Running Shoe Pedometer

Running shoe pedometer aims to solve the issue of worn out running shoes. It can be difficult to know just how many miles you have run in your shoes and when a new pair is needed. Running in old shoes and worn out shoes is heavily linked to injury. My proposed project is a device that is powered by the compressive forces on the shoes soles that counts the number of steps the wearer takes using a microcontroller. Then, when the shoe reaches milestone that indicate it has been used 75% 90% and 100% of its expected life, it will output the information to the user. In order to output the wear life of the shoes to the user, a series of color changing chemical reactions will be used. These reactions will most likely be acid/base with some type of indicator or an electrochromic material. These color changes will allow the user to see that their shoes are worn out. The device should be extremely low cost so that it can be built into a running shoe and disposed of when the shoe is worn out

Learning through interactive artifacts:Personal fabrication using electrochromic displays to remember Atari women programmers

In recent years makerspaces have gained traction as an environment where makers and tinkerers can freely create artefacts with digital fabrication tools. They are particularly suited for introducing new fabrication techniques because these spaces support hands-on experiences. Electrochromic displays are one such technology that has become possible to fabricate using new techniques and off-the-shelf tools which lends itself to be used in a workshop setting. Leveraging this development, we facilitated a makerspace workshop that introduced participants to this new technology. To limit the scope of the workshop outcome we used the little known history of female developers of video games (Atari) from the 1970s and 1980s as a design framing. The participants (undergraduates, 16 female, 2 male, aged 19–21 years) explored the Atari women’s role in development and through this exploration they created artifacts using novel electrochromic displays as designed responses. Throughout the workshop participants answered daily questionnaires and kept records of their progress. Our analysis of the questionnaires and the resulting projects suggests that having a relatable and meaningful context increases both motivation and engagement of the participants. We discuss the extrinsic motivations that enhance engagement, and provide suggestions for introducing new technologies in the makerspace context

Design and Synthesis of Electrochromic and Highly Conductive Polymers for Flexible and Stretchable Electronics

Archival Abstract submitte

LOW-RESOLUTION CUSTOMIZABLE UBIQUITOUS DISPLAYS

In a conventional display, pixels are constrained within the rectangular or circular boundaries of the device. This thesis explores moving pixels from a screen into the surrounding environment to form ubiquitous displays. The surrounding environment can include a human, walls, ceiling, and floor. To achieve this goal, we explore the idea of customizable displays: displays that can be customized in terms of shapes, sizes, resolutions, and locations to fit into the existing infrastructure. These displays require pixels that can easily combine to create different display layouts and provide installation flexibility. To build highly customizable displays, we need to design pixels with a higher level of independence in its operation. This thesis shows different display designs that use pixels with pixel independence ranging from low to high. Firstly, we explore integrating pixels into clothing using battery-powered tethered LEDs to shine information through pockets. Secondly, to enable integrating pixels into the architectural surroundings, we explore using battery-powered untethered pixels that allow building displays of different shapes and sizes on a desired surface. The display can show images and animations on the custom display configuration. Thirdly, we explore the design of a solar-powered independent pixel that can integrate into walls or construction materials to form a display. These pixels overcome the need to recharge them explicitly. Lastly, we explore the design of a mechanical pixel element that can be embedded into construction material to form display panels. The information on these displays is updated manually when a user brushes over the pixels. Our work takes a step forward in designing pixels with higher operation independence to envision a future of displays anywhere and everywhere

Enhanced electrochromic performance of nickel oxide-based ceramic precursor films

