Project

# Title Team Members TA Documents Sponsor
12 Automatic Cat Litter Box
 Jonathan Chang
Michael Duan
Shihua Cheng
 Nikhil Arora design_document1.pdf
final_paper1.pdf
presentation1.pdf
proposal2.pdf
proposal1.pdf
video
# Team members
Shihua Cheng (shihuac2)


Michael Duan (hduan5)


Jonathan Chang (jwchang4)


# problem

Modern automatic cat litter boxes automate waste removal but frequently neglect the crucial issue of odor control. Over time, as these systems accumulate waste, odors can intensify, causing discomfort for both cats and owners. Given cats' highly sensitive sense of smell, they detect these odors well before humans do. This oversight poses a challenge for maintaining a fresh and hygienic litter box environment, which can create an unpleasant living environment, pose health concerns, reduce usability,and contribute to stress and anxiety.


Current automatic litter boxes also often lack the capability to track the duration and frequency of a cat's litter box usage. This information is crucial for monitoring the health of the cat. Changes in litter box behavior, such as prolonged visits or increased frequency of use, can indicate potential health concerns such as urinary tract infections or digestive issues. Without the ability to capture and analyze this data, cat owners miss out on valuable insights that could help them proactively address their pet's well-being.

# solution
The proposed solution centers around a cat litter box with motorized raking mechanisms for scooping.


Weight sensors will be positioned beneath the litter box, each with a casing to prevent unwanted material from making contact. These sensors are responsible for initiating the motorized raking process upon detecting the entry and exit of the cat. Beyond triggering waste disposal, these sensors will also act as the means to monitor the cat. By continuously capturing data, they quantify the duration of each cat visit, the frequency of visits, and the weight of the cat itself. This information will be communicated to the user through their phone.

Odor sensors will be placed within the hood of the litter box, designed to detect and monitor the buildup of odors in real-time. As the sensors detect increasing levels of ammonia and other odor-producing compounds, they will trigger an automated odor-neutralizing process and a notification to the user. This proactive approach aims to tackle unpleasant odors as soon as they emerge, ensuring a fresh environment for the cats and allowing time for the owner to combat the odor once they receive the alert.

# SOLUTION COMPONENTS

Microcontroller: ESP32 microcontroller for data processing, controlling the motors, and communication.

Weight Sensors: For detection, monitor of the cat and the waste compartment.

Odor Sensors: For monitor of the litter box

Motors: For raking the waste and releasing odor-neutralizing compounds.

Power Supply: Wall Outlet

# CRITERION FOR SUCCESS:
The success of the solution will be evident through the following criteria:

Accurate Detection: The litter box should consistently and accurately detect the cat's presence, usage, and departure. It should also be able to detect the state of the litter box with respect to odor.

Communication to User: The user should be provided basic real-time notifications, conditions of the litter box, and insights to behavioral patterns of their cat.

Active Cell Balancing for Solar Vehicle Battery Pack

Tara D'Souza, John Han, Rohan Kamatar

Featured Project

# Problem

Illini Solar Car (ISC) utilizes lithium ion battery packs with 28 series modules of 15 parallel cells each. In order to ensure safe operation, each battery cell must remain in its safe voltage operating range (2.5 - 4.2 V). Currently, all modules charge and discharge simultaneously. If any single module reaches 4.2V while charging, or 2.5V while discharging, the car must stop charging or discharging, respectively. During normal use, it is natural for the modules to become unbalanced. As the pack grows more unbalanced, the capacity of the entire battery pack decreases as it can only charge and discharge to the range of the lowest capacity module. An actively balanced battery box would ensure that we utilize all possible charge during the race, up to 5% more charge based on previous calculations.

# Solution Overview

We will implement active balancing which will redistribute charge in order to fully utilize the capacity of every module. This system will be verified within a test battery box so that it can be incorporated into future solar vehicles.

Solution Components:

- Test Battery Box (Hardware): The test battery box provides an interface to test new battery management circuitry and active balancing.

- Battery Sensors (Hardware): The current battery sensors for ISC do not include hardware necessary for active balancing. The revised PCB will include the active balancing components proposed below while also including voltage and temperature sensing for each cell.

- Active Balancing Circuit (Hardware): The active balancing circuit includes a switching regulator IC, transformers, and the cell voltage monitors.

- BMS Test firmware (Software): The Battery Management System requires new firmware to control and test active balancing.

# Criterion for Success

- Charge can be redistributed from one module to another during discharge and charge, to be demonstrated by collected data of cell voltages over time.

- BMS can control balancing.

- The battery pack should always be kept within safe operating conditions.

- Test battery box provides a safe and usable platform for future tests.