Result and Analysis

4.1 Introduction

In this chapter, the result for the project will be reviewed. The finding of “RFID Based Food Dispenser for the needy” project will be covering the hardware and software result, the problem facing through the process and the method used to construct the prototype. All the result are compared and absolutely contrasted with the previous research that have been reviewed. At the end of the chapter, there will be analysis and discussion regarding the project to make sure that it is fulfill the desired requirement and objective earlier in the proposal phase.

4.2 Project Hardware Result

In this subsection, the wiring and selection of the components will be shown and explained briefly. There is also an explanation on how to import the libraries on the Arduino IDE and the problem faced during the process. Lastly, the construction of the prototype will also be shown in this subtopic.

4.2.1 Installation Process

The components used in this project is connect with each other well as shown as figure 4.1. The project is basically worked to rotate the stepper motor after receiving the command from the Arduino UNO. But before that, Arduino does not have the capacity to control the rotation of the motor since the operating voltage of Arduino UNO is just around 3.3V to 5V. Both stepper motor and Arduino UNO must be connected to the motor driver to complete the process. Here, the motor driver functioned as interconnection between Arduino which will command the signal and stepper motor which rotate the supplies into the drawer provided.

In this project, there are also some technical problem regarding the selection of the component. In final year project (FYP) 1, the component is determined theoretically and base on case studies which is not too accurate. Different with FYP 2 which is needed the work to be done practically using the targeted components and equipment. It is normal to having the changing of component during the process from the proposal (FYP 1) to the prototype (FYP 2).

The first change is the change between Switching Power Supply AC to DC 12V to DC Power Supply Adapter Adaptor (240V AC to 9V DC). The difference between these two components is the Switching Power Supply produce 12V DC output voltage which is more than Power Supply Adaptor that produce only 9V DC. The downgraded value of voltage is because the function of power supply is to supply enough voltage to rotate the stepper motor. The stepper motor can be power up start from 9V DC to 12V, so the reason is to minimise the input voltage of stepper motor and reduce the buying cost. Also, switching power supply has two or three output voltage post while power supply adaptor just has one output port. In this project it is enough to have one output port as long as it has enough voltage to power up the stepper motor. So, to avoid the wasted of port, the changing of components is needed.

The next change of components is between the motor drivers. Motor drivers play important role in control the stepper motor. It became interconnection that connect both Arduino UNO and stepper motor. The first proposed motor driver is L298N. It is the standard motor driver that can control rotation and speed of the motor. The problem of this motor driver is the operating current (amp) is low comparing to stepper motor. The stepper motor operating current is 3A while the operating current for the L298N motor driver is just 2A. This unbalance current values caused the motor driver to overheat in short of time and cannot operated for a long time leading to the only solution which is to change the motor driver.

The substitute motor driver is TB6600 micro step driver. This micro step motor driver is very versatile as its support up to 4A operating current and it can be change depends on the stepper motor capacity. What makes it more interesting is it will control the stepper motor in micro step. Usually stepper move in discrete steps, for example the stepper motor used in this project has 1.8-degree step angle that will make 200 steps every revolution of the motor. The discrete motion will make the rotation of the motor not perfectly smooth and will cause the rotation became slower. One way to smooth the rotation of the motor is by using micro step method. Micro stepping will divide the steps into the smaller steps to help smooth out the motor’s rotation. The calculation below will show how stepper motor’s step divided into the smaller steps.

One rotation: 360-degree, Stepper motor step angle: 1.8 degree

So, to make 360-degree rotation, the stepper motor has to take 200 steps. Now, choose how many times the steps have to be divided to get the micro steps. For this project, four (4) times is enough to base on the situation and demand through the process. 1.8 degree has to be divided by 4 to get the new step angle.

Then, 360 degree will be divided by the new step angle.

So, to make 360-degree rotation, the stepper motor has to take 800 micro steps. Despite being good in smoother the rotation of the motor, micro stepping also has its weakness as it will decrease the torque of the motor. The calculation below will show how micro steps will reduce the torque of the motor in this project. The actual torque of stepper motor: 1.16 Nm (as provide in prescription)

Where:

TINC = incremental torque produced with each micro step

THFS = holding torque (full-step operation)

SDR = step division ratio (number of micro steps per full step)

Then, to calculate percentage decrease between actual torque, 1.16 Nm with the current torque, 0.44 is to use the formula below:

= 62.07%

So, the micro steps reduce more than half of the actual torque of the stepper motor (62.07 %) despite it give the smoother rotation. In this project, although the torque reduction is quite high, but it does not affect much the process of the machine. The prototypes still work well and does not have any problem with the reducing torque.

