1028A's Simple Voltmeter
jman0527
Entry ID #: 2240
Created: Tue, Jan 12, 2016 11:15 AM
We created the voltmeter in order to always know our battery voltage. Battery voltage is extremely important in this year’s challenge, as it affects how far the robot can shoot a ball across the field. For many teams, paying fifty dollars for a poorly-lit and inefficient LED that requires programming is unrealistic or undesired. The voltmeter we designed is far more affordable and user-friendly. The voltmeter fits into the complete robot design because it is simple and efficient. Instead of wasting time trying to correctly measure battery voltage with a traditional voltmeter, we can take a quick look at the LED screen to get an accurate reading of the voltage on both batteries. We used Inventor to design a case for a simple LED screen. With the help of our coach, we worked out dimensions for a snap-on case with channels for wiring. We designed our case with ease of attachment to the robot so teams can position the voltmeter as needed as well as ease of printing so teams could quickly and cheaply print the object. The available LED voltmeters all come without any housing. The first thing we did in Inventor was create a rectangular prism housing that would fit around a widely available LED voltmeter. We wanted to create a clean, simple, and easily-attachable case for the LED, as well as a generally smaller design for the device. From this project, we learned about soldering, battery voltage, and power draw. We plan to continue using Inventor in the future so that we can keep improving our robot designs. Since all of us hope to become engineers, being proficient in Inventor is especially important to all of us.
