In trying to incorporate all subsystems into one, we had a few glitches in our main controls. One of the main issue that arise in the integration was a non-responsive relay. The signal send by our touch screen was not going through to the relay, the solenoid nor the pump were actuating. Unfortunately, the delay function that was used for previous testing did not work with the integration. Therefore, we have changed our delay based Arduino code to a depend code instead. Once the pump has stabilized and the air output is constant the solenoid will be energized to allow the air flow through. After a few days of working on code, we final resolved our issue of no responding relay. It was not a code issue it was a connection issue. The relay specification state that it requires a separate 5 Volt for power, our mistake was feeding it 5 volts that did not share the same ground as the Arduino. We have corrected this by powering the Arduino from the same power supply as all other components so that they all share one common ground. We have also tested for sensors one of the sensors we will be using will be a reed switch that that will provide us with feedback as to when cartridges are empty. For us to achieve feedback we will modify our inner cartridge piston to include a magnet that can trigger the reed switch. A second sensor we will be using will provide feedback for the start-ball located inside the food container that is being rotated by the motor. Lastly, but most importantly we have now picked up our new water jet cut to assemble our new prototype! It’s made of thin sheet metal that will be folded and spot weld to ensure it retains its shape. This new exterior will resemble our CAD model much closer than our wood assembled body. This coming week we will focus in incorporating and mounting all components.

Integrated Pet Feeder for Health and Wellness, Sandy Moreno