Project Reflection:

There were many aspects to designing the AutoComfort. These aspects

included: defining a problem, researching and generating ideas, selecting an
approach, constructing a prototype, and testing and evaluating the solution. In my
opinion, the most important part in creating any product would be evaluating what
you have by consulting experts.
Defining a Problem:
This problem came to mind when I was thinking about current technical
aspects that were becoming popular. When I did some research, I found that Home
Automation was becoming very popular in the current generation. So from that I
also became very interested in the Internet of Things. This was basically when all
devices relating to you talk to each other thought the internet. This allowed for data
transfer and creating a solution to a problem together. This is where I got the idea
for AutoComfort. I wanted a solution for home automation that would lead to IOT.
The specific branch of home automation that interested me was HVAC, mainly
because I loved the NEST thermostat. From this interest I was able to think about
problems that users face in real life. Users are not able to customize their HVAC
settings and are wasting so much money on optimizing there wanted temperature.
From all this, I was able to create a problem statement:
Homeowners struggle with optimizing their home temperature settings.
a) Most of the times, the whole house may be heated/cooled when only
one room/area is needed to be heated/cooled. This wastes a lot of
energy and money. To avoid heating the whole home, the home
owners have to manually adjust the dampers in each and every
room, which they typically would not do every day.
b) A single programmable thermostat cannot maintain different
temperatures for multiple rooms simultaneously.
c) The current programmable thermostats installed in a typical home
are not intelligent enough to adjust the temperatures automatically
based on the home dwellers schedule/calendar which may change
constantly.
d) AC and heating systems will take some time to bring a room to the
desired temperature. It is desirable to have the room temperature
at individual desired level instantly when needed.
Reflection:
While considering this idea for my EDD project, I was concerned to whether I
would have the time or resources to actually accomplish my goals. This was
because to create a product that would be different from existing products, I had to
make my idea different. This concerned me because I thought my product would
be too similar to other products.

AutoComfort

Element K
Harsha Dantuluri

Researching and Generating Ideas:

In this aspect of my project, I was able to do research to help kickstart my
project. To be specific, all this information is documented throughout Elements A, B,
and C. First we had to verify a problem. Once I had documented this in Element A, I
moved on to looking at existing solutions or solution attempts to make sure there
was not already a viable product on the market. All of the existing products and
product ideas are documented in Element B. An example would be Nest, from
Google. After finding other solutions, we had to create specifications for our product
in element C. It was important to keep the system reliable and easy to use.
Once I had the problem and specifications the next step was to create design
solutions. These are documented in element d. I looked into 6 different ideas that I
designed.
Reflection:
At first I was surprised with the amount of research and work that needed to be put
in to creating ANY product. One had to find previous solutions, analyze them and
even see if your product is any different form them. For example, the NEST was very
similar to mine, but did not have the Zone heating and cooling. I also found that
creating solutions was VERY hard. This was mainly because I was creating a system
instead of a product. Which meant that I had no concreate design. I was mainly
putting a bunch of pieces together. At the end, I decided to come up with solutions
to how my overall product would be laid out in todays homes. Creating the design
specifications, on the other hand, felt very easy to me. I was able to come up with
some easy specifications that were easily relatable to my product. All in all, this part
of the product was a very eye opening experience. It allowed me to experience what
real engineers go through before building a product.
Selecting an Approach:
Since I had my system already figured out, I just had to pick a perfect layout for it.
From the six designs that I came up with, I ended up picking the one that mad the
most sense to me. I picked the design that would allow my product to just be
installed into a users thermostat instead of changing the entire infrastructure of the
house. This process is documented in element d.
Reflection:
This part was very simple for me because I didnt have many options to choose
from. I mainly had to consider the real world and just understand that some
solutions would just not work. I did create a decision matrix which formally justified
what I had chosen personally. This part of the process helped me understand the
rigor that engineers go through when choosing the multiple solutions to their vast
idea.
AutoComfort

Element K
Harsha Dantuluri

Constructing a prototype:
When constructing a prototype, the main aspect was the coding. I was able to code
much of the logic in a language called C+. I did this through a program called
Ardiuno. Most of this software was implemented in into an INTEL Edison board. This
allowed for multiple sensors to be connected for data collection. The model I built to
test my product consisted of a glass house and a simulated furnace and vents.
Reflection:
As I was getting into this aspect, I became very worried of the time constraint. With
managing school and this I ended up only having about two months to construct
code. I also struggled with understanding the syntax of C+. These problems were
solved by the help of my dad. He was able to teach me C+ and also help me with
some of the more specific code that I had no idea how to do. When constructing the
model, I had a lot of fun wiring the temperature sensors and the solenoids.
Testing and Evaluating the Solution:
After creating the testable prototype, I had to test the product with design
specifications. Although, most of the testing was through a computer instead of
physical testing. I was able to run the program and put it through many situations
and just see if the program was going to fail. For example, one of the design
specifications was to see if the product was actually reliable. I tested this by running
the program over a 100 times and see if it actually worked perfectly.
Reflection:
When I was doing this final step, I enjoyed seeing my work end up fitting to all my
design specs. At the end of testing I found that most of my design specifications
could be tested. This was mainly because I was unable to finish my entire product. I
also found that when you test a computer science product, most of the testing is
mainly done through a computer. And that the feedback is shown by concrete data.
All in all, it was very fun to start at a brainstorming phase and end at an actual
working prototype. One of my favorite experiences.

AutoComfort

Element K
Harsha Dantuluri

AutoComfort

Element K
Harsha Dantuluri