basis of step motor and its connection
  • Generate enough torque to tilt the slates
  • Adjust the output of motor to gain the right angle
  • Save energy as much as possible
• Find the correlation between the temperature, luminous intensity and the proper tilting angle of the blinds
  • Probably will require many experiments and attempts
• Program the Arduino to collect and process the data
  • Collect precise and enough data to determine the output from Arduino to the motor
  • Filter the noise in the data so that motor will only function when needed
  • Transform the input data to the right output signals and transmit them to the motor

Budget

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• Blinds
  
• frame
  
• Motor
  
• Driver