Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
May 2018
Approved by:
_______________________________________
Your Advisor Date
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Dr. Wen Chen – My advisor and instructor who provided guidance and made this project possible
Dr. Ece Yaprak – Faculty that was crucial in orchestrating my honors options
Thank You.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................................................2
Table of Figures...................................................................................................................................................... 5
Executive Summary................................................................................................................................................6
Problem ..................................................................................................................................................................6
Definition ........................................................................................................................................................... 6
Problem.............................................................................................................................................................. 6
Lack of Renewable Energy Use ....................................................................................................................6
Low Visibility on Roadways......................................................................................................................... 6
Icy Road Conditions .....................................................................................................................................7
Scope .................................................................................................................................................................7
Technical ........................................................................................................................................................... 7
Current Renewable Energy Practices ............................................................................................................7
Current Road Lighting ..................................................................................................................................7
Current Snow Management Practices ...........................................................................................................8
Review ............................................................................................................................................................... 8
Design Description .................................................................................................................................................9
Overview ........................................................................................................................................................... 9
Competing Products...........................................................................................................................................9
Wattway ........................................................................................................................................................ 9
Solar Roadways ............................................................................................................................................9
Qilu Transportation .......................................................................................................................................9
Smart Highway ........................................................................................................................................... 10
Detailed Description ........................................................................................................................................ 10
Solar Charging System ............................................................................................................................... 10
Wireless Charging System .......................................................................................................................... 10
Snow Melting System ................................................................................................................................. 11
LED Road Markings ................................................................................................................................... 12
......................................................................................................................................................................... 12
Use of the Product ........................................................................................................................................... 12
Self-Directed Professional Development ......................................................................................................... 12
Evaluation ............................................................................................................................................................. 13
Overview ......................................................................................................................................................... 13
Prototype .......................................................................................................................................................... 13
Solar Charging ............................................................................................................................................ 13
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Wireless Charging ....................................................................................................................................... 13
Snow Melting System ................................................................................................................................. 14
LED Marking System ................................................................................................................................. 14
Testing and Results .......................................................................................................................................... 14
Solar Charging System ............................................................................................................................... 14
Wireless Charging ....................................................................................................................................... 15
Snow Melting System ................................................................................................................................. 15
LED Lane Markers ..................................................................................................................................... 16
......................................................................................................................................................................... 16
Societal and Global Impact .............................................................................................................................. 16
Feasibility of Full Scale Implementation ......................................................................................................... 16
Next Steps and Conclusion .............................................................................................................................. 16
References ............................................................................................................................................................ 17
Appendices ........................................................................................................................................................... 19
Parts List .......................................................................................................................................................... 19
Project Logbook .............................................................................................................................................. 20
Project Tasks and Timeline.............................................................................................................................. 21
Solar Charging Circuit ..................................................................................................................................... 22
LED Matrix Circuit.......................................................................................................................................... 23
Ice Melt System Circuit ................................................................................................................................... 24
Ice Melt System Code ...................................................................................................................................... 25
Matrix Code ..................................................................................................................................................... 27
Model Photographs .......................................................................................................................................... 29
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TABLE OF FIGURES
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY these emissions come from light duty, consumer vehicles
and another 23% from commercial trucks [1].
Smart roadways are a concept that has been developed While these kinds of vehicles are slowly increasing in
within the past decade and involve adding new popularity, there are still a number of concerns drivers
technology to traditional asphalt roadways. These have. While hybrid vehicles provide some reduction of
technologies can vary widely in scope and can be greenhouse gas emissions, they still burn fossil fuels and
anything from a solar panel road covering to LED have some emissions and even fully electric vehicles still
markings for lanes. The body of this paper explores the need to be charged, and often that energy comes from
advent of smart roadway systems and provides an burning fossil fuels as well and in some cases can cause
analysis of their costs and benefits. In the “Problem” more emissions than a gasoline vehicle [2]. This prompts
section, the issues facing our current roadway system the need for a solution that further reduces the impact of
are stated and their main causes are explored. The such vehicles and encourages their use.
