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WEEK 1: BIOMEDICAL AND ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING |
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In the first week of the DIscover Engineering course, the field of biomedical and electrical engineering were covered. Biomedical Engineers combine engineering, biology, and medicine to create healthcare devices. A biomedical engineer's work is meant to extend and improve the quality of one's life. Examples of the products of biomedical engineering include prosthetic body parts or medical diagnosis machines. Electrical Engineers are involved in the design and manufacturing process of electronic devices. Electrical engineers are behind the makings of computers, phones, and much more. |
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DAY 1: SERIES AND PARALLEL CIRCUITS |
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One task was to create a series circuit, which occurs when two or more objects are connected to each other between a positive and negative of the power source. For the next task, a parallel curcuit was created, in which two or more objects are connected to the same two points of a power source. |
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Series Circuit The series circuit is meant ot result in both the red LED and the yellow LED lighting up when pressing both buttons at the same time. Although all instrcutions were followed, our series circuit was not successful. If the instructions were followed correctly, the circuit failure was due to user erros. This could have included getting hot glue on the LED legs or not having the wires that had to touch secure enough. If we were to do this again, we would be more organized in the construction of the circuit by making sure that everything is secure after every new step.
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Parallel Circuit The parallel circuit should enable the LEDs to light up without pressing both buttons. Our parallel circuit was successful due to following the directions closely and checking along the way. To improve this circuit, we would strip the wires more or tape them together better to make sure they do not disconnect. Below is our parallel circuit:
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DAY 2: TRUTH TABLES, LOGIC CIRCUITS, BINARY SYSTEM, AND BOOLEAN ALGEBRA |
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On Day 2, we began new content including truth tables, logic curcuits, the binary system and boolean algebra. FIrst, we learned about the binary system, which only uses the numbers 0 and 1. In binary logic, you can create a truth table with various options, but only two choices to find if the condition is true. We also learned about AND gates, OR gates, and inverters. In an AND gate, the output is only 1 when both inputs are 1. In OR gates, the output can be 1 if either input is 1. With inverters, it changes the number from 0 to 1 or 1 to 0. In addition, we created equations from truth tables. Using that, we were able to create logic gates. We did a few practice problems and continued on to our next project, the Medicine DIspenser. The Medicine DIspenser will assess the patient who has survived a heart attack or stroke and dispense/not dispense aspirin to them. The patient can experience high blood pressure, bleeding, or asthma symptoms which may cause the device to not dispense medicine. NO RISK FACTORS (DISPENSES MEDICINE) : GREEN LED ONE RISK FACTOR (DISPENSES MEDICINE) : YELLOW LED TWO RISK FACTORS (DOES NOT DISPENSE) : RED LED ALL THREE RISK FACTORS (DOES NOT DISPENSE) : ALARM SOUNDS |
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DESIGN PROCESS |
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1. We created a truth table with the options being the risk factors. They were represented by the letters P (Blood Pressure), L (Blood Loss), and A (Asthma). We used the binary system to indicate if the medicine will be dispensed or not, 0 (DO NOT DISPENSE) and 1 (DISPENSE). 2. An equation and logic gate were created for dispensing of the medicine (1). 3. An equation and a logic gate were created for each indicator, a timer, and an alarm. 4. Using the truth tables, logic gates, and equations, we created the digital logic for the medicine dispenser. Using Arduino, the chip was programed to make sure the inputs controlled whether or not to dispense the medicine. 5. Then, the logic gates were transferred onto breadboards for the timer, alarm, indicators, and the flip flop. 6. All the breadboards were then connected and tested. |
TRUTH TABLE FOR P/L/A RED LOGIC GATE YELLOW LOGIC GATE ALARM AND GREEN LOGIC GATE DIGITAL LOGIC FINISHED TIMER |
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RESULTS Our medicine dispenser did not end up working. All the pieces of the dispenser (the LED indicators, timer, flip flop, alarm, and digital logic) were working individually, but did not work cohesively. This could have been due to wires not being fully attached to the breadboard or damaged pieces. In the future, we plan to use wires and parts that work well and will not come loose. In addition, we would rely on ardruino more and simplify our logic gates so everything is less complicated. Our final product: Resources: Exploring Engineering Textbook Scratch: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/166751431/ Time Lapse: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B2-uA1korZrEUEdnN3U3TDRZZW8 Prezi: https://prezi.com/view/02kuSct492kdLWsv4T3e/ Project Testing: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B2-uA1korZrERjFIV0RsQTE1R1k |
Published on February 25th, 2018
Last updated on March 24th, 2022