4..2.2 Installation of libraries

Arduino IDE is a software used to transfer the coding into microcontroller. As mentioned before, Arduino UNO is used as microcontroller in this project. The coding for this project is divided into several phase start with coding for RFID, motor driver and stepper motor. For several coding, Arduino IDE does not have the libraries and the libraries can be found either through online or must install manually at Arduino IDE. Most library can be found in library manager but sometimes it does not have in library manager and must be search through online platform.

Normally if the library cannot be found in library manager, it can be found through online platform for example GitHub. GitHub is a code hosting platform that enables to collaborate on projects and manage the code. It works seamlessly across various platforms.

Doing coding did not always getting the desired result immediately. Sometimes it takes two or three times to get the correct coding. In this project, since students do not learn specifically about the coding, so the method use to get the correct coding is by doing several times or try and error technique. The figure below shows the coding before and after the adjustment.

The left’s coding is before the adjustment of the coding. The coding command the stepper motor to rotate for 360 degrees with the delay of 1 second for every 45 degrees in only one direction and it will rotate non-stop if the supply keep supplying voltage to it. The right coding is after the adjustment of the coding. The coding is commanding the stepper motor correctly as the project targeted. The stepper motor will rotate 200 step or 360 degrees rotation clockwise and repeat it in anti-clockwise. After it finish one cycle of process stepper motor will stop rotate until it is giving a new command.

4..2.3 Construction of Prototype

The construction of prototype is the last process before the project can be determine successful. To construct the prototype, there are some material needed so that the prototype will functional well as planned. The main material is plywood and polycarbonate sheet. Figure below shows the process in construct the prototype.

The first process is to cut the plywood into the calculate measurement. The plywood was cut at the hardware shop since there is limited of equipment. But the merge process of the finish-cutting plywood is based on the design that have been made. The process basically uses nail and hammer and must be done carefully as the plywood is not too thick. If the nailing process is rough, it may damage the plywood. The selection of the nail’s size is very important to make sure the plywood merge smoothly.

In the end of the process, there are several parts to be highlight and explained. The first one is supplies compartment. The supplies compartment is where the supplies will be placed. It will be attached with polycarbonate to that compartment. The second one is component compartment where all of the components are placed. The component like Arduino, stepper motor, motor driver, RFID scanner and many more component is put there.

Lastly the drawer, where the supplies from the supplies compartment will be moved to the drawer and people will take the supplies from that drawer. The drawer is equipped with the extension to make it easier for the peoples to take the supply.

The process continued with the next process which is to cut the polycarbonate. Polycarbonate plastics are engineering plastics in that they are typically used for more capable, robust materials such as in impact-resistant “glass-like” surfaces. Basically, polycarbonate is more sturdy than acrylic. Its toughness is suitable for this machine that needs to always operate. In this project polycarbonate use as the supplies container where supplies are placed and also for the supplies wheel.

The cutting process of the polycarbonate using the mini grinder to make the supplies wheel. The process took a bit of times since polycarbonate is very sturdy and rough material. The figure below is the complete set of supplies container and supplies wheel which is already be attached to the prototypes of the project.

Next, is the paint process. The paint process will cover the entire body of the prototypes except the polycarbonate. White is the colour used to paint the prototypes as white is very smooth colour and suitable to be use inside or outside the building. To get better texture, the prototypes must be painted two or three times. The process is quite complicated because the surface of the plywood has to be confirmed dry and make sure that there is no dust on it before starting the painting process.

The last process related to protypes is to attach all the component on the prototype and do some testing regarding the functionality of this project. All of the components will place at the component compartment that already provided earlier.

Before this all of the component is placed in the box to test the functionality of component and to adjust the coding. When the prototypes are ready to be use there are some work to do which to rewiring back the component with each other and place them in the component compartment. It is important to manage the cable and component well so that it will be easy to be maintained and repair in the future if there is any problem with the machine. The figures below show the completed prototypes of the project.

Record and collect the data is one of the objectives of the project. So, the functionality of the project is somehow depending on the successful of Excel to extract the user data from the machine. Figure 4.16 below show the data of the user that are transfer to the Excel. It is not just a display data but can be saved for reference purpose in the future.

In Excel, there is one function to monitor the data from Arduino IDE which called Data Streamer. Data Streamer is a two-way data transfer for Excel that streams live data from a microcontroller into Excel and sends data from Excel back to the microcontroller. In this case, the microcontroller used is Arduino UNO. The data display in Excel is different from the data display in serial monitor of Arduino IDE. The data display in Excel can be saved while the data in serial monitor is just for display purposes.

4.3 Analysis and Discussion

In this section, there will be analysis and some discussion regarding the result that obtained in this project. There will be discussion about the specific amount of food supplies that will be distributed per scanned. It will be elaborate and discuss clearly so that the project can be upgrade in the future.

