Project

# Title Team Members TA Documents Sponsor
70 EduGrid Microgrid Demonstrator
 Ahmet Colak
Jason Hart
Srijan Kunta
 Abdullah Alawad proposal1.docx
EduGrid Microgrid Demonstrator

**Team Members:**
- Jason Hart (jhart34)
- Ahmet Colak (colak2)

**Problem:**
Students often have limited understanding of how the electric power grid is designed to stay safe and reliable, especially the protection systems, breakers, relays, fault isolation, that prevent small failures from becoming large outages. Because these concepts are not taught in a fun and accessible way, many students do not see what power engineers actually do or why the field matters, which can reduce interest in pursuing power and energy careers. Recent large scale outages, such as the winter storm related failures experienced in Texas, show how grid reliability, planning, and protection directly affect daily life and the safety of the public, highlighting the need for clear, hands on public education.

**Solution:**
Our product will include an interactable tabletop power grid that allows the user to see the flow of power from source to load, all while having access to switches and controls that aim to isolate faults, correct the power factor, and visualize the flow of power on our grid. All of these systems will provide students with an intuitive and engaging tool to learn more about the important role of power engineers.

**Solution Components:**


**Subsystem 1:**

**Power distribution and DC/DC regulation:**

Provides stable regulated power rails for the entire project so the ESP32-S3, display, LEDs, and indicators operate reliably. This subsystem converts the main input supply into a clean 5 V rail and a clean 3.3 V rail, with protection and power indication.

- 5 V system rail Buck Switch Converters: TPS54202DDCR
- 3.3 V logic rail Low Dropout Voltage Regulators: TLV75533PDBVR
- Input power connector: 2.1 mm DC jack PJ-102A
- Power switch: SPST toggle/slide switch (example: EG1218)
- Protection: reverse Schottky diode SN74S1053DWR
- Power indication LED: standard LED (WP7113SURDK14V) + resistor (generic)

Subsystem 2:

**Power grid state machine and fault initializer**

The brain of the system that stores the states of feeders, faults, measurements, display text, and breakers. Displays voltage, current, and power factor for power factor correction.

- Microcontroller: ESP32 S3
- Text-display showing V, I, PF, fault state: SSD1306
- Power factor correction (buttons to add capacitance or inductance): 108-D6C40F1LFS-ND

**Subsystem 3:**

**Feeder and breaker tripping behavior**

The microcontroller will initialize fault scenarios that will require the user to manually trip breakers to isolate faults
- Breaker toggleswitch: 100SP5T1B1M1QEH
- Programmable LEDs for power-flow and fault visualization LED: WS2812B

Subsystem 4:

**Mechanisms for fault selection, activation, and protection success.**

- Manual rotary selector: PEC11R-4220F-N0012
- Fault selection/activation light: 732-5017-ND
- Buzzer for incorrect fault isolation: CUI CEM-1203

**Criterion For Success:**

- Fault selection, activation, and isolation switches with clear LED/noise indication of success or failure.
- Clear depiction of power flow and feeder/breaker location on the board's face.
- Product is safely enclosed with now exposed conductors or excessive heating
- Each fault state is selectable and operational.

Interactive Proximity Donor Wall Illumination

Sungmin Jang, Anita Jung, Zheng Liu

Interactive Proximity Donor Wall Illumination

Featured Project

Team Members:

Anita Jung (anitaj2)

Sungmin Jang (sjang27)

Zheng Liu (zliu93)

Link to the idea: https://courses.engr.illinois.edu/ece445/pace/view-topic.asp?id=27710

Problem:

The Donor Wall on the southwest side of first floor in ECEB is to celebrate and appreciate everyone who helped and donated for ECEB.

However, because of poor lighting and color contrast between the copper and the wall behind, donor names are not noticed as much as they should, especially after sunset.

Solution Overview:

Here is the image of the Donor Wall:

http://buildingcampaign.ece.illinois.edu/files/2014/10/touched-up-Donor-wall-by-kurt-bielema.jpg

We are going to design and implement a dynamic and interactive illuminating system for the Donor Wall by installing LEDs on the background. LEDs can be placed behind the names to softly illuminate each name. LEDs can also fill in the transparent gaps in the “circuit board” to allow for interaction and dynamic animation.

And our project’s system would contain 2 basic modes:

Default mode: When there is nobody near the Donor Wall, the names are softly illuminated from the back of each name block.

Moving mode: When sensors detect any stimulation such as a person walking nearby, the LEDs are controlled to animate “current” or “pulses” flowing through the “circuit board” into name boards.

Depending on the progress of our project, we have some additional modes:

Pressing mode: When someone is physically pressing on a name block, detected by pressure sensors, the LEDs are controlled to

animate scattering of outgoing light, just as if a wave or light is emitted from that name block.

Solution Components:

Sensor Subsystem:

IR sensors (PIR modules or IR LEDs with phototransistor) or ultrasonic sensors to detect presence and proximity of people in front of the Donor Wall.

Pressure sensors to detect if someone is pressing on a block.

Lighting Subsystem:

A lot of LEDs is needed to be installed on the PCBs to be our lighting subsystem. These are hidden as much as possible so that people focus on the names instead of the LEDs.

Controlling Subsystem:

The main part of the system is the controlling unit. We plan to use a microprocessor to process the signal from those sensors and send signal to LEDs. And because the system has different modes, switching between them correctly is also important for the project.

Power Subsystem:

AC (Wall outlet; 120V, 60Hz) to DC (acceptable DC voltage and current applicable for our circuit design) power adapter or possible AC-DC converter circuit

Criterion for success:

Whole system should work correctly in each mode and switch between different modes correctly. The names should be highlighted in a comfortable and aesthetically pleasing way. Our project is acceptable for senior design because it contains both hardware and software parts dealing with signal processing, power, control, and circuit design with sensors.

Project Videos