RUNNING HEAD: RESISTIVE HEATING UNDERWATER 1

Resistive Heating Underwater

Progress Report 6

Noah Egan, Alen Jomon, Shahid Khan

Dr. Psaker

February 21th, 2019

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Carbon Fiber Heating Underwater

Objectives: As of February 20th, 2019, we have:

 Incorporated the use of a relay into our design

 Obtained lower-gauge wires and improved connections to the tape

 Tested the heating of the tape with the old copper tape connection, through the thermally

conductive plastic, and with the new connections to the tape with thicker wires

 Updated Case design in Fusion360

Over the past two weeks, we have tested the rate of heating of the tape using our

temperature sensor, along with a LoggerPro compatible sensor. We first tested it using our

copper tape connections, putting the sensor directly into contact with the carbon fiber tape, then

separating the sensor from the tape with the thermally conductive plastic. We then obtained

thicker, or lower gauge, stranded wires that have less resistance. Then, we did the same test as

before with the thicker wires, without the thermally conductive plastic. We separated the strands,

to have half of them touch the tape on one side and half touch the tape on the other. This proved

to be a better connection after the rate of heating was tested. With the copper tape connection and

placing the sensor into direct contact with the carbon fiber, the temperature rose 16C above the

ambient at a rate of 0.04529 C/s. Separated from the carbon fiber by the plastic, the temperature

rose 16C above the ambient at a rate of 0.02320 C/s. With the thicker wires, the temperature

rose 25C above the ambient at a rate of 0.1751 C/s. We have also incorporated a relay into our

design, to replace the MOSFET transistor as it has less power loss and can be switched by the

Adafruit Flora’s 3.3V logic signal. In addition, we have 3D printed a battery case to better

connect the batteries in series. In order to fit our Panel Mount Right Angle 10K Linear
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Potentiometer, we have decided to redesign the case with 25.5 mm hole, with a chamfer to apply

a silicone sealant to make the case water resistant.

In the coming weeks, we plan to improve and optimize our prototype to make sure the

plastic casing is not hindering the device. To make sure of this, we can use the most efficient and

useful wires for our device that will be able to fit in the case, while still having relatively low

resistance.
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Materials and Methods

Materials:

 1 meter of carbon fiber tape

 Copper tape

 DS18B20 Temperature Sensor

 Arduino Uno

 LOGGERPRO SENSOR

 14-gauge stranded copper wire

 Pressure-Sensitive Conductive Sheet (Velostat/Linqstat)

 Four Panasonic Sanyo Li-Ion 3.7 V 3500 mAh

 3D Printed battery case

 Jumper wires

 5V and 3V relay

Procedure

1. We first 3D printed the battery case. We then connected the batteries in series with

jumper wires. This provided a stable connection. Previously, we had used copper tape to

connect the jumper wires to the batteries, but this connection was unstable, and batteries
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often got disconnected from each other, breaking the circuit. The setup is shown in Figure

1.

Figure 1. The image above represent the batteries connected in series, with the Panasonic Sanyo

batteries securely placed inside of our 3D Printed Battery Case.

2. We then performed tests to measure the rate of heating. We wrapped the copper tape

around the temperature sensor as shown in Figure 2. Then, the ends of the tape were

connected to the batteries and the tape was allowed to heat up. The temperature sensor,

using the Arduino Uno, took readings every second. We took readings until the

temperature stabilized. We then copied the readings and pasted them into a file for

analysis.
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Figure 2. The image above displays the Carbon Fiber Heater wrapped around the temperature

sensor to record valid data for analysis purposes, graphs are displayed in the Data section

of this report.

3. We then tested the rate of heating separating the temperature sensor from the carbon fiber

using the thermally conductive plastic. The carbon fiber was wound up in the plastic and

covered, creating a heating pad. This pad was then folded over the temperature sensor,

with a weight to keep it stable. This setup is shown in Figure 3. Again, readings were

taken every second using the Arduino, and this data was pasted into a file for analysis.
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Figure 3. The image above shows the temperature was recorded when the Carbon Fiber Tape

was enclosed within the Pressure-Sensitive Conductive Sheet (Velostat/Linqstat); data is

recorded under the Data section of this report.

4. We then obtained thicker stranded wires and tested the rate of heating using connections

with these wires. We separated the strands into two even groups and placed the carbon

fiber between these two groups of strands. This setup is shown in Figure 4. We then

wrapped the carbon fiber tape around a LoggerPro compatible temperature sensor, so the

sensor was in direct contact with the tape. The thicker wires were connected to the power

source, and readings were taken until the temperature stabilized. Then, data from all three

tests were placed in a LoggerPro file for the creation of graphs and analysis.
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Figure 4. The image above displays how the connection of the 14 AWG will be to the Carbon

Fiber Heater. The copper wires inside are split, later placing the Carbon Fiber Heater Tape in

between the split ends, providing a proper connection which will later be covered with silver

epoxy glue to ensure a securing connection.

5. We also obtained a 5V relay, and tested it with the power source. The relay setup is

shown in Figure 6. We did not yet test the rate of heating using the relay, but we enabled

it to switch the power source on and off. This provides an advantage to a MOSFET

transistor in that there is less power loss and the microcontroller is completely separated

from the 16V power source that the heater uses, which prevents damage to the

microcontroller. The 5V relay is shown, but we also obtained a 3V relay that the Flora

can control.
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Figure 5. The image above shows the 5V Relay which prevents damage to the Arduino from the

16V output from the battery.

6. To incorporate our Panel Mount Right Angle 10K Linear Potentiometer, we decided to

update the case design on Fusion360. We made a 2D Sketch on the top surface of the

model, with a circle with the diameter of 25.5 mm (diameter of the potentiometer). Using

the “Hole” tool, a 10 mm hole was made. In addition, a “Chamfer” modification was

made of 5 mm. An updated design is displayed in Figure 6.

Figure 6. The image above is the updated case design which enables the use of a Panel Mount

Right Angle 10K Linear Potentiometer.

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Data

Figure 7. This graph shows the relation between the temperature of the carbon tape and the

time it took to get to that temperature. This is the test when the carbon tape was being

directly heated by the batteries.

Figure 8. This graph shows the relation between the temperature of the carbon tape and the

time, as was the first graph, but in this test, the batteries were encased in plastic.
Temperature v Time (Thicker Wire)

Figure 9. This graph shows the relation between temperature of the carbon tape and a thicker

wire. This test was done at a later date, when a more efficient and accurate way of

measuring the temperature over a period of time was used.

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The thicker wires were more efficient because they have less resistance and better

connection compared to small wires with copper tape. The rate of heating with plastic was lower

because plastic has some inefficiency conducting heat. We expect the rate of heating through

plastic to be better once we test it with thicker wires, and after we use silver glue to make a better

connection. We also hypothesize through qualitative analysis that the rate of heating is actually

much faster, the temp sensor just works slowly. This should make controlling the heater hard as

it is first heating up, but once heated, control should be easier because there is a smaller temp

change. The data we found from analyzing the graphs was that the direct copper tape connection

had temperature increases at the rate of 0.04529 C/s. The rate of change in temperature for the

plastic casing on the batteries was 0.02320 C/s. Using thicker wires proved to be more reliable

than the previous two attempts as it resulted in an increase of 0.1751 C/s.

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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/