“Design” section provides a summary of the design The problems of our current road infrastructure system
process used to develop my model smart roadway are defined by their failures to effectively address the
system and provides analysis of existing products and environmental factors that impact them.
efforts. In the “Evaluation” section, I provide the
results of my design process and measure the PROBLEM
effectiveness of my design, which incorporated LED
lane markings, solar power, and an electric snow melt As stated in the problem definition, our road system suffers
system. I provide some additional closing thoughts and from a distinct lack of features, that could be improved
recommendations based on my findings and conclude upon in many meaningful ways. In this project, I focus on
that while these technologies are new and exciting and a few specific problems, largely caused by environmental
will almost certainly be greatly beneficial, the costs are factors. In particular, these problems are: the lack of
too high to justify their implementation at this time. alternative energy and electric vehicle use, low roadway
visibility in inclement conditions, and the hazards of icy
Index Terms: Alternative Energy, Design, Electric road conditions.
Vehicles, Smart Roadway
LACK OF RENEWABLE ENERGY USE
PROBLEM
Currently, in the United States, about 63% of all electricity
DEFINITION generated is from fossil fuels, while renewable energy
accounts for only about 17% [3]. Additionally, hybrid and
To define this problem, we need to look to the current electric vehicles together only make up a combined 3% of
roadway infrastructure. At a glance, the asphalt highways consumer vehicles on the road in the U.S. today [4].
and interstate freeways have changed little since their mass Adoption of electric and hybrid vehicles has been slow. By
adoption in the United States during the 1950s. These addressing the issues of cost and performance of renewable
roadways are still little more than asphalt and painted energy alternatives to fossil fuels, they could be made more
stripes, and other than providing a (usually) smooth driving attractive to consumers, thus increasing their use.
surface for vehicles, they offer very little in the way of
benefits to the driver. LOW VISIBILITY ON ROADWAYS
In contrast, vehicles and other technologies have
grown at an extremely rapid rate in the same amount of The typical low visibility of current roadways poses
time. New advances in renewable energy resources allow another source of vehicle collisions. Although there is
us to use less energy provided by the burning of fossil fuels, typically substantially less traffic at the time, over 50% of
minimizing our impact on the environment and reducing all traffic deaths occur at night [5]. There are several
the effects of global warming. New hybrid and electric reasons for this, including impaired and fatigued drivers,
vehicles allow for even fewer emissions from vehicles, but many of these issues could at least be partially
which count for over 25% of greenhouse gas emissions addressed using current technology. Besides nighttime
overall [1]. Additionally, of this percentage, about 60% of conditions, weather such as fog, rain, or snow can impair
visibility. This is a pressing issue that must be addressed.
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ICY ROAD CONDITIONS CURRENT RENEWABLE ENERGY PRACTICES
Weather-related accidents account for about 22% of all Currently, the United States and indeed most of the world
vehicle crashes in the U.S. annually, with about half of relies on the burning of fossil fuels for energy. The primary
these coming from ice [6]. Icy conditions can cause loss of reason for this is the cost. With improvements to mining
traction which can result in vehicle collisions if the driver and oil drilling techniques, coal and oil are more accessible
is unable to correct in time. The current road system has and inexpensive than ever before. Additionally, the cost of
some mechanisms for dealing with these conditions, but such facilities is typically lower per kilowatt hour produced
they have their shortcomings, as discussed in the technical than most renewable energy sources, as detailed in the
section. chart below [7]. Renewable energy facilities also lack the
consistent power production capabilities of traditional
SCOPE energy generation methods and usually require a backup.
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Furthermore, the overhead position of the lights can Additionally, if there is a severe storm, there will be a
actually reflect off of precipitation and further reduce delay before salt trucks and snow plows can be deployed,
visibility for the driver. These technologies fail to deliver a causing extremely unsafe conditions for drivers until then.
reliably safe experience to drivers and thus could benefit The use of salts also has an impact on vehicles and
from new technologies. The figure below depicts typical road structures. Use of salts has been shown to accelerate
low visibility conditions. the rate at which most metals corrode, causing about $3
billion in rust damage annually to drivers [11].
