This section includes information introduced in the Critical Design Review document. Changes to this section include an updated table of key deliverables to reflect the milestones completed over the course of the entire project.
8.1
COMPLETED PROCESS
The design process encompassed three main segments: design, build, and test. Each segment spanned a ten to twelve-week period during Cal Poly’s fall, winter, and spring quarters. For a breakdown of the tasks and milestones completed, see Appendix L for the Gantt chart. Key deliverables and the dates they were completed are listed in Table 8.1. Scope of Work, Preliminary Design Review, Critical Design Review, and Final Design Review are tabulated in bold, as the presentations and reports generated for each were the largest milestones throughout the project process. TABLE 8.1.KEY DELIVERABLES DATE DELIVERABLE 10/14/17 Scope of Work 11/2/17 Concept Selection 11/7/17 Concept Prototype
11/14/17 Preliminary Design Review
1/23/18 Structural Prototype
1/30/18 Detailed CAD / Manufacturing Plan
2/6/18 Critical Design Review
2/15/18 Safety Review
3/13/18 Manufacturing and Test Review 5/15/18 Hardware / Safety Demonstration 5/29/18 Operator’s Manual
6/1/18 Final Design Review Report 6/1/18 Senior Project Expo
The design accomplishes the following independent actions: remove foil, uncork the bottle, pour a glass of wine, and re-pour successive glasses of wine. Each of these actions make up a subsystem that, when combined, construct a fully functioning device to open and pour a bottle of wine. Before completing a comprehensive prototype, a preliminary prototype of each subsystem was completed. Once the mechanical, electrical, and software aspects of each function successfully operated, all functions were integrated mechanically and electrically onto one base plate. Software programs for each were run on one Arduino.
One of the engineering specifications was for the fully functioning device to operate on AC and DC power. Initially, a prototype was designed that could be plugged into AC power. The final prototype has a standard 5.5mm barrel jack that accepts 12V DC power, whether from an AC power converter, or a 12V battery.
8.2
DEVIATIONS FROM PLANNED PROCESSES
Most deviations from the planned project timeline occurred after Critical Design Review. The Gantt chart included in the Scope of Work, Preliminary Design Review, and Critical Design Review indicated that late March through the end of May would involve two weeks of testing the Novel Wine Opener design, two weeks of re-working the design as needed, three weeks of building the final prototype, and two weeks remaining weeks before Expo of writing the final report. In reality, the timeline from the middle of February to the beginning of June was split into large groups of tasks for manufacturing, testing, and Final Design Review. The full list of these tasks is shown in the Gantt chart included in Appendix L.
Individual functions were manufactured, tested, re-designed, and re-manufactured over the course of almost two months. After an individual function worked mechanically, its electronics and software programs were tested and adjusted for another one to two months, depending on the function. Manufacturing and preliminary testing of each function took place simultaneously from the middle of February to about the middle/end of May.
Once the electronics and software of each individual function worked satisfactorily, they had to be integrated onto one Arduino and one baseplate. More preliminary testing was necessary to ensure all functions performed successfully in the correct order on one Arduino. Integration began in early April and continued until late May.
Final testing was completed the last week of May because all of the preliminary testing had to be completed before the test plans could begin. The final assembly of all mechanical and electrical parts was not completed until May 31st. This tight timeline occurred because the final electrical box
was not yet ready, so a temporary box was constructed out of wood for the project expo. The Operator’s Manual, expo poster, and this report were worked on for the entire month of May and completed in the last week of May.
Overall, the timeline between February and June 1st was much more rushed than originally
as well as integration of all functions took much longer than anticipated. In addition, we ran into some issues beyond our control that set us back timewise, such as an electrical short that we encountered when mounting our electronics to the base plate for the first time.. Outsourcing parts to machine shops ultimately took more time than we comfortably had available. The gripper curve was manufactured by Cyclonetics Corporation in town, which took two and a half weeks. The electrical box was manufactured by Protocase, including powder coating and silk screen finishing. Due to production delays on their end, manufacturing was not completed until the last week of May. This experience taught us to allow ample buffer room (more than you think you need) in a project timeline to account for any unexpected design issues, malfunctions, or long supplier lead times.