4.3.2 Analysis on how much food supplies provided per scanned.

As mentioned before, the data collection will be shown in Microsoft Excel after the users scan the machine. For every scan, the stepper motor will rotate 45 degrees anti-clockwise to drop the food supplies in the drawer and rotate back 45 degrees to initial position. In this analysis, there will be some calculation regarding how much food supplies provided for the user per scan or per rotation. Figure 4.16 below show the supplies wheel as a medium to drop the food supplies in the drawer. It is quarter cylinder and the measurement given is in millimeters

The calculation will cover the calculation of volume of quarter cylinder and the amount of supply that will fill up the supplies wheel. The calculation will result the impact of this machine will be brought to the targeted users.

Quater Cylinder=14π(r2)(H) Quater Cylinder=14π(7.52)(10) Quater Cylinder=441.63 cm3 • 1 cm3=0.001 litre 441 cm3*0.00 1litre=0.44 litre • 1 litre=2.205 poundlb 0.44 litre*2.205 poundlb=0.9702 poundlb 0.9702 poundlb=1 pound(lb)

So, one pound (lb) or 453.6 g food supplies can be supply to the user per scan or per rotation.

In this project the targeted food supplies in mostly dry food, so 590 calories are assumed as grain (included wheat, white rice, oats, corn, barley and pasta. According to HEALTLINE, a popular America website that always provide the information related to health; said that women need 2000 calories in a day and men need 2500 calories a day. Correspondingly with the project objective to provide dry food supplies for the peoples, below is some data related to statement from the HEALTLINE and the comparison between the number of calories need by human a day with the calories (food supplies) that will be provided by this machine. The comparison between the number of calories is assumed for month.

No

Number of family member

(assuming age: 7+)

Calories needs by human in a month (lb)

Calories provides through this machine (lb) 15 times scan per month

Different percentages

1

5 members

144

1 lb x 15

15lb x 5 members

= 75lb

63.01%

2

4 members

115

1 lb x 15

15lb x 4 members

= 60lb

62.85%

3

3 members

87

1 lb x 15

15lb x 3 members

= 45lb

63.63%

4

2 members

58

1 lb x 15

15lb x 2 members

= 30lb

63.63%

Table: 4.1: The data of calories need by the human in a month

The table above is the number of family members and how much calories (total grain) they need for a month. Noted that all the family members in exceed the aged of 7. The calories data that they need in a month is provided by Tactical Intelligence.net; a website that provide a platform for knowledge related to emergency preparedness, modern and primitive survival techniques, self-reliance including information of healthy eating practices. The number of calories needs by human include all type of food, but the data above is limited to only grain.

The first family need 144-pound calories in month for 5 members. This project stated that every person who want to take the food supplies from this machine has 15 times chances to scan the machine in a month. Earlier, it is confirmed that every time the machine is scanned, user would get 1-pound of food supplies. So, if he/she scanned with the maximum number of scan, which is 15 times, then he/she already get 15-pound food supplies in a month. Now if they have five family members then the entire family will get 75-pound of food supplies in a month. The different in percentage between two numbers of calories is quite high which 63.01% but at least it is a little help in reducing hunger among the people. For people who really in need, it is already a big help for them to survive in this world.

4.3.2 Analysis about the effectuality of the machine during Covid-19 pandemic.

In this day and age, most of distribution system still distributed supplies in the same method as 10 or 20 years ago. The one who eligible and want to get the supplies have to go to the place where the supplies are distribute. Normally the supplies are distributed during certain time and situation, for example during natural disaster like heavy flood and typhoon and during the time that peoples short of supplies.

The situation at the distribution center is always full of crowd and mass gathering is a normal thing to happen. Peoples from the same neighborhood will gather and having contact with each other. If the situation is happening two or three year before this, it still can be considered okay although the system is not efficient, but now with the Covid-19 pandemic which is already exists in the community, it is very dangerous to even stay outside the house not even to have a gathering.

Correspondingly with this project objective which is to test the effectuality of the machine in reduce contact between “human and human” and “human and machine”, the system will need the people who want to take the supply just come to the machine and scan it. Then the supplies will be provided to them with more efficient system and at least will reduce their waiting time to the get the supplies. In hypothesis, if the peoples have less time waiting, then their time at the distribution center also less which will lead to the decreasing of the risk getting infected by Covid-19.

4.4 Chapter Summary

Through this chapter, the result is gained after doing some calculation and testing. It is very important to have a result so that the project will not have much problem during operation. The result also will be foreshadowing the successful output this project can bring. In the end, it will become a proof that the system of this project is more efficient and transparent compared to previous method in providing and distribute food supplies for the needy