Engineering Design Process, Arduino Basics, Electronics Basics

The Engineering Design Process (7 steps)

Ask →Imagine → Plan → Create → Test → Improve → Ask (They all can go to share)

Ask

-You or a client come up with a need for a product or service

-Recognizing the need for a product or service.

-Defining and understanding the need.

-Identify the criteria and constraints (materials, time, space, budget)

-Most importantly understand the problem.

Imagine

-Conceptualize your answer

-Research and prepare: collect useful information

-Brainstorm! Generate ideas that could be reasonable solutions

-Evaluate the merits of each alternative

-Make a decision!

(Rough Sketches, draft ideas)

Plan

-Time for details! Calculations, models, and simulations.

-Materials and tools list.

-Create a detailed diagram. Include labels.

-Write out the steps required to assemble the product

-Check for codes and standards of compliance.

Create

Build it, gather materials, and document the assembly. (allows future people to create if documenting the process)

Test

• Try it out

• Run trials and experiments

• Record notes, observations, and new ideas

• See what requirements you meet and what constraints you fail.

Improve

Patent & Trade Secrets

Patent - legal document of all steps necessary for the product or service but it is public, where you have public rights and can sue/copyright.

Trade Secrets - Same as patent but it is private where you sign it as secret, and steps are not shown to the public.

Improve

-Assess your product

-Optimize your design

-Decide what to keep and change

-Plan out a redesign of your product

Share

-Communicate!

-Prepare a report to share your colleagues and client.

-Design is collaborative. Be ready to share your progress at any stage of the process.

-Launch the product to the public.

Arduino Basics

Microcontroller

-Small computer on a single chip that is used to execute uploaded sketches w

-is the board’s brain with computing power that runs programs and interfaces with hardware that enable it to sense, process, and respond to real-world inputs.

Arduino

-is the go-to gear for artists, hobbyists, students, and anyone with a gadgetry dream.

-rose out of another formidable challenge: how to teach students to create electronics, fast.

Arduino board

• Microcontroller

• PWR IN - Batteries (7-15 V)

• Power (Input Voltage) (5V / 3.3 V / GND (Ground - to complete that circuit)

• Analog INPUTS (sinusoid continues, basic raw data)

• Digital I/O (PWM (Pulse with Modulation)

• Serial Bus (SCL)

• Reset - restarts the code/program

• -USB (to computer) - send code to the board

The reset button looks like a small tactile push button labeled "RESET" on the Arduino board silkscreen. It is used when pressed to restart the microcontroller so the sketch runs from the beginning, making it useful when the board becomes unresponsive or after uploading code. The reset button's significance is that it simplifies development and troubleshooting by providing an immediate hardware reset without disconnecting power.

The GND (ground) pins can be composed of one or more header pins on the Arduino board labeled “GND” that are all electrically tied together to the board’s 0-volt reference. GND provides the common return path for current where every sensor, actuator, and external power supply used with the Arduino must share the same ground connection to ensure correct voltage references and reliable signals. A proper common ground is significant as it is essential for any circuit to function and for safe interfacing between the Arduino and external devices where missing or floating grounds are a frequent cause of inconsistent behavior and measurement errors. 

What is I/O?

Input/Output (I/O) on an Arduino refers to how the microcontroller interacts with the outside world, receiving information (inputs) and controlling external components (outputs). Arduino boards offer both digital and analog I/O capabilities.

Three parts you can use with a microcontroller

-sensors (taking in environmental info)

-effectors (interacting with the environment)

-communicators (seeking/receiving data)

SIK Components

Push Button “Touch Sensor” (Digital Input, switch - closes or opens circuit, polarized; needs resistor)

Trim potentiometer (analog input, variable resistor, aka Trimpot)

Photoresistor “Light sensor” (Analog Input, light dependent resistor, resistance varies with light.)

Relay (Digital Output, switch drive by a small signal, used to control larger voltages), RGB “Red Green Blue” LED (light emitting diode, digital & analog output)

LED WIRES (cathode (+, longer) and anode (-, shorter)

Diode - one way path-part

Piezo element - speaker or buzzer

transistor - controls signals

Servo motor - moves to a certain angle

LCD - Light crystal display - to punish text

Breadboard - prototype circuit board

Sparkfun Red Board - for physical computing and project prototyping.

Electronic Basics

Ohm’s Law, Voltage, Current, Resistance, Kirchoff’s Laws. and equivalent resistance.

How does electricity work?

Through flow of charges in circuit loops with current and voltage.

Traditional light bulbs are the equivalent of which electronic part?

Traditional light bulbs are equivalent to resistors that have resistance where current is used through those resistors in a circuit loop.

Ohm’s Law

• Voltage = (Current)(Resistance)

• Ohm’s Law describes the direct relationship between the Voltage (V), Current (I), and Resistance (R) of a circuit.

• V=IR, I = V/R, R = V/I

Electrical Properties

Voltage V

• Defined as the amount of potential energy in a circuit.

• Units: Volts (V)

Current I

• The rate of charge flow in a circuit.

• Units: Amperes (A)
  

Resistance R

• Opposition to charge flow.

• Units: Ohms (Ohm symbol)

Kirchoff's Laws

1. The current entering a node is the same as the current exiting it. (node = junction point btw diff components)

2. The sum of all voltages around a loop is equal to zero.

Equivalent resistance - in series

-connected end-to-end one after the other

-all have the same current

-add em up

Equivalent resistance - in parallel

-share the same nodes

-experience the same potential difference, but they split the entering current

Equivalent Resistance in parallel - methods to find

Method 1:

1. Sum the reciprocal

2. Find the result’s reciprocal
   

Method 2

1. Multiply in the numerator

2. Add in the denominator

Check photos for other notes

Check photos (P=IV=(V²/R) = (I²R))