RUNNING HEAD: RESISTIVE HEATING UNDERWATER 1

Resistive Heating Underwater

Progress Report 4

Noah Egan, Alen Jomon, Shahid Khan

Dr. Psaker

January 24th, 2019

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Resistive Heating Underwater

Objectives: As of January 24th, 2019, we have:

 Brainstormed, and viewed existing design ideas for the waterproof case

 Completed circuitry, and preliminary breadboard wiring of the all electrical components

in the project including confirming the power supply administered to the carbon fiber

heater tape.

Over the past couple of weeks, we have received the Lithium-Ion batteries and started the

testing process of heating the carbon fiber. Along with this, we have continued research of the

type of casing we will be using on the system and finalized waterproof casing designs that can

accommodate all the components of the prototype. We have begun to test a small and simplistic

version of the system we plan to create with this project and tested it on carbon fiber.

In the upcoming weeks, we plan to confirm final designs for the battery case, and 3D model

on Autodesk Inventor. Also, we will be making improvements to our circuitry to improve heat

retention within the tape, as well as the individual connections. If ordering a case is more suitable

for the project, we will do so within the following weeks.

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Materials and Methods

Materials:

 Arduino Uno and Arduino programming IDE

 Breadboard

 DS18B20 Temperature Sensor

 STMicroelectronics BUTW92 Transistor

 Potentiometer

 Four Panasonic Sanyo Li-Ion 3.7 V 3500 mAh

 1 meter of carbon heater tape

 Electric tape

 Copper tape

 Jumper wires

 Wire strippers

 4.7 kΩ resistor

 MN35 Multimeter

Procedure:

1. To set up our power supply, we had to connect the 4 Panasonic Sanyo Li-Ion 3.7 V

batteries in series. To do this, we first stripped 5 jumper wires to lengthen their

exposed ends. Then, we taped a jumper wire to the positive end of one battery and the

negative end of another. We did this with all 4 batteries, so that all the batteries were

connected in series, raising the voltage to 14.8 V.

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Figure 1. Above is the image of the Panasonic Sanyo Li-Ion 3.7 V 3500 mAh batteries connected

in series to increase voltage output.

2. With the new power supply, we needed a longer piece of carbon fiber tape to increase

resistance to reduce the current to not overheat the carbon tape. We cut a 1-meter

piece of carbon fiber tape with scissors.

3. To establish a secure connection between the wire and the carbon fiber tape, we used

conductive copper tape, wrapped around the entire end of the carbon tape. This

enables current to flow through the entire tape, not just at the point of contact with the

wire, which produces a more even heating of the tape.

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Figure 2. The image above displays the copper tape wrapped around the carbon fiber tape

securely to ensure the flow of current allowing for heat to develop in the carbon fiber tape.

4. Using the previous circuit setup, we put the two wires taped with copper tape to the

carbon fiber tape into the breadboard, connecting to the emitter and collector of the

transistor.

5. We then changed our code to switch current to the tape on and off depending on the

reading of the desired temperature given by the potentiometer. To do this, we mapped

the value of the potentiometer (which is between 0 and 1048) to a value between 37

and 50. These values were chosen because 37°C is around body temperature, and any

temperature above 50°C would most likely be uncomfortable for the wearer.

However, these values can be changed as needed later. If the temperature read from
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the temperature sensor is less than the value given by the mapped number from the

potentiometer, the Arduino will power the base pin of the transistor to let current flow

through the carbon fiber tape. If it is greater, the Arduino will cut off the current

through the tape, and it will cool down.

Figure 3. The image above represents the body of Arduino IDE code used to program the

controls for the carbon fiber project. Boxed in, is the constraints described in Number. 5 of the

Procedure.

6. To do preliminary testing of the rate of heating of the carbon fiber tape, we wrapped

part of the tape around the temperature sensor. Using the Arduino serial monitor, we

saw the temperature change over time.

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Data

We found that the tape reached a temperature of 34ºC ≈ 93.2ºF. We ran serial monitor on

the Arduino IDE, for 60 seconds.

Figure 4. At 16:35 (4:35 PM), when the timer for 60 seconds began, the temperature of the

carbon fiber tape was 31ºC

Figure 5. At 16:36 (4:36 PM), the temperature of the carbon fiber tape was 32 ºC. By 16:37 (4:37

PM), the temperature of the carbon fiber tape was 33 ºC.

Figure 6. At 16:38 (4:38 PM), the temperature of the carbon fiber tape hit 34 ºC.
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By the end of 3 minutes, the temperature of the carbon fiber heater tape rose from 31 ºC (87.8 ºF)

to 34 ºC (93.2 ºF), therefore a 1 ºC/min (0.017 ºC/sec) rise in temperature. However, we propose

that the low rise in temperature is cause by the carbon fiber tape not fully wrapped around the

temperature sensor to avoid short circuiting.

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References

Lopatin, V. (n.d.). Carbon tape. Retrieved November 29, 2018,

from: https://www.carbonheater.us/

Stubbing, J. (2018). AUS-e-TUTE : Chemistry Teaching and Learning Resources. Retrieved

November 27, 2018, from:  http://ausetute.com.au/