Approximately $16-19 billion more in damage is caused to
road surfaces, bridges, and other structures near roadways
[12]. The use of salting and plowing methods for snow
removal create dangerous potholes, which cause numerous
accidents and about 30 million occurrences of vehicle
damage as a result [11].
Beyond the damage to vehicles and infrastructure,
road salt has a significant environmental impact. Water
runoff from roadways can leech into the water supply and
FIGURE 2 A TYPICAL ROADWAY DURING WINTER STORM [24] cause heightened sodium levels. While this is not typically
an issue for publicly treated water sources, small private or
CURRENT SNOW MANAGEMENT PRACTICES public well systems can become contaminated and
unusable.
The use of chemicals to melt snow on roadways isn’t a new Pets can become sick if they ingest salts and the road
practice. In essence, this method involves sprinkling a road salt chemicals can cause burns or blisters to exposed skin
surface with a Chloride salt. These chemicals react with the on paws. Wildlife is also adversely affected, as small
water in snow and ice to lower its effective freezing point animals such as birds and squirrels can die from salt
and reduce the amount of ice present on roadways. While ingestion, while larger animals such as deer are attracted to
cost-effective to implement in the short term, this solution roads by the salt and can be hit by a passing vehicle. For
is not ideal for a number of reasons. The first reason against this reason, animal-vehicle collisions are significantly
the use of chemicals for snow melting is its limited higher during winter months [12]. Roadside vegetation can
effectiveness in extreme weather conditions. For example, also be impacted, as salt spray can cause dehydration and
the most commonly used Sodium Chloride (also known as discoloration. This vegetation is typically used as a buffer
rock salt) is only effective to about 20°F. Calcium Chloride between roadways and water sources, but if these plants are
has been shown to be effective to temperatures of at most too greatly affected by the salts, they will be unable to
-25°F, but isn’t widely used on roadways due to the cost effectively prevent the flow of salt brine, possibly polluting
being 2-3 times that of rock salt [10]. The figure below nearby water sources, in addition to being unsightly.
shows temperature performance for the various salts. There is a driving need to implement a solution for
roadways that eliminate the negative impacts of snow melt
chemicals while still providing safe driving in winter
conditions.
REVIEW
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DESIGN DESCRIPTION SOLAR ROADWAYS
OVERVIEW The Solar Roadway project was started by Scott and Julie
Brusaw in 2006. The project calls for modular roadway
My project calls for the design of a “smart” roadway to system comprised of many hexagonal panels that contain a
compensate for the shortcomings of our current roadway variety of smart roadway technologies. The current SR3
system and better address the issues it faces. By definition, model panel features high powered RGB LEDs for lane
a smart roadway is one that has features that are not markings, a heating element, and several solar panels [15].
included in a traditional road system. In particular, my The system was granted a 2-year $750,000 Phase IIB
system aims to increase the use of renewable energy and SBIR contract in 2015 and ran a successful Indiegogo
electric vehicles, improve visibility in adverse conditions, campaign, but does not currently have any large corporate
and provide a sustainable solution to the hazard of icy backers, limiting their resources and keeping costs high
roads. [15].
In creating my design, I sought to take the most The estimated cost for this product is about $70 per
valuable aspects of existing solutions as well as come up square foot, compared to the $3-$15 per square foot of
with solutions of my own. I provided careful consideration traditional asphalt, resulting in a total cost of $56 trillion
in my design and feel the solution offered offers a more for a full implementation in the United States [16].
realistic mix of the most effective roadways functions. While the costs are staggering, the technology used in
this approach I think are some of the most useful. I agree
COMPETING PRODUCTS with the LED Lane Markings and heating elements, but
think the solar panels would be better served off the
There are currently many companies developing smart roadways, as heavy vehicle traffic could easily damage
roadway solutions. I studied a great deal of them them and their inclusion causes the need for expensive
throughout the course of the first semester of this project custom glass.
and have included an analysis of some of the ones I think Currently, due to the high cost, I do not think Solar
are most promising below. Each of these systems has its Roadways provides a good solution, but I was able to base
own benefits and drawbacks and provide a variety of my design off of some of the components. This is an
solutions to the problems facing our roadways. ongoing project, however, and I will follow its
development closely to see how it develops and improves.
