Capacitive Rain Sensor for Automatic Wiper Control ECE 480 – Team 6 In Order of Presentation: Ishaan Sandhu Danny Kang Arslan Qaiser Eric Otte Anuar Tazabekov Outline • Introduction • Design Requirements • Proposed Design Solution • Testing Results • Budget • Demonstration • Conclusions Introduction • • • • • Automotive Safety and Convenience Automatic Headlights Hands-Free Calling Automatic Braking Automatic Windshield Wipers – Currently Optical (Expensive, Inaccurate) – DT6 Proposes Using a Capacitive Based Sensor Capacitive Sensor Basics Sensor Traces Form Base Capacitance E-field Generated by Applying AC Voltage Objects Interfere with E-field Capacitance of Sensor Changes Design Requirements Functionality Compatibility • Detect rain through 6 mm of glass • Fit in existing housing area (1250 mm2) • Output control signals to wipers • Mount via adhesive to windshield Accuracy Cost • Differentiate multiple levels of rain • Production cost < $16 per unit • Ignore false stimuli on windshield, i.e. hands and dirt System Block Diagram Capacitive Sensor Control Unit Wiper System Design Flowchart Capacitive Sensor Traces on PCB Voltage Regulator (5 V DC) YES Capacitive-toDigital Converter Circuit Is Capacitance Between X ≤ Farads ≤ Y ? Microcontroller NO Control Unit Activate Wipers Keep Wipers Off Sensor Traces COMSOL • 3D Modeling Software • Visual User Interface • Calculates the base capacitance • Can model dielectrics – Top layer – Bottom Layer • Simulates electric field lines – Sensitivity Capacitance-to-Digital Converter Make text larger Analog Devices AD7745 • Industry-leading accuracy down to 4 fF change in capacitance • Interfaces with sensor traces to monitor capacitance (+/- 4 pF) • Converts changing capacitance to 24-bit digital output signal • Output routed to PIC using the I2C communication system Microcontroller Make text larger Microchip PIC16F1826 • 8-bit microcontroller, programmable in C code • Initializes and configures AD7745 for operation • Streams data from AD7745 and compares to known data ranges • Data falling in range will activate appropriate wiper control signals Budget COMPONENT COST PIC16F1826 Microcontroller $0.90 AD7745 CDC $4.50 ADP3301-5 Voltage Regulator $1.40 Surface-mount Passive Components $0.10 Two-layer PCB Production and Assembly $4.00 (est) Plastic Enclosure $0.50 (est) Total $11.40 (est) Capacitive vs. Optical Design Team 6 Supplier (TRW) Technology Change Capacitive Optical Cost per Unit $11.40 $16.41 31% ↓ Physical Size 1,750 mm2 3,850 mm2 46% ↓ Detection Area 960 mm2 560 mm2 72% ↑ Clear line of site No need Required Software Visual Basic Application Microcontroller Start Start Login Wait for Interrupt Main Initialize Wait for UI Start Reset Clear all Fields Get Data Graph and Interpret Get Data Demonstration Conclusions • • • • • • Successful completion of the project Exceeds all design requirements Higher accuracy Larger sensing area Smaller enclosure Significant savings Q&A Thank You