Project

# Title Team Members TA Documents Sponsor
14 Propeller-less Multi-rotor
 Bree Peng
Ignacio Aguirre Panadero
Leo Yamamae
 Luke Wendt appendix0.pdf
design_document0.pdf
final_paper0.pdf
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presentation0.pptx
proposal0.pdf
video
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The idea is to have 4 of these centrifugal fans in each corner replacing the motor+propeller on a typical drone for greater durability and more options. You may ask, "Is this the same as just swapping out methods of propulsion?" The answer is no. In a typical drone, the half of the motors spin clockwise and the other counter-clockwise. This is because of the angular momentum of the motors. A good example is a helicopter. It has its huge propellers and it has a tail-rotor.

The problem that arises from changing to this method of propulsion is that the drone cannot yaw (turn left or right). The traditional drone increases the RPM on two motors spinning the same direction located diagonally from each other and decreases the RPM of the other two. This will result in keeping altitude and turning left or right by angular momentum. The issue with the centrifugal fan propelled drone is that in order to yaw, the direction of the fan must be changed. Therefore, we will need to use an actuator to change the direction.

The ultimate goal is to build a drone that uses a centrifugal fan as a method of propulsion and map the controls such that an experienced multi-rotor flyer will be able to pick up the controller and fly it. So it will be an remote-controlled drone that will be using a typical RC transmitter and receiver or a XBEE talking to a xbox/PlayStation controller.

Therefore, my project will include:
Design of the Flight Control Board
Design of the Chassis,
Design of the Centrifugal Fans,
Actuation design,
Finding parts (ESC if we buy it, Battery, sensors, etc.)

Automatic Piano Tuner

Joseph Babbo, Colin Wallace, Riley Woodson

Automatic Piano Tuner

Featured Project

# Automatic Piano Tuner

Team Members:

- Colin Wallace (colinpw2)

- Riley Woodson (rileycw2)

- Joseph Babbo (jbabbo2)

# Problem

Piano tuning is a time-consuming and expensive process. An average piano tuning will cost in the $100 - $200 range and a piano will have to be retuned multiple times to maintain the correct pitch. Due to the strength required to alter the piano pegs it is also something that is difficult for the less physically able to accomplish.

# Solution

We hope to bring piano tuning to the masses by creating an easy to use product which will be able to automatically tune a piano by giving the key as input alongside playing the key to get the pitch differential and automatically turning the piano pegs until they reach the correct note.

# Solution Components

## Subsystem 1 - Motor Assembly

A standard tuning pin requires 8-14 nm of torque to successfully tune. We will thus need to create a motor assembly that is able to produce enough torque to rotate standard tuning pins.

## Subsystem 2 - Frequency Detector/Tuner

The device will use a microphone to gather audio measurements. Then a microprocessor processes the audio data to detect the pitch and determine the difference from the desired frequency. This can then generate instructions for the motor; direction to turn pegs and amount to turn it by.

## Subsystem 3 - User Interface/Display Panel

A small but intuitive display and button configuration can be used for this device. It will be required for the user to set the key being played using buttons on the device and reading the output of the display. As the device will tune by itself after hearing the tone, all that is required to display is the current key and octave. A couple of buttons will suffice to be able to cycle up and down keys and octaves.

## Subsystem 4 - Replaceable Battery/Power Supply

Every commercial product should use standard replaceable batteries, or provide a way for easy charging. As we want to develop a handheld device, so that the device doesn’t have to drag power wires into the piano, we will need a rechargeable battery pack.

# Criterion For Success

The aim of the Automatic Piano Tuner is to allow the user to automatically tune piano strings based on a key input alongside playing a note. We have several goals to help us meet this aim:

- Measure pitch accurately, test against known good pitches

- Motor generates enough torque to turn the pegs on a piano

- Tuner turns correctly depending on pitch

- Easy tuning of a piano by a single untrained person

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