WATTWAY
QILU TRANSPORTATION
Wattway is a photovoltaic (solar powered) road covering
produced by French paving company Colas and released in Qilu Transportation Development Group recently
2016 [13]. This system aims to add solar capabilities to finished construction of their own smart roadway system
existing roadways. Unlike other systems, Wattway only earlier this year. The project consisted of the construction
features solar charging capabilities and nothing else. The of a 3540ft long stretch of road in the city of Jinan, China
main benefit of Wattway, however, is that is can be at a cost of about $6.5 million [17].
installed over existing road surfaces, allowing for typically The Qilu roadway system features wireless charging,
lower installation costs versus other systems that require heating elements, and solar panels, and plan to install a
roadways to be completely demolished to be installed. variety of sensors to monitor temperature, traffic flow, and
The first installation of the Wattway system was in a weight load. The roadway uses a transparent concrete
small village in Normandy, France. The 1 km, single lane material composed of crushed glass that has been tempered
road cost about $5 million to build, which costs about 13 to provide traction and durability to vehicles, while also
times more than a comparable roof-mounted solar panel allowing light to pass through to the solar panels. The
array and about 20 times more than a traditional roadway initial installation is proposed to provide enough power for
[14]. about 800 nearby homes as well as the highway lights.
Due to the lack of features and high cost, it is unlikely This solution offers many important features, but
that the Wattway system will see widespread use in the doesn’t provide any solutions to increase road visibility.
near future. The system is expected to power overhead lights, but does
not call for any in-road lighting systems. Compared to the
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other solutions, this one is more cost effective, but is far I propose that the solar panels used in this system
from the approximate $450 per square meter needed for would be placed on the sides of the roadways instead of
mass adoption according to Qilu [17]. embedding them into the pavement. The reasoning behind
this decision is that the weight and consistent motion of
SMART HIGHWAY vehicles can easily damage solar panels and cause lower
outputs or complete loss of function.
This is series of projects developed by Dutch artist This is often remedied by other solar panel
Daan Roosegaard. While most of his work is typically technologies designed for heavy-duty applications, but
abstract and impractical, the “Glowing Lines” project these panels often come with a much lower energy output.
shows promise as a cost-effective solution to low nighttime Additionally, solar panels at an angle would receive more
visibility. sunlight over the course of the day than they would lying
Roosegaard partnered with chemical company flat on the road surface.
Heijmans to develop a luminous paint that could glow for
up to 8 hours after the sun sets, allowing for better visibility WIRELESS CHARGING SYSTEM
of road markings at night [18].
While this system provides little other than road The wireless charging portion of this system was
markings, its costs are similar to traditional paint and much achieved in this model using Qi specification components.
more useful. Qi is an international standard for wireless charging at USB
levels of 5V and it typically used for cellular devices. I
DETAILED DESCRIPTION chose to use these components because I was unable to get
a satisfactory output with a self built inductive charging
The smart roadway system I developed is a model of about system using copper wire and basic components. The
1:24 scale, but the theory behind its operation and features attempted circuit managed 5V, but only at very low
could be scaled up for use in a full sized application. Find amperage. The Qi device delivers a full 1A charging
the complete parts list in the Appendix section under “Parts current at 5V, which was more reasonable for this project.
List”. Below, I will detail each part of the system’s The charging device in the roadway is a three coil Qi
operation in detail, including wiring and code wireless charging unit. The unit is affixed to the underside
implementations. Circuit diagrams and the entirety of the of the lid of the plastic parts bin that houses the electronic
working code will be provided in the appendices. components of my project. The Qi charger (Figure 4
below) has an effective range of about 5 millimeters, so it
SOLAR CHARGING SYSTEM had no trouble making it through the lid to the underside of
the 1:24 scale remote controlled electric vehicle.
