Week #6: June 16th - 22nd

Individual Log - Prem

For this week, I assembled the mechanical components of the valve regulator and tested the systems functionality with the MCU which was programmed and calibrated to the thermistor input during our previous group meeting.

A specific point of difficulty for this portion of the project was preventing leaks, which because of the thread type (tapered), resulted in tremendous torque requirements. All of the joint issues were ironed out, and the system was held under pressure for a few days without any detectable leaks.

For the logic controller, the only modification made for this week was adding a relay to the circulation pump output because the BJT had difficulty driving it with sufficient power. Due to the leaks resulting from the parts assembly, the board did sustain water damage, and a few components had to be replaced which included a couple transistors and the leak detection circuit.

As for the performance of the tested assembly, the temperature regulation feature did work, but with low precision, resulting in temperature swings of 5-7 degrees. The duty cycle was modulated to counteract this, but further testing will need to be done to see how tolerances can be tightened.

A compromise on length was also made by attaching the generator to the cold side intake, but it now fails to consistently generate power, so it will be reattached after the sensor output with a right angle adapter to stay within the confines of the valve enclosure.

The logic controller is now also attached to the battery via standoffs, and material has been sourced for the valve enclosure, which will hopefully be built the upcoming weeks once the previously mentioned issues have been addressed.

The rest of the week was filled with maintenance on the website, particularly modifications of most of the tables to accommodate newly added information. The weekly timeline table for the design phase was overhauled, with new sections added to separate projected vs actual work.