Initial

Presentation
Dynamic Propellor Display and Clock
Group 3: Dan Murphy, Laura Dillon, Shane Ryan, Lauren Ferrara, and Tristan Mitchell

Overall Design Statement

Build a persistence-of-vision display using 7

rapidly moving LEDs on a spinning Arduino
board. The dynamic propeller will be able to
display user-inputted strings and times.

Persistence of Vision

Theory where an afterimage is

thought to persist for approximately
one sixteenth of a second on the
retina.

A two-dimensional POV display is

often accomplished by means of
rapidly moving a single row of LEDs
along a linear or circular path
Source: imgkid.com

If the lights spin fast enough, there is the illusion of a two dimensional image
created in the linear or circular path.

Arduino

An open-sourced developer board

that gives ease-of-access to a
microcontroller.
Has several input/output pins and
runs on its own software.
Communicates with MatLab GUI
system via Bluetooth or USB
connection.
Conveniently runs off of 5V or via
a 9V battery.
An ARDUINO UNO board.

Source: Arduino.com

Assumptions
Motor spins at near-constant angular velocity.
Arduino processor is faster than minimum needed for
persistence of vision (~40 Hz)
Center of rotation of board is near center of mass to
maintain stability.

Critical Property Values

Source: mpoweruk.com

Brushless DC Motor = 4000 Rotations

per Minute

Arduino Uno Clock Speed = 16MHz

Source: http://store.arduino.cc

Mathematical Model
To create a stationary image our code must change from one state to the next
every 41.66 microseconds or approximately every 667 cycles.
Brushless DC Motor = 4000 Rotations per Minute
(4000 RPM) / (60 sec) = 66.6666 Rotations per Second
1 Rotation = (1 / 66.6666 RPS) = .015 seconds
1 of Movement = (0.015 seconds / 360) = 0.000041666 seconds
Arduino Uno Clock Speed = 16MHz
Cycles per 1 of Movement = (0.000041666 sec * 16,000,000) = 666.65 Cycles per 1 degree

Physical Build Diagram

Not Shown:
Motor: square 92.5 mm
LEDs

53.4

This board rotates about an axis driven by the

motor.
The leds on the end spin rapidly to create the
persistence of vision effect.
The center of rotation will be placed close to the
center of mass to maintain stability.

68.6

Center of
Rotation
26
44.7

A rough diagram of the build.

Physical Build (layout)

Hardware:
Arduino Uno board
Brushless DC Motor
7 5mm LEDs
7 x 120 ohm resistors
9V Battery
Bluefruit Adapter
Breadboard
Motor Mount
Software:
MatLab has Arduino support
Connects via Bluetooth to manipulate the propeller display using our
GUI

Circuit Diagram

Consists of:
7 100 Resistors
7 LEDs
Grounding Wire
This is on the
ARDUINO Board.
9V Battery as power
source
DC Brushless Motor
MatLab communicates
with ARDUINO board via
Bluetooth Shield
Wired with insulated wires and
mounted on a breadboard

Physical Build (cost table)

Part

Quantity

Cost per Unit

Total Cost

Link

Arduino UNO

$12.99

$12.99

http://goo.gl/HGWpk8

5mm L.E.D.

10

$0.432

$4.32

http://goo.gl/vfxnz2

120 Ohm Resistor

10

$0.476

$4.76

http://goo.gl/K3fZMy

Brushless DC Motor

$8.49

$8.49

http://goo.gl/Ygj4AL

9V Battery

$2.12

$2.12

http://goo.gl/xOlJZG

Motor Mount

(Built)

N/A

N/A

Bluefruit Adapter

$22.50

$22.50

http://goo.gl/WZxsEO

Breadboard

$3.81

$3.81

http://goo.gl/h1bnMj

Total Cost: $58.99

GUI
Persistence Of Vision

Mode

Group 3
Text
Clock

startHourText

startMinText

endHourText

endMinText

plotAxes
Plots the character bank

messageText

startButton

Description of GUI
Button Group for Mode

Toggle button for Text option

Toggle button for Clock option

Inputs for Clock option

editText for the start hour

editText for the start minute
editText for the end hour
editText for the end minute

Input for Text option

editText for message

Plot

To display a grid showing the lit LEDs

References

Hardy, Arthur C. A Study of the Persistence of Vision. Proceedings of the

National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 6.4
(1920): 221224. Print.
http://playground.arduino.cc/Interfacing/Matlab
http://www.vision.org/visionmedia/philosophy-and-ideas/persistence-ofvision/136.aspx#Top
http://insangineering.blogspot.com/2013/09/pyro-propeller-clock-povproject.html