WEEK 10 

PROGRESS ON THE SOFTWARE PART

Before the software part is done, I have made some simple arrangement of all the controller and the motor driver into one part so that during the software progress will run smoothly. Here is some of the arrangement of the controller with the motor driver connected together and placed in one box also with the switch for turn on/off motor battery.

The blue box attached at the motor battery holder

Inside of the blue box, there are the placement of the controller and motor driver together with the switch button attach to the box too. 

Inside of the Blue Box 

Inside the box contains the Arduino Board (Microcontroller), Motor driver (to control the movement of the actuator motor) and the switch button. 

Side view of the box

At the side f the blue box, there is the cable that connect the microcontroller to the laptop.

All of the above figure describe the mechanism of how the software progress.

WEEK 9 

DATA COLLECTION FOR THE FINDING THE ANGLE

For the data collection, all the data that had been received from the Arduino IDE was then recorded. The data came out in the form of angle in degree and the time take in millisecond is shown at the serial monitor. All the data from the serial monitor is then transferred to the Excel to make a chart/graph.

Serial monitor from the Arduino IDE that shows the angle and the time taken of the 

measurement

Graph shows the angle of the seat from the IMU sensor

While for the stroke length of the actuator motor is measured by using a measuring tape placed near the stroke length of actuator motor is lengthen.

Example of how the stroke length is measured

All the above experiment setup is to find the angle of the seat and also to compare from the manual way by using the protractor and easy way by using the IMU sensor. Both method are used for this experiment to compare the result that was taken and to identify either both method can be used to take an accurate reading and measurement in the future.

The comparison had been made after getting the results from both ways. Here are some of the result obtained from the experiment:

Comparison of the result obtained

From the above table 5 shows the comparison between protractor and IMU, clearly shows that the result were slightly different from each of the results obtained. This shows that both manual and IMU ways can be used to find the angle as there are not much of different between both results. 

WEEK 8 

EXPERIMENT SETUP FOR FINDING THE ANGLE

This experiment was to find the angle of the wheelchair’s seat. There are two ways of performing this experiment. One is the manual way by using the protractor and another one is by using the IMU connected to the controller and the computer. Both ways are to find the angle and at the same time to make comparison between both results.

For the experiment setup, before the experiment begin, first and foremost was to identify the suitable tool that be used to measure the angle of the seat. Next is to identify the right place to make the reference point to find the angle of the seat. For the extra tool that we use for the experiment was the 2 flexible angle iron shaft placed at the side of the wheelchair’s seat as shown below:

Iron shaft that is flexible to moved accordingly with the wheelchair’s seat

The iron shaft was then attached to the side of the wheelchair as one of the shaft attached at the side wheelchair while another shaft attached to the seat which will be moving up and down. That is why the shaft must be flexible as to follow according to the movement of the wheelchair’s seat. The attachment of the shaft to the wheelchair is shown as follow:

Figure shows how the 2 shaft is attached to the wheelchair

After the attachment of the shaft to the wheelchair, the first measurement for this experiment was by manually measured using the protractor. The protractor is placed at the back of the attached shaft at the side of the wheelchair. The purpose of using the protractor was to measure the angle of the seat by the shaft that attached to the seat. The angle of the seat can be shown from the protractor when the seat is moving.  The protractor is placed according to the reference point between the 2 shafts as shown below:

Manual way - Experimental setup by using protractor

Next, another measurement method that we use for this experiment is by using the IMU sensor known as ArduIMU V3. This sensor is  smaller and faster by incorporating the new Invensense MPU-6000 MEMS 3-axis gyro and accelerometer as well the 3-axis I2C magnetometer HMC-5883L which means it has 3 function all in one sensor. This IMU sensor is then attached at the one of the moving shaft as it to shows the angle from that movement of the shaft. Here is the placement of the IMU sensor to detect the angle of the seat:

Placement of the IMU sensor at the movable shaft.

First is to attach the IMU sensor at the movable shaft which attached at the seat then connect the IMU sensor to the Microcontroller (Arduino UNO board). The Arduino board is then connected to the computer to get the result shown from the serial monitor. All of the data that come from the IMU sensor will be shown at the serial monitor from the Arduino IDE. The data is then recorded.

Using IMU - Top view of the experiment setup

Using IMU - Overall setup for the experiment

Above information including the figure are the setup of the experiment for the measurement of angle of the wheelchair's seat. The experiment are still in progress for few days and any improvement are made from time to time.

WEEK 7 

NEW LOOK AND NEW DESIGN FOR THE WHEELCHAIR

So after a week on discussing about the new design for the wheelchair at the new welding shop, the new look of the wheelchair had been done in less than 2 days compare to the old welding shop. The quality of the work from the new welding shop was quite impressive and satisfied with the price given. Here is the new look of the wheelchair:

Front View of the wheelchair

Description of the wheelchair

Back View of the Wheelchair that placed the motor battery holder

View under the seat

Extended shaft for more stability of the wheelchair seat

From the above figure shows that the new design of the wheelchair looks more stable and safe for the wheelchair user to use it compared to the old design. It is also have been proven that the wheelchair is more stable does not have any problem when the actuator motor pull or push the seat upward and downward. 

So after the hardware part is totally done, we will move on to the software part. This part will be done on next week and the week afterwards until this project is totally ready for the presentation.

WEEK 6

WHEELCHAIR HAVING SOME PROBLEM

According to the title above, yes there are some problem during the testing of the actuator motor at the wheelchair. This testing was supposed to present for my co-supervisor to show the functionality, however the structure of the welding part are not strong enough and some o the parts are falling apart. the problem of the welding part include the screw under the seat is falling and not going to hold the seat any longer. While the welding points are breaking after few testing before the final touch up at the welding shop (last welding process). This is sad to see as it shows that the welding is not good enough for this kind of project. Below is the figure of the screw under the seat is falling. 

Figure shows that the screw that attached the actuator motor to the seat is falling

This makes me to bring back the wheelchair to another welding shop for repairing process. I have been recommended by Sir Malik to go to another welding shop that can make the best work for any fyp projects. So this week is only to send back my wheelchair for repairing and fixing process.