This page contains details on extra-curricular projects undertaken by me during my degree. All of the projects detailed below were sponsored either by a corporation or a society within the university.
Arduino Project
This project was sponsored by Thales and began with a workshop on the basics of Arduino. Participants then formed groups and worked on a project of their choosing to be presented in a competition at the end.
The aim of our project was to design a security device to protect an entrance using the Arduino. If an unauthorised person was to enter, the device owner would be notified.
The system contained a laser beam, projected across the entrance. A keypad was connected to it for access and configured with a password. To enter, the person enters the password, and if it is incorrect 3 times, an alarm sounds. Alternatively, if they try to enter without entering a password the result will be the same. The laser will only turn off upon entry of the correct password.
CUBE: Solar-Powered Water Pumps
For this project, my team at CUBE Consulting worked with Maji Pump on their solar-powered water pumps designed for crop farmers in under-developed countries such as Kenya. Their existing design delivered DC, which they wanted changed to AC.
In order to deliver this, we used a solar-micro inverter to switch the current. We then integrated it into the existing system using a linear regulator circuit designed by our team. Further to this, we lab-tested an alternative integration method using a switching regulator.
The switching regulator schematic is shown below.
Component Functionality
- Potential Divider: Drop the voltage from 17 V at the input to 12 V at the output.
- Decoupling Capacitor: Large capacitance to filter noise from the input and limit the ripple voltage whilst supplying the switch current during the ON time.
- Inductor: Supply a smooth current to the output when driven by a switching voltage. Larger inductances can also limit ripple at the output.
- Schottky Diode: Limits current flow to a particular direction.
Next, we have the linear regulator schematic.
L7812A
- Accepts a wide range of input voltage (14.5–25V).
- Produces a stable output voltage of 12V with minimal fluctuations.
- Capacitors employed for input stability and favorable transient response.
The linear regulator turned out to be a much simpler circuit and was able to provide the necessary current for the required application. However, for higher loads, a switching regulator would be more desirable as it is better at conserving power.
Some pictures of our system are shown below.