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• Varying the Voltage to the Electromagnets

  Rishi Salwi • 10/16/2017 at 04:14 • 0 comments

  I needed a way to vary the voltage going to the electromagnet. I immediately thought of using a digital potentiometer. When I bought my first digital potentiometer IC, I realized that it couldn't handle the current needed for the electromagnet. I bought a couple that could handle the current, but they were all made for PCBs, and I had no experience with printing PCBs. Therefore, I needed to find a new way to accomplish this task. I decided to use a transistor and a PWM signal from the Arduino. I tried about 10 different transistors. I finally found one that could handle the current going to electromagnet. It got really hot so I had to use liquid silicon and a heatsink to cool the transistor. 

• Power Supply

  Rishi Salwi • 10/16/2017 at 04:10 • 0 comments

  I needed an adequate power supply that could give enough voltage to the electromagnets. I started with a 9 volt battery but this didn't have enough power. I then tried to use a computer power supply. Although, this had enough voltage, it was not safe to use in the long run.
  

  I then decided to invest in a professional 12 volt power supply. This protected against short circuits and was perfect for my purposes!
  

• Developing the Electromagnet

  Rishi Salwi • 10/16/2017 at 04:07 • 0 comments

  I needed to create electromagnets that could lift a platform. I started experimenting by using 32 gauge wire wrapped around a screwdriver. This did not have nearly enough lifting force. I tried to wrap it around a bolt instead, but this did not help. 

  I used this formula to try to refind my electromagnet. I found that I need wires of less resistance. Thus, I used 24 gauge wire wrapped around a bolt 500 times. This created about 10 N of force. 

• MPU-6050

  Rishi Salwi • 10/16/2017 at 04:02 • 0 comments

  This was my first attempt at an electronics project. I had never soldered before. I had never wired anything. I had never used a breadboard. Thus, everything was really foreign to me. I looked up how to wire the MPU-6050 accelerometer and found this: 

  When I first connected it, I found that the light turned on but I couldn't get any data. After several days of troubleshooting, I found that I couldn't maintain a stable connection. Therefore, I realized that I had to solder the pins. Then I uploaded this code:

  // I2Cdev and MPU6050 must be installed as libraries, or else the .cpp/.h files
  // for both classes must be in the include path of your project
  #include "I2Cdev.h"
  #include "MPU6050_6Axis_MotionApps20.h"
  //#include "MPU6050.h" // not necessary if using MotionApps include file
  // Arduino Wire library is required if I2Cdev I2CDEV_ARDUINO_WIRE implementation
  // is used in I2Cdev.h
  #if I2CDEV_IMPLEMENTATION == I2CDEV_ARDUINO_WIRE
      #include "Wire.h"
  #endif
  // class default I2C address is 0x68
  // specific I2C addresses may be passed as a parameter here
  // AD0 low = 0x68 (default for SparkFun breakout and InvenSense evaluation board)
  // AD0 high = 0x69
  MPU6050 mpu;
  //MPU6050 mpu(0x69); // <-- use for AD0 high
  /* =========================================================================
     NOTE: In addition to connection 3.3v, GND, SDA, and SCL, this sketch
     depends on the MPU-6050's INT pin being connected to the Arduino's
     external interrupt #0 pin. On the Arduino Uno and Mega 2560, this is
     digital I/O pin 2.
   * ========================================================================= */
  /* =========================================================================
     NOTE: Arduino v1.0.1 with the Leonardo board generates a compile error
     when using Serial.write(buf, len). The Teapot output uses this method.
     The solution requires a modification to the Arduino USBAPI.h file, which
     is fortunately simple, but annoying. This will be fixed in the next IDE
     release. For more info, see these links:
     http://arduino.cc/forum/index.php/topic,109987.0.html
     http://code.google.com/p/arduino/issues/detail?id=958
   * ========================================================================= */
  // uncomment "OUTPUT_READABLE_QUATERNION" if you want to see the actual
  // quaternion components in a [w, x, y, z] format (not best for parsing
  // on a remote host such as Processing or something though)
  //#define OUTPUT_READABLE_QUATERNION
  // uncomment "OUTPUT_READABLE_EULER" if you want to see Euler angles
  // (in degrees) calculated from the quaternions coming from the FIFO.
  // Note that Euler angles suffer from gimbal lock (for more info, see
  // http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gimbal_lock)
  //#define OUTPUT_READABLE_EULER
  // uncomment "OUTPUT_READABLE_YAWPITCHROLL" if you want to see the yaw/
  // pitch/roll angles (in degrees) calculated from the quaternions coming
  // from the FIFO. Note this also requires gravity vector calculations.
  // Also note that yaw/pitch/roll angles suffer from gimbal lock (for
  // more info, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gimbal_lock)
  #define OUTPUT_READABLE_YAWPITCHROLL
  // uncomment "OUTPUT_READABLE_REALACCEL" if you want to see acceleration
  // components with gravity removed. This acceleration reference frame is
  // not compensated for orientation, so +X is always +X according to the
  // sensor, just without the effects of gravity. If you want acceleration
  // compensated for orientation, us OUTPUT_READABLE_WORLDACCEL instead.
  //#define OUTPUT_READABLE_REALACCEL
  // uncomment "OUTPUT_READABLE_WORLDACCEL" if you want to see acceleration
  // components with gravity removed and adjusted for the world frame of
  // reference (yaw is relative to initial orientation, since no magnetometer
  // is present in this case). Could be quite handy in some cases.
  //#define OUTPUT_READABLE_WORLDACCEL
  // uncomment "OUTPUT_TEAPOT" if you want output that matches the
  // format used for the InvenSense teapot demo
  //#define OUTPUT_TEAPOT
  #define INTERRUPT_PIN...

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