This is week 28, not only this, but it also marks the finale of our two semester long IPPD project. We presented our product at the final design review as well getting to see everyone else’s projects at the showcase. The showcase went amazing with many visitors interested to hear about our project description and solution. From the first week of IPPD till last week, we have utilize these blogs as weekly updates and it’s amazing to see how far we have came and developed through working as a team as well as individually.

We would like to thank:

Drake Viscome – Liaison Engineer, NextEra Energy

Malcolm Butler – Liaison Engineer, NextEra Energy

Krishnakumar Venkataraman – Vice President, PGD Engineering

Devin Martin – Sr. Director, PGD Wind Fleet Team

Dr. Edwin Marte – Project Coach, University of Florida

Dr. Edward Latorre – IPPD Director, University of Florida

-That’s it from us, FeraFree out!

This week we have assembled our PCB! All the components have been soldered and it is ready to undergo heavy testing this weekend to gather data for the machine learning model to better predict the debris concentration levels. On the mechanical side, we have finalized the housing model, incorporating the syringe and linear actuator mounts, as well as mounting for the sensor, bulkhead connectors, and power connector.

Next week is the Final Design Report presentation which we are so excited for as we will be presenting our work and showing off the final product. Over this weekend, we will be filming our final FDR video as well as finalizing the poster. We will assemble all parts of the volumes in the FDR report in order to complete the full report that needs to be sent to the liaisons. We are at the final stretch and we will make sure to push through and finish strong!

The week the team completed soldering the new differential amplifier circuit and began to test it.

First up was to test the noise profile of the circuit when presented with different concentrations of grease. Secondly, the circuit was tested for voltage variation presented with different concentrations of grease.

Unfortunately the results for this round of testing were disappointing. While a bar magnet was detectable by the system, the empty grease tube gave indistinguishable voltage output when compared to the 6k ppm grease tube. Moreover, the noise profile when each tubes was presented looked identical to each other.

The team suspects that our potentiometers are improperly calibrated. Despite the poor showing from this round of testing the team still believes that the theoretical nature for this type of circuit is sound. As such, the team will regroup and consult with the Coach in order to reassess the nature of the circuit and testing setup.

This week the team has been focused on the sensor testing rig from the previous week. First, our team sought to quantify the ambient noise in the environment more definitively in order to ensure that our voltage variations were due to the ppm of the grease and not the external noise.

The results were middling. The 6k ppm grease was on the boundary of what might be detectable, but the 2k ppm grease and similarly low levels were indistinguishable from noise levels.

This spurred a rework on the sensor system design. The team’s computer engineers gathered with our coach in order to brainstorm a new design for our external circuit. The new design involves 2 separate sensors: one placed near the grease, and one placed away from the grease. The idea is to use a differential amplifier to have the noise signal subtracted from the grease signal, leaving only the signal perturbation due to the grease. Filtering and amplification will follow.

The teams is currently developing the prototype for this new design. Following the soldering of this component will be a modification of the CAD to hold the new design, and validation testing to ensure that the solder job was successful.

Repeat of the testing procedures is planned following the completion of this iteration of the prototype.