Police Car Battery Load Management

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Police Car Battery Load Management

• Team Five-Oh Mk. II
• Jared Bauters
• Christian Sagardia
• Jay Samilo

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Introduction

• Last year, an EE senior design team came up with
  a plan to solve the problem of police car
  batteries dying at a high rate.
• They produced a working prototype, but there is
  much more work to be done to make it a viable
  commercial product
• This year, our team picked up the project, seeing
  great potential in it.
• Our plan to bring about version 2!

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Why are the Batteries Dying?

• Police officers have shared stories of batteries
  draining while the equipment is shut off and of
  car video systems continually fast forwarding
  through VHS tapes.
• The garage crew just blames the officers for
  needlessly leaving equipment powered on.
• This is the primary problem that needs to be
  solved in order to satisfy our customer.

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Other Problems

1. The Prototype is Bulky
2. The User Interface is Unwieldy
3. Serial Port Interface is not Convenient

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Other Problems (contd)

1. Power and Control Sections are on a single PC
   board.
2. The Battery Current Sensor is not the Best
   Solution

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Proposed Solutions

• Collect Data with the Prototype
• Physical Design Changes
• Use Surface Mounted Components
• Reduce the Size of and Reposition Manual Override
  Switches
• Reduce the Size of the UI Buttons
• Separate the Control and Power Sections

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Proposed Solutions (contd)

1. Use Membrane Buttons and a Better Viewing Screen.
2. Use a USB interface.
3. Put the power and control sections on separate
   PCBs in separate cases.
4. Use a Clamp-On Current Sensor

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Demonstrated Features

• Our revision will include the features from the
  prototype along with the above mentioned. We will
  demonstrate
• Prioritized and automated load shedding as the
  battery loses power.
• An improved UI on the controller.
• Ability to set priorities for load shedding
  on-the-fly via the hardware UI or lock them in
  via a software download.

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Demonstrated Features (contd)

• Ability to set loads to on mode or auto mode
  via hardware switches that override the software.
• The ability to record data.
• The ability to access the data and update
  software via a USB interface.

• The systems failure mode
• Using the prototype to collect data to solve the
  projects primary problem.

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Available Tech
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Available Tech

• Surface-Mounted Components
• Two-way switches
• Membrane buttons
• 4-line LCD display or cell phone display
• USB compatible microcontroller
• USB interface
• Clamp-On Current Transducers

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Engineering Content

• Investigate the problem further in order to
  fulfill the requests of a real customer.
• Modify and design power and control circuits to
  implement proposed features.
• Design printed circuit boards.
• Program a microcontroller.
• Set up a USB interface.
• Design an elegant user interface.
• Select components that suit the product design.
• Acquire casing for the device and design the case
  layout.

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Conclusion

• This project has gained significant media
  coverage.
• Real Problem with Real Customers
• In May 2008, this project should look like a
  second iteration of a product design.