The Results
Reflecting on the successes and failures of the project have lead us to examine the questions of what we would have done differently if given a second opportunity to execute the project, and what would we do additionally if given more time to work it.
View of the Finished Model
View of Control System and Output Graph
[Hover your mouse over thumbnail for detail]
Also see the movie [.mov] of the dampers being actuated.
Successes and Failures
We consider the project to be a success but would still like to discuss here in detail what we consider both the successes and failures of the design and implementation of our project:
- The major success of the project was the accomplishment of implementing all the of mechanical and electrical systems we designed and implementing a control system that successfully runs them. There is no doubt that final model is amechatronics project in that it is an autonomous system that uses both analog and digital processes to react and interact with it's environment. We accomplished our design and have a functional final product.
- One of the goals of our project that we discussed in our project proposal was to run a series of scenarios using our experimental test bed and to analyze the results looking for ways to the increase efficiency of our control system. While this is currently possible using our final product we did not have the necessary time to spend developing this aspect of our project.
- Being a prototype model, there is a certain lack of consistency when it comes to the motion of the dampers themselves. While they work the majority of the time, they have a tendency to become stuck in the duct especially at the end states. The dampers themselves are a hand-cut circular metal disk within the duct on an axle. A possible solution for this problem would be tore-cut the circular disks or to get the machined to replace the current disks.
What would we have done differently?
We have no regrets about our design or implementation of this model, and if we were to build this design again, it is likely it would look very similar to our final product. When we were developing the idea for this project -- even before writing the project proposal -- we made an outline of all the ideas we had for interesting things we could include in this project. Many of our ideas were simply outside of our time and budgetary constraints, however the most honest response to the question, "What would we do differently?" is to say that we would use our experience with this model and add as many additional features from this list as possible.
Future Developments
If given the oportunity these would be the two immediate next steps that we would take on the project:
- The dampers are now computer controllable but the next step would be to automate damper actuation by allowing the control system itself to decide on best use of the dampers. This would require implementation of a damper learning module.
- We would more developed analytics based on more data gathered from the control system. We would develop an automatic system that would display plots on the resident pc after a scenario was done being run in the model to allow for analysis of the results.
About Project
The Home HVAC model was designed and built as an experimental test-bed for developing a smart HVAC control system. The model itself uses the design principle of independance of functional requirements to give as much flexability to the model as possibile; this allows for many interesting scenarios and experiements to be run in a controled system before implementing them in an actual home system. The purpose for the control system is to limit the temperature differential within a room and between rooms to make for a consistant and comfortable living enviroment. This is accomplished through the use of mechanical systems, electrical systems, and software. The idea for the project came from a personal dissatisfaction team members have with drafty rooms, hot and cold spots, and unresponsive thermostats in our own homes.
Team Info
- Ned Cameron
- Ned is a senior in the Mechanical Engineering department. He has concentrated in MEMS, Nanotechnology, and Mechatronics while fulfilling the requirements for his degree. After graduation, he will work as Application Service Engineer for Informance International in Northbrook, IL.
- Ted Reynolds
- Ted is a senior in the Mechanical Engineering department. He is a co-op engineer with ITW in Glenview where he plays on the volleyball team. He enjoys sleeping little and cooking lots. Considering he still has another year left, Ted has not given much thought to his future, but wherever he may be, he plans to have the best HVAC system on the block.
- James Snyder
- James is a first year graduate student in Biomedical Engineering. He has recently completed an undergraduate degree in biology at Northwestern University (concentration in Neurobiology), and currently works with the MacIver Lab studying sensorimotor integration in weakly-electric fish.