This week we drafted our final poster and video. The video script was hilarious and we can’t wait for the video to be polished in order for us to present both our final video and poster. On the sensor side,… Read More
Tag: FeraFree
Prototype Inspection Day (Week 25)
Week 25 was a big one for us with Prototype Inspection Day. Overall, it went really well – we tied for 3rd place! We had some great judges who were genuinely engaged, asked good questions, and gave us super relevant… Read More
Preparation for PID (Week 24)
This week was a solid step forward as we pushed closer to a fully integrated system. We redesigned and resoldered the circuit to clean things up and improve reliability, and started bringing in more of the physical components, such as… Read More
Preliminary Sensor Testing Prototype (Week 21)
This has been an exciting week for the team! We began the week with improvements to the microcontroller system: it is now able to read in ADC values and perform end-to-end transmission. On the mechanical side of the team, a… Read More
Sensor Test Preparations (Week 20)
This week team FeraFree made more progress towards our sensor testing goals. The electrical side of the team evaluated available literature and determined that our use of breadboards up until now could be a major source of noise for the… Read More
Simpler Grease Modelling (Week 19)
After much consideration, team FeraFree has decided to forgo physical simulation with the wind turbine replica bearing in lieu of simpler fluid calculations. This reflects limitations in budget, time, and a greater emphasis on producing a functional prototype. Consideration was… Read More
Grease Testing Concepts (Week 18)
Team FeraFree has two main sub-groups, one for the mechanical portion of the prototype and another for the electrical and software portion. The mechanical group (consisting of Nick, Eric, and Diana) spent this week generating concepts for the grease testing… Read More
Geo-Tagging & Fluid Test Prep (Week 17)
Two steps forward, one step back. This week team FeraFree endured the loss of one our promising debris sensors, the tunnelling magnetoresistive (TMR) sensor. Voltage was applied in the incorrect direction across the pins, leading to an electrical burnout. Rest… Read More
Cleaning Up The Signal (Week 16)
This week team FeraFree continued setting up the TMR sensor and refining the output signal to detect ferrous debris in grease samples (Diana, Max, and Dr. Marte shown working in the image below). We achieved a practical gain in the… Read More
First Steps of Spring (Week 15)
New year, new testing rig! This week team FeraFree hit the ground running by implementing a number of planned upgrades to our sensor testing circuit. Our main focus remains with the tunnelling magnetoresistive (TMR) sensor, which promises a high level… Read More