Big Brother Energy Monitoring System

The goal of the project is to use a hand crank generator to convert mechanical power into electricity and save that energy in a battery that will be used to charge small devices. But with a twist; the hand crank will be used as a controller for a game that you can play on your phone.

=Problem Definition= The goal of our project is to turn mechanical energy into electrical energy with the use of hand crank generators, we will use this energy to store in a battery and charge small devices like cell phones. But with a twist, the hand crank generators will be controllers for a game.

Background
The background for this project goes back to the original prompt for our project. As a group we picked the most important aspects from the prompt and narrowed it down to three parts. The parts are: 1.	To monitor power 2.	To save electricity 3.	To have fun We looked into this and decided to do a brain storming session about fun ways and accomplish all of these goals. We came up with this idea of creating a game that created power on its own and was monitored while playing the game. This energy can be used to charge a whole verity of small devices and is therefore saving electrity in the home.

Deliverables
The deliverable for this project will be a fully functioning game that reacts to generator input and creates energy that can in turn charge a phone.

Budget
Our budget is shown below in ranges. It will fall in the range of 210 and 350 dollars most likely. We will have to purchase a hand crank generators, a microcontroller, some converters, and a battery.

Requirements
General Requirements
 * Generates power
 * Easy to use
 * Fun to play
 * Financially viable
 * Transmits through Wi-Fi

Specific Requirements Hand Crank Generator Specifications AC/DC converter specifications Battery specifications

Target Values
 * Safety to use for both users and devices
 * Generally reduces power consumption in the home
 * Fun to play and create
 * Compact and portable design
 * Final product functions as intended

=Snapshot Slides= Link to Google Drive SnapShot Above is a shareable link to the google drive. Here you will see pictures of all of pages shown during snapshot, along with the original PowerPoint.

=Design Review= Link to Design Review Material and Power Point Design Review: Date: 4/18/19 Location: NASA Conference Room BEL Time: 2:00 PM

Our design review was attended by 12 people plus the three presenters. We walked through the introductions and gave our elevator pitch first. Then we talked about the whole project in a physical sense and showed a slide with all of the physical components laid out on it. Then we went into all of the specifications. These can be found on the link in the powerpoint, or below in the specifications section of the wiki page. Next we went into the simulations. We discussed the power path and the signal path for the project. After that Noah talked about the microcontroller and communication from the generator to the hand crank, he also gave all of the necessary data for these components. After we got through the meat of the project we talked about the budget and the scheduled moving forward. Then we had a questions section in which Val Wold and Dr. Hess asked many questions and then we wrapped up. I am going to tell you our grade we received on the Design Review because I am proud of it, we received an A. Overall the Design Review was a success, for more information about it click on the link above or contact the team members.

=Project Learning and Preliminary Design= Shown below is our hand drawn simulation of our plan, including the hand cranks, battery, microcontroller, and converters. As you can see, we start with the hand crank generators which outputs a AC voltage that goes to a AC/DC converer that outputs DC voltage to a battery. This battery in turn charges a phone or other small device as well as feeding a Arduino Uno. This is done by stepping down the voltage using a buck converter as shown. The last step, shown in orange is the voltage being read by the microcontroller using the analog in built into the microcontroller.

=Final Design= So far all we have to show for our final design are our simulations. So below I have shown screenshots of our power path as well as our signal path, these were explained in detail at our design review. Here is our power path; Shown here is our signal path;

=Validation=

=Team Members=

=Additional Documentation=

Project Schedule



Meeting Minutes





Presentations



Client Interview