An electrochromic (EC) material is able to change colour under the influence of an electric potential. The development of energy efficient smart windows for architectural applications is at present the subject of intense research for both economic and environmental reasons. Thus there is now a considerable research effort to develop smart windows with natural colour switching properties, i.e. shades of grey. In this regard, a promising metal oxide with a brown-black anodic colouring state is NiO or hydrated nickel oxide (also called nickel hydroxide , Ni(OH)2). The present work outlines the preparation and optimisation of EC nickel oxide-based ceramic precursor films onto various conducting substrates towards smart window applications. The literature review chapter outlines the different methods used for generating ceramic materials, a review of electrochromism and history of nickel oxide-based EC materials are also provided. Thins films have been deposited by an electrochemical cathodic deposition and by aerosol assisted chemical vapour deposition (AACVD) technique. For hydrated NiO films prepared by electrochemical cathodic deposition, various deposition factors at small-scale area (30 x 7 mm) have been investigated in order to optimise the films properties towards EC applications. With deposition on fluorine-doped tin oxide (SnO2:F, FTO) on glass, use of nickel nitrate (0.01 mol dm-3) solution at an applied current of -0.2 mA (-0.1 mA cm-2) for 800 s was optimal for preparing uniform deposits with a porous interconnecting flake-like structure, which is generally regarded as favourable for the intercalation/deintercalation of hydroxide ions during redox cycling. The as-deposited hydrated NiO films showed excellent transmittance modulation (Δ%T = 83.2 at 432 nm), with average colouration efficiency (CE) of 29.6 cm2 C-1 and low response times. However, after 50 voltammetric cycles, the cycle life was found to fade by 17.2% from charge measurements, and 28.8 % from in-situ transmittance spectra measurements. In an attempt to prepare films with improved durability, AACVD has been used for the first time in the preparation of thin-film EC nickel(II) oxide (NiO). The as-deposited films were confirmed to be cubic NiO from analysis of powder X-ray diffraction data, with an optical band gap that decreased from 3.61 to 3.48 eV with an increase in film thickness (in the range 330 820 nm). The EC properties of the films were investigated as a function of film thickness, following 50, 100 and 500 conditioning oxidative voltammetric cycles in aqueous KOH (0.1 mol dm-3). Light modulation of the films increased with the number of conditioning cycles. EC response times were < 10 s and generally longer for the colouration than the bleaching process. The films showed excellent stability when tested for up to 10000 colour/bleach cycles. Using a calculation method based on the integration of experimental spectral power distributions derived from in-situ visible region spectra over the CIE 1931 colour-matching functions, the colour stimuli of the NiO-based films, and the changes that take place on reversibly switching between the bleached and coloured forms have been calculated. Films prepared by both deposition techniques gave positive a* and b* values to produce orange. However, in combination with low L* values, the films were perceived as brown-grey. Hydrated NiO prepared via electrochemical cathodic deposition suffers from two well-known limitations; firstly, it shows catalytic properties towards the oxygen evolution reaction (OER), which is a process very close to the Ni(II)/Ni(III) redox process. Secondly, hydrated NiO shows poor cycling durability in alkaline solution. The co-deposition of single or bimetallic additives is an effective way to overcome these problems. Electrochemical studies revealed that the combination of cobalt (10%) with lanthanum (5%) was found to be the optimal composition for preparing hydrated NiO films with improved film durability. Finally, the emphasis of this work was on scale-up of deposition. Therefore, optimised deposition conditions from small scale (3.0 x 0.7 cm) have been used to successfully deposit films on two different sized large-area (10 x 7.5 and 30 x 30 cm) conducting substrates

Reading the rainbow: tailoring the properties of electrochromic polymers

The completion of the color palette has yielded a family of electrochromic polymers (ECPs) each able to absorb in unique regions across the visible spectrum. Synthetically, by varying the electronic content of phenylene type moieties coupled with the donor 3,4-propylenedioxythiophene (ProDOT), high band gaps can be achieved absorbing short wavelength light, yielding a family of yellow-to-transmissive electrochromic polymers. Using the synthetic approach to tune specific absorptions in a discrete region of the visible spectrum, a family of electrochromic polymers that possess sharpened or broadened absorption spectra relative to electrochromic materials previously produced has been developed. By varying the steric hindrance of dioxythiophenes along a conjugated backbone, new hues of magenta and blue have been achieved. Through progressively adding more steric hindrance and twisting the polymer backbone, the absorbance of a polymer can be pushed towards shorter wavelengths, allowing more red light and less blue light to pass through a film. This unequal passing of long and short wavelengths reduces the overall purple color that is normally exhibited by a previous magenta ECP, thereby giving brighter, truer magenta colored materials. By reducing steric hindrance and relaxing the polymer backbone, the opposite can be achieved: pushing the absorbance of a polymer to longer wavelengths allows more blue and less red light to transmit. These polymers also exhibit highly transmissive oxidized states that are attainable at low potentials. In the quest to achieve black (or dark as defined by low L*) to transmissive ECPs with suitable contrast for window or eyewear applications, a relaxed donor-acceptor architecture has been explored. These materials give broad neutral state absorptions with a %Tint (380-780 nm) > 50 %, bringing these materials closer to realization.Ph.D

Optical Triangulation-Based Microtopographic Inspection of Surfaces

The non-invasive inspection of surfaces is a major issue in a wide variety of industries and research laboratories. The vast and increasing range of surface types, tolerance requirements and measurement constraints demanded during the last decades represents a major research effort in the development of new methods, systems and metrological strategies. The discreet dimensional evaluation the rugometric characterization and the profilometric inspection seem to be insufficient in many instances. The full microtopographic inspection has became a common requirement. Among the different systems developed, optical methods have the most important role and among those triangulation-based ones have gained a major status thanks to their flexibility, reliability and robustness. In this communication we will provide a brief historical review on the development of optical triangulation application to the dimensional inspection of objects and surfaces and on the work done at the Microtopography Laboratory of the Physics Department of the University of Minho, Portugal, in the development of methods and systems of optical triangulation-based microtopographic inspection of surfaces