RUNNING HEAD: RESISTIVE HEATING UNDERWATER 1

Resistive Heating Underwater

Progress Report 5

Noah Egan, Alen Jomon, Shahid Khan

Dr. Psaker

February 7th, 2019

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Resistive Heating Underwater

Objectives: As of February 7th, 2019, we have:

 Incorporated the Adafruit Flora into our design to make our prototype more efficient

 Obtained silver epoxy glue, a better alternative to copper tape which will allow more

even heating of the carbon fiber tape.

 Finished the preliminary design for our case on Autodesk Inventor.

Over the past couple of weeks, we have obtained an Adafruit flora, a different

microcontroller, for use in our design. The Flora will allow our device to be more efficient

because it is designed for low processing power needs in wearable electronics, which will make

it more efficient than the Arduino Uno at regulating temperature in our device because it is

optimized for our needs. We have also obtained silver epoxy glue and have changed our design

to incorporate it, because it will better secure the wire to the tape and create a more even

connection, allowing more efficient and uniform heating of the carbon fiber tape than what was

possible with copper tape. In addition, we have designed our preliminary case for our Flora and

other circuitry on Fusion 360, with approximated measurements. Using the Ultimaker3, the final

prototype will be printed, enclosing and protecting all electronics inside of the case.

In the upcoming weeks, we plan to test our device inside the thermally conductive plastic and

take temperature readings through the plastic. We expect the rate of heating to decrease slightly,

but the change will be determined when we test it. We will also be rewiring our circuitry to the

Flora to improve the compactness of our design.

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Materials and Methods

Materials:

 Adafruit Flora

 Arduino IDE

 Silver epoxy glue

 Fusion 360

Procedure:

1. First, we set up our Arduino IDE to be compatible with the Adafruit Flora. To do this, we

needed to get the URL for the Adafruit boards from the website. Then, we opened boards

manager in the IDE, and installed the Adafruit package. This gave us access to all boards

offered by Adafruit, including the Flora.

Figure 1. The image above displays the correct installation of Adafruit boards, allowing us to use

the Flora, which is optimized to the needs of our project

2. Then, we set up the Flora to be able to power our circuit. Alligator clips were connected

to three pins to establish secure connections. The code we had written before was
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uploaded to the Flora, and it powered the circuit and allowed the tape to be heated. We

chose the Flora because it was optimized for wearable electronics. It also has a small size,

allowing the case we designed to be smaller.

3. To establish a better connection, we obtained silver epoxy glue, and learned how to use it.

In the future as we finalize our design and finish the prototype, this glue will be applied

to create a secure connection between the tape and the wire that will heat up the tape

more evenly. We discovered that with copper tape, the connections would get to a much

higher temperature than the rest of the tape. This meant more electrical energy was being

converted to heat at the ends, instead of heating evenly throughout the tape. The copper

tape is also not rated for more than 1 Ampere of current, while our device uses 1.8

Amperes of current. However, we decided to wait to apply the glue when we finish the

prototype, because the gluing cannot be redone due to our low supply of it, because of its

high cost.

4. After setting up the Flora, we transitioned to designing our 3D Printed Case. By taking

simple measurements with a 30 cm ruler, we were able to estimate the following

dimensions: 175 mm (Length), 130 mm (Width), 30.75 mm (Height).

5. Using Fusion 360, we began by designing the bottom base of the case. First, we created a

2D Sketch on the XY Plane, we made simple rectangle and by using the dimension tool,

dimensioned the rectangle to fit the above measurements. Next, we extruded the sketch

5.00 mm. The next step is to use the Offset tool to create another smaller rectangle with

an offset of 7.50 mm, and another offset of 2.50 mm. Extrude the new sketch by 2.00 mm

to create the ridge feature unique to make the interior of the case waterproof. Later, using
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the circle tool to make 4 individual holes for #6 Screws which have a diameter of 3.30

mm, which were holed with the hole tool.

Figure 2. The image above is the bottom base of the 3D Printed Case which was created by

following the steps in #5 of Procedure. The unique ridge will be what makes the case waterproof,

along with the #6 Screws screwed through the 4 individual holes.

6. To design the top base, the same functions were used. We began with a 2D Rectangle

Sketch on XY Plane, with the same dimensions (170 mm, 130 mm). Next, we extruded

the case 30 mm. Next, we made an offset by 7.50 mm, the inner rectangle was then

extruded in 25.00 mm. On the “top” surface, 4 circles were made 3.00 mm in diameter,

matching with the alignment of the bottom base, later holed using the hole tool. In order

to make it more compact, a fillet of 1.25 mm (radius) on the edges on the top as well as

on the sides (displayed in image). Finally, two holes were made for 16 Gauge Wires 1.25

mm in diameter, using the circle sketch method.

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Figure 3. The image above is the top cover of the 3D Printed Case which was created by

following the steps in #6 of Procedure. The filleted edges create compactness to the design, the

two holes on the front edge is large enough for a 16 Gauge Wire.

7. Using the open-source 3D model database, Thingiverse, we were able to obtain the

perfect battery holders for our batteries, which will connect the batteries in series.

Figure 4. The image above is the battery holder to be used inside of our case. In this holder, the

batteries will be connected in series. (Credit: enif from Thingiverse.com)

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Data

We have no data to present at this time, as no additional tests were done on the rate of

heating.
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References

FLORA - Wearable electronic platform: Arduino-compatible - v3. (2016, July). Retrieved

January 25, 2019, from https://www.adafruit.com/product/659

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/

Thingiverse.com. (n.d.). Flexing battery holders with integrated spring by enif. Retrieved

February 06, 2019, from: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:456900/files