DownloadProject to use a Nano Arduino to control a self powered elliptical machine through a USB interface. The output of the three phase elliptical generator is rectified and regulated and then controlled by PWM and a PID loop to source a constant current to the elliptical brake. Generator pulses are counted to determine speed and distance.
Brake current can be set through a GUI which also displays exercise time, average speed and distance.
Tkinter is used both as a GUI and thread manager to simplify the software. KiCad is used for designing the printed circuit board.
A novel chopper model using AC detection with a random chopper signal is used to improve brake current sensing. This model uses a cheap commodity op-amp with minimal hardware and simple software and outperforms conventional DC based chopper circuits.
Features
- Arduino Nano, Python and Tkinter based project.
- Hardware uses novel and simple lock in amplifier design for precision brake current control.
- Workcell message passing using two event loops for simpler asychronous programming model