FYP 2 Week 11 - Test & Troubleshoot Hardware Functionality

Testing

Figure showing completed circuit parts.

                 Testing of each circuit was then carried out to verify its functionality and work-ability by referring and comparing to the simulation results.

FYP 2 Week 10 – Hardware Circuits Development

PCB Board Preparation

Figure showing steps involved in PCB board preparation.

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Step 4

Step 5

                 For printing of PCB design layouts to be done, first the plain PCB board of matching size to the design layouts need to be prepared following the steps shown in figure above.

                 Step 1 shows cutting of PCB design layouts from the printed OHP paper. In step 2, the plain PCB board are being cut following the size of cut out design from OHP sheet. Step 3 is about polishing the copper surface of plain PCB board to remove the oxide layer, followed by wiping of oxide dust with tissue paper and then with thinner as in step 4 and 5 respectively.

Ironing Method

Figure showing steps involved in printing PCB layout designed onto PCB board prepared.

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

                 After preparing plain PCB board of matching size, printing of PCB design layouts on plain PCB can now be done following steps shown in figure above. First, the printed side of the OHP sheet need to be placed onto the copper surface of PCB board. Then, with the board and OHP sheet placed under a piece of white paper, the ironing can be done for printing process. Lastly, if the printing does not seem to be perfect with some of the dark line not appearing, then a permanent marker needs to be used to draw onto it.

Etching

                 Etching is a process of removing unwanted copper part on the PCB board designed, leaving only the copper part covered with permanent marker. To start etching process, the final product after the printing process as shown in step 1 of figure below need to be immersed in a container containing the etching acid which is dark brown in colour, as in step 2 below. The container need to be shaken gently and constantly for the acid to move around the surface of the copper layer of the board for more effective and rapid etching process. After etching the unwanted copper, now it can be clearly seen as in step 3 below that only the permanent marker lines are left over. In step 3, the board was cleaned with plain water to remove the acid layer.

Figure showing steps involved in etching process.

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Removing Marker Layer

                 Following after the etching process are process of removing permanent marker layer covering the copper layer. The permanent marker is removed using thinner by wiping with sponge as in figure a below. The result is PCB board with shiny copper design layout on top of it as in figure b below.

Figure showing process of removing permanent marker on PCB layout.

a

b

Checking Connectivity

                 When the multimeter touches connected copper lines, it gives reading of “0” as in figure b below. If the copper lines are disconnected, it gives reading of “1” as in figure a below.

Figure showing process of checking connectivity for the PCB layout.

a

b

Drilling

Figure showing PCB hand drill used in the project.

Figure showing drilling process.

Step 1

Step 2

                 Drilling of PCB need to be done carefully to ensure the PCB layouts are not damaged or disconnected. For that, the hand drill had to be held firmly and be pointed to the exact drilling point without shacking when started to drill as shown in step 1. The drilled hole need to be checked and cleaned from the board dust produced during drilling process as to prevent the drilled hole being blocked as shown in step 2 figure.

Completion To Hardware Development

Figure showing PCB circuits board prepared for the component placement and soldering.

Soldering

Figure showing soldering process after the component placement.

a

b

                 To start soldering process, several tools and material have to be prepared first, such as soldering iron, solder lead, solder paste, sucker, and wet cloth as shown in figure a above. Before start soldering, the method need to be understand first in order to produce good soldering work. When soldering, first the copper pad surrounding the component leg need to be heated. Then, solder lead need to be touched on to the heated pad and let it melt to stick to the component leg perfectly as shown in figure b above.

FYP 2 Week 9 –Test & Troubleshoot Circuits Functionality On Board

Figure showing testing of voltage comparator on breadboard.

                 Figure above shows charging process take place with RED LED turned on and GREEN LED turned on when the process completed respectively.

Figure showing testing of complete circuit on breadboard.

                 Figure above showing full view of charging process carried out on breadboard with RED LED turned on and voltmeter reading showing super capacitor charged up to 0.29V with the charging current of 0.09A (90mA).

FYP 2 Week 8 – Construct Circuits On Board

            The component purchased was compared with the one used in the simulation as to make sure the correct component with correct value are bought.

            All the components were then grouped by their use and purpose for each particular circuit to be constructed. This made the circuit construction a lot easier as there will be no confusion in picking component while constructing the circuit on breadboard.

            The circuit construction was first begun with the voltage comparator, followed by AC-DC converters, then charging circuits and at last with voltage balancer circuits. Each single circuit constructed was tested individually for their functionality.

            At that time, since only one breadboard was available, so I tried to construct the circuits as compact as possible to fit all of it on that single breadboard available. The complete circuit on the breadboard was shown in figure below, from left is voltage comparator circuit, voltage balancer circuit, charging circuit, and rectifier circuit.

Figure showing complete circuit constructed on breadboard.

FYP 2 Week 7 – Survey & Purchase Component and Materials

After finalizing the simulation results and producing the PCB designs, the components and material needed was listed to make it easier to be searched.

The components need is not other than the basic component that usually used during the electronic lab session back in time. Those component and materials are as listed below:

Component                                                                 Material

Resistors                                                                      Jumper wires

Capacitors                                                                   Multi-core wires

Led                                                                              Solder lead

Relay                                                                           Solder paste

                                                                                    PCB board

                                                                                    Etching acid

                                                                                    Thinner

                                                                                    Sand Paper

            These components and materials was purchased at place known as “Jalan Pasar” here in Kuala Lumpur.

            For component such as the super capacitors used in this project, it was ordered online through a friend of mine who is quite an expert on this super capacitors thing. It took around a week for me to able to get my hand on the super capacitors I had ordered as I was informed by my fiend that super capacitors was actually being imported from overseas.