2023-05-17 EE S23 Project Discussion

Projects done in Comp 2023 Cycle:

• ZP3 Primary

  • Completed and assembly process began. Couple boards brought up and able to flash code. This primary board has some small errors that will need to be fixed but the overall design of this board won’t be changing for the near future.

• ZP3 Interface

  • First interface was completed and ordered. It has headers for prototyping. Able to flash code. New interface will be created with locking connectors

• 24-12V/5V Buck Converter

  • Board completed and was ordered.

  • Multiple were assembled and validated to be working (was even used at competition!)

  • This board can be used to give members practice with assembling and bringing up boards. ZP3 boards will also be assembled next term but they take significantly longer, so this board would be much more efficient for giving assembly experience.

• 12-5V Buck Converter

  • Design complete, needs final design review/make sure all feedback is integrated into design before ordering

  • Check up with Nolan whether he is still able to work on this or is too busy with EFS work

• 5-24V Boost Converter

  • Steven still working layout, no routing yet. Need to check up with him

• 12S Servo Module

  • Stanley working on that. Schematic completed or almost entirely complete. Needs schematic review and then ready for placement and routing

• 4S Motor Controller

  • Basically done. Main final discussion was input capacitance. Currently extremely expensive tantalum capacitors are being used for input capacitance. Not feasible for a board we actually want to purchase and assemble here at WARG. I say we replace with electrolytics. Won’t be as nice but we’re not draining the EE accounts for this one project lol.

• BMS

  • Kevin currently working on schematic, will need to assess how much time he has

2024 Competition Plan

Power:

• Buck Boards (4 months)

  • 12S to 24V Buck 1A

  • 12S to 12V Buck 2A

  • Use https://www.diodes.com/assets/Datasheets/AP63356Q_AP63357Q.pdf to make custom buck board or maybe integrate with 6S PDB

• 6S Servo Module (4 months)

• LED Driver Board (4 months)

• Power Distribution Boards (PDBs) (8-12 months)

  • (12S-5V & 12S-12V) with on-board MCU for diagnostics (voltage & current sense)

  • (6S-5V & 6S-12V) with on-board MCU for diagnostics (voltage & current sense)

• High Current Power Monitoring Module (6-8 months)

  • Single Current transformer for current sensing + ADC

  • Voltage ADC

  • Passes that data over I2C to flight controller for processing

• In-rush current limiting (aka Pre-Charge) Project

  • As we go to 12S and we’re adding more capacitance

  • (this feature is also implemented in Kevin’s 6S BMS)

  • Possibly a 12S and 6S version

  • Needs research/clarification/needs analysis

  • https://app.asana.com/0/1201092301607059/1203780442660327

• COTS 6S Single Channel Motor Controller

• 6S Battery Management System

• COTS 12S Single Channel Motor Controller

  • DSHOT support - Solder pad input & output

  • Ethan wanted to work on this board

• Research into custom Li-Ion Battery Pack

  • We need members that are interested in doing this in order to pursue it

ZP3 Interfaces:

• Interface with locking connectors that breaks out all pins on the MCU (similar to dev interface but no headers)

• Interface with onboard IMU/other sensors. As we become more dependent on ZP3 as a long term solution for flying it will be very convenient to have these sensors onboard the flight controller instead of having a bunch of external hardware and harnesses in the avionics compartment of the drone

Misc:

• Arm/Disarm Board

  • Requires a needs analysis on why we need this board and how it needs it function?

• USB-C Battery Charger

  • Li-Po battery charging profile over USB-C

  • Integrated BMS

  • Up to 24 V (4S)

  • USB-C Power Delivery is 200 W 24 V

  • Needs discussion for how necessary this is

• ESP32 Bluetooth Relay

  • Needs clarification

  • Michael wants to work on this

  • Discord - Group Chat That’s All Fun & Games