Smart Air Vents that Enable Equal Temperature through Air Flow Control Rahul Dendukuri, Team Leader Rahol Rajan, Web Master Siddhanth Ganesan John McShane Danny Tibbetts Georgia Institute of Technology School of Electrical and Computer Engineering October 29, 2013

Project Introduction Mechanical Design Software Design Market Integration & Current Progress

Project Overview The centralized air conditioning system does not always cool or heat different regions of a building uniformly Network of Smart Air Vents that facilitates uniform cooling of a building through air flow control Owners of buildings with centralized air conditioning Cost of prototype: $143.31

Design Objectives Design a network of air vents that controls air flow to equalize temperatures in different rooms Unit will be comprised of a remote temperature sensing module and the air vent Independent of the centralized air conditioner Easy installation Automated after installation

Technical Details Temperature sensing module is comprised of: – Temperature sensor (TMP36) – Wireless transceiver (XBee Series 1) Air vent is comprised of: – Motor and gears – MCU (Mbed) – Wireless transceiver (XBee Pro)

Project Introduction Mechanical Design Software Design Market Integration & Current Progress

Prefabricated Air Vent

Renders of Vent – Side View MCU Housing Motor & Gears Closed Vent Open Vent

Renders of Vent – Front View MCU Housing

Project Introduction Mechanical Design Software Design Market Integration & Current Progress

Illustration of Design

Communication within the Unit

Alternative Network Topology XBee transmits to preconfigured addresses – Not possible to change destination addresses during execution

Temperature Processing

Motor Control Depending on values of X1, X2 or X3 the positions are 0,1,2, or 3 TOP VIEW Flap Open Flap Closed

Project Introduction Mechanical Design Software Design Market Integration & Current Progress

Market Analysis Competitors: – Keen Home’s Keen Vent $40 per vent, $150 one time fee Requires user survey of schedule – Pautech’s Click Vent $30 per vent IR remote input – Activent $50 per vent Requires target temperature to be set Smart Air Vents: – $150 per vent – No user input – System response is to temperature comparison between rooms

Prototype Cost Prototype Total: $ ItemUnit CostQuantityTotal Pololu Mini Plastic Gear Motor$5.491 NCV70501 Driver Motor$3.561 Mbed Microcontroller$ XBee Wireless Transcievers$22.95/$42.952$ ” X 10” Wall Register$8.371 Miscellaneous (Gears and Wires)$10.00-

Milestones Accomplished Ordered XBee Pros, motor, motor driver, and the gears Built a Styrofoam model for the air vent Successful communication between the MCU and the temperature sensing module Experimented with converting a pre fabricated vent to meet our design requirements

Task Summary TaskOwnerDeadline 1Ordering Motor and Motor DriverSiddhanth G10/30/2013 2Testing of Analog Temperature SensorRahul D11/7/2013 3Communication of Analog Temperature ValuesRahol R11/10/2013 4Node Failure AlgorithmRahul D11/15/2013 5Temperature Processing and Motor Control Implementation Siddhanth G11/15/2013 6Attach Gears and motor to ventDanny T11/15/2013 7Perform Power Calculations - Motor BlockJohn M.11/20/2013 8Perform Power Calculations - Sensor BlockDanny T.11/20/2013 9Determine optimal power SupplyJohn M.11/22/ Determine Optimum Constant “K” for ProcessRahol R11/25/2013

Questions?