The renewable energy portion of this system is supported
by the use of solar power. For this portion of the system, I
made use of five 5V, 300mA rated solar panels. These
panels were wired in a series-parallel configuration to
produce the desired voltage and current.
Specifically, 4 of the panels were wired in parallel to
produce a maximum current of 1.2A, which would be
sufficient to charge the battery bank. The fifth panel was
connected in series to boost the voltage to 10V+; this was
done to keep the input to the voltage regulator consistently
above 5V, as it will not regulate voltage at or below 5V.
The voltage regulator is a standard DC-DC buck
regulator that will accept input voltages of 6-30V DC and
regulate it to 5VDC and provide output power via a USB
port. This USB port was then connected to the micro-USB
charging input of the battery bank. The effectiveness of this
system will be discussed in the evaluation section. A wiring FIGURE 4 3 COIL QI CHARGING TRANSMITTER
diagram of the charging system is shown in the appendices.
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When a DC current is applied to the pairs, a temperature
difference is created and applied to either side of the unit
[20]. Eventually, the two sides will equalize, causing both
sides to be warm. To prevent this, I installed an aluminum
heatsink to the cool side of the element to quickly dissipate
heat. My original design also called for a fan to circulate
air, but it would not fit properly in my application.
The low wattage of the heater made it ideal for this
model application, as it was able to provide a heated
surface with low energy usage. A more detailed description
of the performance will be detailed in the evaluation
section. To control the heater, I used an Arduino Uno board
FIGURE 5 QI CHARGING RECEIVER AND LITHIUM CHARGING PCB and two temperature sensors.
The first sensor is a DHT11 temperature and humidity
The vehicle has a corresponding Qi charging receiver
sensor. This sensor was placed above the roadway to read
mounted on the underside of the vehicle (Figure 5 above)
atmospheric temperature and humidity to detect
attached to a lithium battery charging PCB that accepts the
precipitation. The second sensor is a 10kΩ thermistor,
5V input from the charging loop and uses it to charge the
which was placed on top of the heating element to monitor
2200mAh rated 18650 Lithium Ion cell powering the
road surface temperature. For this project, I used negative
vehicle. A block diagram showing the configuration of the
temperature coefficient (NTC) thermistors, which decrease
wireless charging system can be found in the appendices.
in resistance as heat increases [21]. Both sensors operate
on the same principal in that they measure temperature
SNOW MELTING SYSTEM
based on the way the thermistor changes resistance value.
The Arduino takes readings from the thermistor on the
My system also calls for an electric snow melting system.
heating element and turns it on or off according to a set
This component would be one of the biggest improvements
point configured in the Arduino’s code. For an example, I
to our roadway system. To achieve the snow melting
set a stop at 110°F to show a 40°F temperature difference
capabilities, a 5V 1A Thermoelectric Cooler (TEC) was
between room temperature at 70°F, but typically the set
used. A TEC produces a temperature differential when
point would be just above freezing at 32°F to conserve
supplied with the correct voltage and current, causing one
energy.
side to become hot, while the other becomes cool, this is
The TEC has too high of a current draw to be powered
known as the Peltier effect [19]. To achieve this,
directly by the Arduino board, so the Arduino output is
alternating pairs of semiconductor materials of positive and
used to control a relay that switches 5V supplied by the
negative bias are connected in series, as shown in Figure 6
battery bank. The relay is an Active High type, so it is
below.
triggered when a +5V signal is sent to the module from the
Arduino board when the temperature reading from the
sensor is below the set point. The +5V power to the heating
element is broken by the normally open (NO) contacts of
the relay, so when the relay triggers, the connection is made
and the element becomes powered.
The circuit wiring for this system is provided in the
appendices. One leg of the thermistor is attached to +5V
while the other goes through a 10kΩ resistor to ground. The
resistor serves as a pull-down to stabilize readings going
into the Arduino. The commented control code for the
Arduino is provided in the appendices.
