Initial post to web board

Video Lectures

Finding a Problem and Generating Solutions m4v
Diving Deeper m4v
Votingm4v
Reverse Brainstormingm4v, notes
Homeworkm4v

Assignment Description

This exercise is intended to facilitate project brainstorming and team formation. Please see the videos linked below for guidance on brainstorming to find problems and engineering solutions to those problems.

In the first lecture, the course staff will assign you into groups of approximately 8 students to work on this assignment. These are not the groups or projects you will be working with on your course project, they are strictly for this assignment!. Each brainstorming group will use the brainstorming methods outlined in the videos above to come up with problem statements and corresponding solutions. This ideation exercise is intended to stimulate the process of finding a suitable senior design project for this semester but not all problem statements or proposed solutions may fit within the scope of ECE 445.

After the first lecture, all students must make a post on the Web Board. This initial post must consist of either a problem statement or a proposed solution and may be posted as a reply to an existing thread.

Requirements and Grading

Grading will be out of 5 total points and awarded based on the existence of substantive post on the Web Board ("Hello world" type posts will not receive credit).

Submission and Deadlines

The initial Web Board post is due by 11:59pm on the date listed on the Course Calendar. All students must either create or respond to a post. Students posting after the deadline will not receive credit.

Electricity-Generating Device Retrofitted for Spin Bikes with Wall Outlet Plug Connected to Gym's Grid

Raihana Hossain, Elisa Krause, Tiffany Wang

Electricity-Generating Device Retrofitted for Spin Bikes with Wall Outlet Plug Connected to Gym's Grid

Featured Project

**Elisa Krause (elisak2), Raihana Hossain (rhossa2), Tiffany Wang (tw22)**

**Problem:** Something we take for granted everyday is energy. Constantly, there is energy consumption in malls, offices, schools, and gyms. However, the special thing about gyms is that there is always someone using either the elliptical, bike or etc. Now what if, along with losing those extra pounds, you can also generate some electricity using these machines? Our device is a straightforward and cheap alternative for gyms to have retrofitted spin bikes that generate electricity, and for the gym to save money by using the electricity generated by the bikes that can be connected to the gym’s grid by simply plugging the device into the wall outlet.

**Solution Overview:** We are retrofitting a spin bike with an electricity-generating device that can be plugged into the wall outlet, which will be the path to send the generated electricity back to the gym’s grid to be used. The amount of electricity generated can also be monitored and displayed with the device.

**Solution Components:**

* **[Retrofit for Electricity Generation]** Component that attaches to any spin bike on the outside (straightforward and simple retrofit) and generates electricity when the bike is being used.

* **[Send Power to Gym Grid]** Component that reverses the typical direction of the wall outlet and sends the energy generated by the bike riders back to the gym’s power grid.

* **[Metering]** Component that records and displays how much energy was generated between the times when someone presses a button on the device. The first button press will reset the display. The second button press will show how much energy was generated from the time when the button was first pressed.

**Criterion for success:**

* Retrofits any (or the majority of) spin bike types

* Energy generated from people working out on the spin bikes is sent from a wall outlet to the gym’s power grid

* Device displays the power generated by a bike during the time of two button presses.

* Show that our power output being generated matches and syncs up with a sinusoidal input using a mock setup to simulate the grid

Project Videos