1 December 2010
A. Ball, N. Jen, A. Sterk, K. Wiersma
Calvin College Senior Design
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Project and Team Refresher
Scheduling Overview
Accomplishments
Tasks In Progress
Expected Status
Obstacles
Summary
(Left to Right)
Amy Ball, Kendrick Wiersma, Nathan Jen, and Avery Sterk
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Make power usage information more available
◦ Measure the consumption of individual building
circuits.
◦ Display power information as it becomes available.
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Make metering and maintenance remote
◦ Transmit the total building power usage directly to
the power company.
◦ Allow the power company to connect and
disconnect power by sending a signal rather than a
technician.
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Stewardship
◦ Promote awareness of power consumption
◦ Empowers users to identify their high-use devices
and habits.
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Transparency
◦ Reliably allow power delivery
◦ Do not interrupt power without request or
expectation
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Integrity
◦ Reliably provide accurate measurements
◦ Present these measurements in an intuitive
interface
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Focus on individual subsystems
◦ Working in the little picture
◦ Still allows for big-picture design
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Current focus: solid-state breakers
◦ Design
◦ Prototyping
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External deadlines
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Met with Consumer’s Energy
◦ Smart Home demonstration
◦ Contacts for advice
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Researched product competition
◦ Smart power meters
◦ Smart solid-state breakers
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Defined budget and per-subsystem estimates
Selected features for inclusion
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Established rough requirements
Investigated design possibilities
◦ Researched existing designs
◦ Performed rough simulations
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Selected metering device for prototype
Identified unforeseen constraints
◦ Data throughput
◦ Part specifications
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Solid-state breaker design
◦ Understanding how other designs work
◦ Producing or picking a design to use
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Component testing
◦ Waiting for parts to arrive
◦ Designing/building testing devices
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Big-picture design
◦ Evaluating design decisions and assumptions
◦ Defining subsystems and controllers
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Big-picture
◦ Requirements and subsystems fully defined
◦ Project budget defined
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Solid-state breakers
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Circuit designs tested and selected
Testing plan defined
Device prototyped and tested
Prototype refined after testing
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Part availability
◦ Testing requires current transformers, which just
arrived.
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Breaker design finalization
◦ Prototyping requires parts.
◦ Part selection depends on design.
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Other deadlines
◦ Graded deadlines trump internal deadlines
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Initial research and investigation is complete.
Overall system requirements are still in flux.
◦ Those critical to current work will be finalized.
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Solid-state breaker work is behind.
◦ Work intensity will increase.
◦ Deadlines will be handled more effectively.
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Other subsystems are on hold (as planned).
The project is still feasible, but behind
schedule.
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Clarifications?
Curiosity?
Comments?