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LED ROAD MARKINGS controlling the outer two matrices and causes them to
display a rain or ice warning.
The final component in this system is the use of LED
matrices to display various, highly visible patterns on the
road surface. For this, I used three EP-0075 model 8x8
RGB LED matrices, each controlled by an Arduino Nano.
While fairly easy to wire up, most of the configuration in
this portion was done in the code, which will be provided
in full in the appendix, but I will provide some highlights
of the most important aspects. The wiring diagrams will
also be included in the appendices.
These devices communicate data serially using the
Arduino’s serial peripheral interface (SPI). For the Arduino
boards the pin outs for this control are as follows: SPI: 10
(SS), 11 (MOSI), 13 (SCK) [22]. SS stands for slave select,
also known as chip select, which enables each module for FIGURE 7 DETERMINING MATRIX DISPLAY VALUES
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provided goals and milestones to meet to keep what would be included in the final product. Each
development on task, which will be included in the components’ prototyping process is detailed below.
appendix.
Moreover, a running time log using Microsoft Excel SOLAR CHARGING
kept accurate measure of the time spent on various tasks,
which will also be in the appendix. Excel was also used for My initial solar charging design called for all of the 5V
a parts list was also maintained to track the costs of the panels to be connected in parallel for a 1.5A output directly
project, which will again be provided in the appendix. connected to charge the battery bank. Through testing,
By employing these methods for self-directed however, I found that the output was too inconsistent for
professional development, I was able to accurately track effective charging and needed to be regulated, which
time and costs associated with this project. In a real-world resulted in the inclusion of a 5V DC buck regulator in my
situation, these are crucial skills to have to ensure that a final design and the series-parallel panel configuration.
project stays on time and on budget.
Additionally, the use of professional language and WIRELESS CHARGING
formatting was useful in written correspondence and
played a crucial role in successful communication with my The wireless charging feature of my system design was one
advisor and others and provided useful tools for writing of the most challenging. My initial idea was to have two
and developing an effective technical report. model cars, one powered via a capacitor and another by a
Furthermore, the IEEE standard was used in lithium battery. In this, I had hoped to show the quick
formatting this report, calling for 10 pt. font and a two- charging benefits of supercapacitors vs traditional lithium
column layout, among other specifications which were batteries.
used as guidelines. The adherence to this specification I also intended to implement my own inductive
resulted in a more polished and readable end product. charging system using copper wire and other discrete
components. The charging rates possible through inductive
EVALUATION charging at this scale and the size of a comparable capacity
capacitor being about that of a tennis ball tube prevented
OVERVIEW these aspects of my project from being incorporated.
I was able to create a working inductive charging
In evaluating my work, I sought to measure the system from discrete components, but it was only capable
effectiveness of each component of the smart roadway of about 300mA at 5V and required a lot of complicated
system, especially compared to the features found in circuitry. This caused me to move toward an integrated
current road systems. In particular, I measured the system. Since 5V is being used for power, I decided to use
effectiveness of the heating element at melting snow over Qi specification components, as they are reliable and
time and recorded performance. I also measured the output readily available.
of the solar panels through the course of a day and noted The Wireless Power Consortium’s Qi specification is
their ability to charge the battery bank effectively. I also an international standard for wireless charging devices,
made observations on the effectiveness of the LED typically focusing on 5V power for cell phones. This
matrices for road markings in different conditions. A specification provides guidelines for power requirements,
detailed evaluation with methods and measures will be component sourcing, and manufacturing processes, so all
provided in the “Testing and Results” section below. devices manufactured to this specification should have
similar performance [23].
