Propose a final project that integrates the range of units covered.
Think of your project plan as an ‘installation and implementation guide’ for the future. How will others be able to make your project by reading your documentation?
Define the scope of a project
Develop a project plan
Preface: I successfully completed my final project during the 2017 cycle. The following is based on completing the work during that cycle.
This week I thought about further defining my project. I felt my project could build upopn my hello-output, hello-input, and communications. After Neil's lecture on networking and communications, I immediuately ordered a few varieties of ESP8266 modules and became intrigued by their versatility and economy. I was engaged with the idea of a connected mission-specific microcontroller. I further thought about the traditional methods of making wine I have been following, and contemplated how anecdotal many of the processes are, and how many of these procedures could benefit from connected controllers.
In winemaking, there are Old World winemakers and New World winemakers. I am a graduate of the Viticulture and Enology program at University of California, Davis. At UC Davis, they educate in both Old World and New World winemaking techniques and methods. I prescribe to New World winemaking, where methods and processes are more scientific based, and subsequently more liberal for creativity. Old World winemaking is mostly prescriptive-based, and offers very little for a small winemaker in Northeast Ohio trying to maked a unique product.
So after completing networking and communication week, I had a clearer idea what my final project might be able to do. When you make wine, there are operations which cause oxygen to be disolved into wine, causing oxidation. Recently, a research study of dissolved oxygen status in commercial wines was conducted by The Ohio State University's Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center, headed by state enologist, Todd Steiner. In this project, they studied oxygen pickup during various stages of the wine bottling process, including bottle headspace, bottle closure, and holding tank. The project was featured in a published article in the November 2016 issue of Wines and Vines magazine, a journal well regarded by commercial wineries. The complete research paper, "A Study to Determine the Oxygen Status in Ohio Commercial Wines at Bottling" can be found here.
Every winery has it's own methods and techniques, and the above study looks at 14 commercial wineries. I talked to Todd Steiner, and he thought controlling disolved oxegen is a really important issue, and that controlling DO is more common in California. Is there a gas analyser and controller being used in wineries at present? Probably only in the large California wineries. Are they available to small wineries? No. Are they Wifi connected? I have not seen one in the general marketplace. Can it be built primarily from the Fablab inventory in a Fablab? Yes, with the exception of the oxegen sensor. And perhaps into the future, the oxygen sensor can be built in a Fablab.
The Wifi Connected Gas Analyser and Controller will require fabrication of a modified hello-output board, fabrication of a hello-input board including ESP8266 nodeMCU module ($10), an Oxygen sensor (budget for under $100), a solenoid valve, stainless steel (budget for under $30), and an enclosure. Non-Fablab parts can be purchased on Amazon. Other parts that are required which are common items in a winery are a gas regulator, gas bottle (preferably food-grade nitrogen), tubing, tubing quick-connects. Processes that will be needed is CAD design, 3-D printing, PCB production, programming and prototyping, and testing.
Simple device which replaces the traditional air-lock on a wine storage vessel. Must have the ability to monitor oxygen level and control flow of inert gas, preferably food grade nitrogen, nitrogen gas, and remotely accessable via Wifi connection. Skillsets used in this design are communications and networking, computer-aided design, 3-D printing, electronics production, output device, input device, application programming.
Below is a proposed schedule. Spiral multi-tasking required. Don't wait to finish one task before starting another. Many of these tasks can be run concurrently, such as hunting and gathering components from the Lorain CCC inventory, waiting for time on the LPKF Mill, getting my own LPKF Mill up and running, waiting for special components to be delivered.
Search for an Oxygen sensor which is low cost and can be integrated within the Fablab construct set. Purchase at least two of different types for evaluation.
Search for a solenoid valve which is stainless steel, low cost, and can be operated by 12 volts direct current.
Redesign the hello-output board on Eagle so that it can be connected and controlled by a sensor board. Provide an input line as well as an output line.
Add diodes to output board to protect voltage regulator from burning up from external voltage.
Get rid of solder pads and use jumper headers for output board.
Mill output board on LPKF mill.
Collect components for output board from local inventory. Purchase what is not available in local inventory.
Populate and solder output board.
Test output board.
Design a sensor board using Eagle. Board should have correct voltage for sensor.
Collect components for sensor board from local inventory. Buy components which are not available locally.
Mill sensor board on LPKF mill
Populate and solder sensor board.
Test sensor board.
Add Wifi communications to one of the boards. Redesign proven design.
Re-mill new design with Wifi.
Populate and solder Wifi modified board. Test Wifi.
Evaluate combining the output and input boards into all-in-one board. Evaluate complexity.
Mill all-in-one board. Populate and solder.
Test all-in-one board.
Gather necessary Fablab components from the Lorain CCC inventory. Procure what is not available at Lorain.
Create a breadboard as a test panel to test each board separately. Hand sketch test plan.
3D print case and make sure it marries to commercial box. Also make sure output board, sensor board, and O2 sensor fit inside.
Assemble solenoid valve to case. Add quick-connect tubing couplers which are compatible with winery equipment.
Modify junction box case cover 3d model from week 13: molding and casting, and prepare into STL file for 3D printing.
Change depth of case cover to hold two boards and O2 sensor all stacked together.
Create program which demonstrates Wifi capability.
Create program which demonstrates website capability.
Create program which demonstrates sensor monitoring and communication.
Create program which demonstrates control of solenoid valve from output board.
Create program which demonstrates control of solenoid board from sensor board.
Should we measure oxygen, or lack thereof with an O2 sensor, or should we purge with CO2 gas and measure amount of CO2 with a cheaper and more common CO2 sensor instead? Answer: I feel it is better to be proof positive in what you are trying to sense. If the sensor goes defective, and you are measuring Oxygen, you will know something is off. If the CO2 sensor measures defective, you may think you are 100% CO2 but you may not be.
The assembled product will be tested on an actual tank of 2016 vintage Noiret Red Table Wine at Weymouth Farms and Orchard. Oxygen levels will be video recorded and made part of the final presentation. If oxygen levels fall below 2%, the device will be deemed successful.
