New project idea - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / projects

author: Kaelas
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: March 26, 2015, 02:46:03 pm
content: My company, Excalibur Research and Development, has started work (mainly me) on making our EE lab for smaller projects. This is mainly a room converted for our first project, a large scale 52'x16'x16' 3D HDPE printer and its prototype cousin at 2'x2'x2' for materials testing. Since we'll be using arduino I figured, hell I'll just make a pcduino oscilloscope that can handle AC and 280v using a voltage divider, some mains rated protection and some v-regs. As I was working on the project I came up with a product idea based on what I was already making, and wanted some opinions.The first part of the project and simplest is the docking station. On the left wing, is a mains rated breadboard for designing your power supply and rails and testing it. This then takes hte rails and passes them through to the right wing, which has 4 breadboards (300 connection) that have two rails each. Connections on the left side for your rails get sent directly to these rails, with of course power switches for mains, and rails.The brains of the outfit, is a PcDuino v3 (probably acadia) with wifi, 5mp webcam, tft screen, and wireless mouse/keyboard or corded (port replicated front panel). The mobile station has a few functions, one is using ZIF 40 pin dip, and module slots for ZIP flatpack packages (expensive but worth it later on). The ports are all replicated through a 64 pin angled connector for breadboard jumpers. And there are two of them, why two? I had the ports on the arcadia to support it, that's really the only reason. This is used for programming your microcontrollers by plugging the 6 jumpers to the correct connections. You can then connect jumpers from the programmer straight to the breadboard to test the microcontroller.The second feature is a 4 channel AC/DC oscilloscope, 12 bit ADC, 2M sample Which is also port replicated when docked near the breadboard for ease of use.The third feature is a high precision micro volt/amp meter. We found a chip you can find on digikey normally used for seismographs that has a 31 bit ADC and 3 samples per second. Slow, but this is for spot checking. Obviously with the accompanying low volt/amp signal for testing resistors.The design is to be modular, so obviously you don't want the probably 300 dollar high precision volt/amp meter, you don't have to have it. And multiple modules from 5 volt DC to 10 volt AC/DC to 280 volt AC/DC as the system is more accurate the less you reduce the incoming voltage range.Were looking into a signal creator/detector to see if we have remaining capacity to add that in.Obviously we'll be making our own software package for it, and trying to find an unbuntu skype package that supports screen share and webcam video. The idea of this is to send one of these to the company we are making the 3D printer for as a support device. Skype us, tell us the problem, hey can you test this point, how about this one, ah looks like that circuit's dead we'll send you a new one.One thing I like about making this idea is that you have a device that not only is an oscilloscope, but can be used as remote diagnostics via wifi. It'll be a while in development I'm sure, especially us figuring out parallel to IC2 adaptation to do multi-channel. Baseline, we can only support one, converted to IC2 we should be able to support more than 4, but we want expansion space for new ideas.Oh, and having watched the eevblog for a long time, yes, the oscilloscope will have some nice feeling nobs and buttons, not just the tft, already planned that in as I want to have the option of inputting a number or reaching over and adjusting while I'm working on something. The good thing about this though is with the breadboard plugins as well as standard probe connections, you can potentially be rather hands free on diagnostics, while adjusting those dang finicky potentiometers.Love for input from everyone on the idea, feel free to reply here, or email us.Christopher HurleyFounder/Head of ResearchExcalibur Research and Developmentchurley@excaliburrnd.com

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 26, 2015, 03:15:15 pm
content: I'd buy existing equipment and focus on the company's core business. Making your own tools may sound cool but others have done a much better job already. It's just that you don't know where to look...

author: Kaelas
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: March 26, 2015, 03:33:26 pm
content: We've looked around, and this solution takes 3 days to implement for us at a cost of 80 dollars for the baseline device. We've got the parts coming in in 3 days for exactly what we need for the project. Were a pre-funding start-up RnD company doing a 3d printer job which is relatively easy. This gives us the most economical way of doing our main tests, and a potential for a cheap device we can sell. Obviously with the main project we are not designing the more expensive modules yet. Our company is designed to be we make a prototype and licence the device to a company. Our second project is in the space industry and will require us to have certain precisions and testing equipment, which we have the skill and know how to manufacture ourselves. And for that project, some of the testing equipment doesn't exist commercially.

author: hans
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 26, 2015, 06:21:55 pm
content: Arduino oscilloscope connected to the mains? I hope you're not connecting that straight up any one's PC..Mains rated breadboard? Sounds like a playground for dangerous experiments to me. When I build mains circuits I rather have the upmost trust that it stays together & will not blow up, instead of wires falling out while probing it.4-ch oscilloscope 12-bit "2M sample"? Doesn't mean anything without bandwidth and sample rate.Usability is another question entirely, in terms of update rate, math, decoder, trigger options, etc.31-bit ADC in multimeter? Like ADS1281? I assume you know that the front-end + reference calibration & compensation is far more difficult and important than just picking a very expensive (rather the highest "claimed" resolution you could find..) ADC from a catalog.Some drift specs of that chip are not even that uncommon for a 16-bit ADC. The noise only makes up for a 5,5 digit meter, without taking any noise of the front-end into account.Above all; how are you going to guarantee traceability of measurements and calibration if you're going to build your company & products upon it? This is stuff the big names have all sorted out and are known for.

author: Kaelas
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: March 26, 2015, 07:34:10 pm
content: The oscilloscope is pcduino based with its own screen. And we've designed the circuit protection on high and low end for voltage step-down.Were working with a manufacturer to design a board for prototyping and testing reliably power supplies on that part.The sample rate is 2 mega samples per second, were working on bandwidth once the components get in in 3 days. The useability is software design we have to do, this is early prototype, great to get these questions to make sure we are looking into everything properly for the project.Yes, the multimeter is designed around the ADS1281 and we know about the reference calibration and compensation. The board were designing is built around using the chip in a way that in theory at this stage should be up to par for snapshotting testpoints (edited, train of thought derailed). For our use, the big EE lab were designing, its meant as a tool to rapid prototype. The project were looking at selling is minus the mains board, with 3 supplies, meant for highschool+ learning of this type of electronics.Our company won't be built on this product, this is one were planning if its successful to licence to a company to make an electronics kit with. Were primarily an RnD company that has the focus of having a few of our space designs in action within a year. Namely the Veritas Satellite maintenance and repair unmanned cargo rocket. Were throwing the idea of the learning system, and potentially licencing out the full version to see the 'if it works' if people are interested.Since were building this company from the ground up, the idea is any test equipment or side projects we do, if they can be marketable, to use that to raise funds until investment. Currently to do our small scale prototype we need only 10,000 for a model rocket sized test bed. However since the engine were using is new, no one is wanting to touch it even unmanned. So while we save our pennies to get our testbed running for the in atmosphere test, were working on projects for other companies, developing ideas and checking marketability to licence out small projects we can do while waiting for either things to be made, or enough money to come in.To be honest, have not even had time to fully design a website yet, logo, or several other things as were constantly on paper or on computer working on our main project.