PROTOTYPE Devices using this standard are specially
manufactured and feature precise coil windings, timing,
Throughout the design process, I experimented with and frequency and charge regulation that I could not
several possible prototypes for many of the different replicate with discrete components. For these reasons, my
functions of the roadways system before finally deciding final design included both a Qi charging transmitter and
on the components to use. I performed a great deal of receiver for wireless power.
research into each aspect of the project and experimented
with several possible solutions for each before deciding on
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SNOW MELTING SYSTEM those readings, but I hoped to read something close. To test,
I set my system outside in my backyard under direct
The snow melting system was another component of my sunlight.
roadway system that underwent several prototypes and I used a USB power meter to measure voltage and
proposals before a final decision was made. Initially, I current output from the voltage regulator over an 8-hour
researched simple wire-based heating elements that work period on a mostly sunny day, with one test every half hour.
by connecting a length of wire directly to a voltage source. The device is pictured below.
I attempted this using solid 18GA copper wire at 5V from
my bench power supply. This technique is used for small
devices like hand or feet warmers, but at this voltage, there
is not enough current flowing through the wire to generate
any significant amount of heat, especially for melting
snow.
Typical heating elements use very low gauge wire and
120V AC power to provide substantial heat generation.
While this method would likely work better in the full scale
version, I chose to use a simple 5V thermoelectric cooler
so everything in my system would run off the same voltage
and it would not be reliant on external power.
FIGURE 8 SOLAR TESTING SETUP
To test my solar charging system, I wired up my solar The power requirements of the system are fairly low,
panels in the specified series-parallel configuration to with the Arduinos and LED Matrices only consuming
produce a theoretical 1.2A output at 10V. I was aware these about 0.15A at 5V. The wireless charger and heating
specifications are under ideal conditions and with the element consume more power (about 1.1A and 1.5A,
weather of early spring in Michigan, I might not see quite respectively), but these are not active at all times, so the
14
average energy consumption would be low in cases other After hours of snowfall, the test unit was left outside
than cold winter weather or heavy EV traffic. overnight when temperatures dropped even further. In the
Under normal circumstances, the system would be morning, the surface of the unit was clear aside from some
able to be fully powered by solar energy, but in a real-world pooled water, while the surrounding area was covered in
implementation, a backup source of power should be snow. The unit consistently stayed about 20°F above the
installed to ensure reliable power in the case of several days outdoor temp while constantly running. The figure below
of low sunlight in a row which might cause the exhaustion shows the test performed at 5:30PM.
of battery reserves.
Overall, I feel the solar panels functioned fairly well
overall, but due to their low voltage rating, they really only
performed well in direct sunlight. Larger 24V or 48V
commercial solar panels yield much better results in less-
than-ideal conditions.
WIRELESS CHARGING
SNOW MELTING SYSTEM Note that this test did not include the temperature
control circuitry of the finished product which caused the
To test the effectiveness of the thermoelectric cooler as a higher temperature. Had the circuitry been in place, the
snow melting device, I installed the TEC on the lid of a temperature would have stayed around 32°F at all times.
coffee can and powered it constantly with a 10Ah lithium This test validated the usefulness of this component and
battery. made my decision to use it in my project.
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
FIGURE 10 TEC TESTING SETUP
0
15
LED LANE MARKERS FEASIBILITY OF FULL SCALE IMPLEMENTATION
The LED lane markers were tested for their visibility While this system works well on the small-scale, it may not
in daytime and night conditions. The LEDs appeared very be feasible to implement with the technologies currently
visible in low light conditions, and were still largely visible available due to the high initial cost. To implement these
in daylight conditions, making them useful in all their systems, existing roadways would need to be torn up or
intended functions. resurfaced to house the new components, which would cost
trillions of dollars to produce. Currently, such systems have
been implemented only on about 1 mile stretches of road at
costs of about $5-6 million.
For now, I believe such systems will be on a small
scale and used for things like parking lots and public parks
rather than roadways as emerging technologies develop.
After this phase, as the technology starts to evolve more
rapidly, we may well see advanced roadway systems
throughout the entire country and maybe most of the world.
FIGURE 13 LED MARKERS UNDER BRIGHT LIGHT
NEXT STEPS AND CONCLUSION
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REFERENCES
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https://nepis.epa.gov/Exe/ZyPDF.cgi?Dockey=P100S7NK.pdf.
