Project
| # | Title | Team Members | TA | Documents | Sponsor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 58 | Automotive Window Icing Preventer for Cars |
Jiwon Bae Joon Song Taseen Karim |
Vishal Dayalan | design_document2.pdf final_paper1.pdf photo1.HEIC photo2.HEIC presentation1.pdf proposal2.pdf video1.mp4 |
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| Team Members: - Jiwon Bae (jiwonb2) - JoonHyuk Song (js30) - Taseen Karim (tkarim3) # Problem In colder climates, vehicle owners often face the challenge of ice formation on their vehicles. This ice accumulation can affect visibility, vehicle functionality, and overall safety. Removing ice manually can be time-consuming, labor-intensive, and sometimes ineffective, especially in severe weather conditions. The motivation for the automotive icing preventer is to enhance safety, convenience, and efficiency for vehicle owners in cold climates. By preventing ice formation on vehicles, this solution aims to eliminate the need for manual de-icing, saving vehicle owners considerable time and effort, especially during early morning starts. Also, it ensures clear visibility and unobstructed vehicle operation, crucial for safe driving in winter conditions. Moreover, frequent scraping and chemical de-icers can damage a vehicle's exterior. A more gentle de-icing method can help preserve the vehicle's integrity. # Solution Our solution is to design an automotive heating system attached to the inside of the vehicle onto the windshield. The device will contain heating coils within a carefully selected burn-resistant material, heating the windshield from the inside to ultimately reduce the icing. The heating pad would utilize a temperature sensor and thermostat-like closed-loop feedback system controlled over a microcontroller, as well as an LED display which would give feedback to the users. Our device will also contain a small battery-powered unit that will deliver power to the sensors and activate/deactivate power to the coils based off of the sensor feedback. # Solution Components ## Microcontroller The microcontroller will be the control unit for the entire system. It would be connected to the temperature sensor, power supply, and the feedback to the users. We decided to use an Arduino microcontroller where we could easily monitor the exact temperature outside and specifically control the temperature of the heating pad. The control unit carefully detects the temperature of the windshield regularly and turns on the heating pad when the temperature of the outside of the windshield is well below freezing degrees. The windshield of a car typically endures a temperature of up to 100 degrees of directly applied heat before potentially cracking. Thus, for the heating pad, we are aiming for a temperature of 32-40 degrees(F) for the windshield, which is well over freezing degrees and would use less power as well. Consistently checking the temperature of the windshield and the heating pad, once the windshield reaches the capacity we determined (40 degrees), the heating pad will turn off. The control unit also is responsible for outputting feedback to the users on the LED display. It would contain the indication of whether the heating pad is on or off. The LED would light green if the heating pad is on and would turn off when the heating pad is off. ## Power Unit The power supply unit will utilize a variable voltage regulator to adjust power from 30W to 200W to the heating coils, with a fixed voltage of 3.3V to sensors and microcontroller. We will need long-lasting and rechargeable batteries (LiPo batteries are most ideal), along with a battery holder. ## Sensor Unit The sensor unit will utilize some sort of temperature sensing technology (thermocouple, RTD, thermistors, this is TBD) and be integrated into a closed-loop feedback system that is linked to the power unit. Direct power to the heating coils will be fully determined by the sensor unit. If the sensor unit detects temperatures below freezing, it will queue the power unit to deliver power directly to the coils. If the sensor unit detects temperatures above freezing, the heating coils will stop receiving power. The sensor unit will be receiving low fixed voltage at all times. # Criterion For Success For the automotive icing preventer project, success can be defined by meeting the following specific and measurable goals: Surface Temperature Regulation: The system maintains the vehicle's surface temperature consistently above 0°C (32°F), regardless of external weather conditions. This is verified by sensor data indicating that the surface temperature never falls below the freezing point during operation. Power Regulation: The coils will only receive power when temperatures fall below freezing point. When temperatures are ideal, the coils will remain off and a constant voltage will be relayed to the microcontroller and sensor units to continue monitoring temperature fluctuations. Feedback: We will incorporate some form of display to show whether or not the coils are receiving power as well as battery percentage. We will also have a variable voltage regulator display showing the amount of supplied voltage. |
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