[2] US DoE, "Emissions from Hybrid and Plug-In Electric Vehicles," 18 05 2017. [Online]. Available:
https://www.afdc.energy.gov/vehicles/electric_emissions.php.
[3] EIA, "What is U.S. Electricity Generation by Energy Source?," 7 March 2018. [Online]. Available:
https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=427&t=3.
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17
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18
APPENDICES
PARTS LIST
Quantity Description Price Price for Parts Used Total Supplier Link
1 Maisto R/C 1:24 Scale 2010 Chevrolet Camaro SS RS Radio Control Vehicle $9.18 $9.18 $9.18 Amazon https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004KAASWQ/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A2L77EE7U53NWQ&psc=1
1 Qi Wireless Receiver $6.49 $6.49 $6.49 Amazon https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B071Z7B6Z4/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?smid=AYLLA12XQFW1U&psc=1
1 Set of 4 5V DC Controlled Relays $9.89 $1.98 $9.89 Amazon https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B079FJSYGY/ref=ox_sc_act_title_5?smid=A11A70Q280RHPK&psc=1
3 8x8 RGB LED Dot Matrix Module For Raspberry Pi3/2/B+/Arduino/STC89C $12.95 $38.85 $38.85 eBay https://www.ebay.com/itm/173119342525?var=471857006749
1 Pack of 10 18650 Battery Holders $6.99 $0.70 $6.99 Amazon https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B013DUOJV4/ref=ox_sc_act_title_12?smid=A1ONFA8JYPSCVJ&psc=1
1 AC Mug Warmer $6.99 $0.00 $6.99 Amazon https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000CO89T8/ref=ox_sc_act_title_13?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1
1 Set of 5 5v 300mA Solar Panels $21.92 $21.92 $21.92 Amazon https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B073Y5BLN9/ref=ox_sc_act_title_14?smid=A1THAZDOWP300U&psc=1
1 10000 mAh 3 Port USB Power Bank $12.99 $12.99 $12.99 Amazon https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B073B7PG5N/ref=ox_sc_act_title_15?smid=A21CMFK2477R1J&psc=1
1 Qi Wireless Transmitter - 3 Coil $12.68 $12.68 $12.68 eBay https://www.ebay.com/itm/3-Coils-10W-Qi-Fast-Wireless-Charger-PCBA-Circuit-Board-Coil-Micro-USB-5V-2A/232542717
1 Pack of 5 Temperature Sensors $10.29 $0.00 $10.29 Amazon https://www.amazon.com/GeeBat-Waterproof-Temperature-Thermometer-Refrigerator/dp/B01MQ1S6D9/ref=sr_1_7?ie
1 5V DC Regulator 4 port USB $5.99 $5.99 $5.99 Amazon https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MTJCOL6/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
1 Set of 4 100' Rolls Color 18GA Wire $17.95 $0.45 $17.95 Amazon https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B073GSDJ83/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?smid=A2GQEFKYWQUJT0&psc=1
1 Dupont Hookup Wires Set of 120 $6.98 $2.32 $6.98 Amazon https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LZF1ZSZ/ref=od_aui_detailpages01?ie=UTF8&psc=1
1 Dupont Hookup Wires Set of 120 $7.99 $2.66 $7.99 Amazon https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01EV70C78/ref=od_aui_detailpages00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
1 Set of 3 Half Size Breadboards $8.21 $0.00 $8.21 Amazon https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01EV640I6/ref=od_aui_detailpages00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
1 Set of 20 Red Cap N/O Pushbuttons $8.99 $0.45 $8.99 Amazon https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B075LDGHHS/ref=od_aui_detailpages00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
19
PROJECT LOGBOOK
21
SOLAR CHARGING CIRCUIT
22
LED MATRIX CIRCUIT
23
ICE MELT SYSTEM CIRCUIT
24
ICE MELT SYSTEM CODE
25
26
MATRIX CODE
27
28
MODEL PHOTOGRAPHS
29