Author: vandycke

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Final Project Reflections

First for everyone
What are your personal thoughts and feelings about your finished project?

My personal thoughts on my project are that it is very cool. It does exactly what I was hoping it would. Also it has given me a cool project to work on in the summer when I have free time.

What are they greatest strides you made in this course?

I think my greatest strides in this course where in the non computer side, which would be sewing. I now understand some many little things about sewing that I didn’t know before. Whether it be from using the sewing machine to hand sewing or techniques to help sew better and more efficient.

What else do you wish you would have learned? 

I wish I would have been able to play around with micro controllers a little more and learn a little more about it, but my project didn’t have any use for it. Other than that I cant think of anything. I think the course/project exposed me to many new things and it was fun learning different stuff.

What could have made your project better?

If I would have been able to integrate more of the charging unit directly into the pocket. But with the amount of time and first time doing this type of project I am happy even without that.

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Final Project Post: Qi Jeans

Qi Jeans

Project team:

Gregg Van Dycke

One sentence that describes your project:

Jeans designed with a special pocket for wireless charging capabilities.

Video:

Final Poster:

Describe what your project does and how it works:

My project uses inductive charging to wirelessly charge a phone while it is in the pocket of a pair of jeans. There are 3 main parts to the design. The first is the battery pack with built in wireless charging transmitter. The second is the phone or device itself and the last is the pocket for the transmitter as well as the pocket that restricts the phones movement in the jeans.  The transmitter creates an alternating electromagnetic field that the phones wireless receiver can convert into electricity to charge the phone. The pocket is designed to keep the wireless transmitter and the phones wireless receiver as close as possible. Doing this allows the unit to function with a higher efficiency.

Describe your overall feelings on your project. Are you pleased, disappointed, etc.?

I am very pleased with my project and the way it turned out. Although the project was not very technique from a CS perspective, I feel that it does exactly what I wanted it to do. I was able to learn new skills while doing the project such as sewing. I also was able to remove parts from my design that would have made my project more cumbersome and harder to build, specifically using parts from adafruit to build something that already exists. The jeans function very well and are still surprisingly comfortable to wear.

Describe how well did your project meet your original project description and goals.

It met my original designs very well. It does exactly what I set out to do and that was create a pocket in a pair of jeans that could provide wireless charging capabilities. While I did change some of the ways I constructed/built the project the overall concept and final product is exactly what I wanted.

Describe the largest hurdles you encountered.  How did you overcome these challenges?

Some of the hurdles that I encountered were when deciding if I should try and build my own wireless charging unit or buy one that functions well. I first tried to build my own with parts from adafruit and sparkfun but found out quickly that it was far more cumbersome and less reliable then using an already built charging unit. So I did some research and found a well built and highly rated portable wireless charger that I thought would work well with my project design. My other hurdles were in the construction of the pockets themselves. I first tried to build my own pockets which proved to be very challenging. It was the first time I really had to sew something completely from scratch.  While attempting to build my own pockets I found out the order in which you sew something is very important. When trying to sew my two mock pockets I messed up a couple of times trying to figure out the correct order in which what parts should be done first. In the end this didn’t matter that much because I ended up using the pockets that were in the jeans and made modifications to the to complete my design.

Describe what would you do next if you had more time

If I had more time I would have defiantly liked to have made improvements to my design. The first is reducing the overall size of the charging unit. The second would be to remove all heavy and bulky parts from the pocket, only keeping the wireless charging coil in the pocket. I would have also liked to look into smaller and lighter battery technology as well as using a conductive thread to implement the transmitter directly into the pocket.

List the final materials used in your project

  • Wireless Portable Charger, 10,000 mAh Power Bank Qi Battery Charger. Link to charger
  • Men’s Lee Extreme Motion Stretch Straight Jeans. Link to jeans
  • Fabric from class that is used in pocket construction.
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project post #7

project title: Qi Jeans

project team: Greggory Van Dycke

weekly accomplishments:  This week I made sure my project was totally complete and worked on my project poster for the fashion show.

images:

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material list:

areas of concern: I do not have any concerns that this time about my project.

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Project post #6

project title: Qi Jeans

project team: Greggory Van Dycke

one sentence that describes your project:  A pair of wireless charging jeans that gives you the freedom to go about your day without having to worry about your phones battery life.

weekly accomplishments: I have began researching parts for the second iteration of my project. Where I would like to only integrate the wireless charging transmitter directly into the pocket. I have bought 2 wireless charging transmitters. I have looked into flexible batteries such as Jenax’s Jflex batteries.

images:

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headflex

material list:

areas of concern: I do not have any concerns that this time about my project.

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Project post #5

project title: Qi Jeans

project team: Greggory Van Dycke

weekly accomplishments: This week I finished my integration of the wireless charger into the jean pocket of my new jeans. The internal pocket holds the wireless charger in position next to the phone. I also finished sewing the the pocket that hold the phone being charged. I wore the pants and confirmed that the phone charges via wireless charging.

images:

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material list:

  • Wireless Portable Charger, 10,000 mAh Power Bank Qi Battery Charger. Link to charger
  • Men’s Lee Extreme Motion Stretch Straight Jeans. Link to jeans
  • Fabric from class that is used in pocket construction.

areas of concern: I do not have any concerns that this time about my project.

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Project Post #4

  • project title : Qi Jeans
  • project team: Gregg Van Dycke
  • weekly accomplishments: This week I was able to incorporate my wireless charging battery pack into my jeans, and get it to charge my phone wirelessly while it sat in the pocket. Next week I will trying it on another pair of jeans that should give more space for both the phone and the charger.
  • images:
  •   
  • material list: Wireless Portable Charger,10000mAh Power Bank QI Battery Charger.  Link to charger
  • areas of concern: I feel pretty good about my project, since I am now using a prebuilt wireless charger. Also I changed how I will be adding the phone to my pants pockets. I will just altering the existing pocket. This will give the cleanest final product and I can show that it is easy for other people to do it to their own jeans.
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Project Post 3

Project title: Qi Jeans
Project team: Gregg Van Dycke
Weekly accomplishments: I have a mock jean pocket that fits the phone, and have started a second mock jean pocket with the phone slot as well as the internal pocket for the wireless charger.
Images:

No picture of mock pocket. I left it in my locker.
Material list: 10000mah wireless charging portable battery
Areas of concern: What I am most concerned with is functionality, as in how well the device will be able to charge the phone. Being early prototype I thought this might be a concern since this isn’t the designed use case of the charger. But I have ideas to on how to change it for the next iteration of Qi Jeans.

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Project Post #1

Project title: Qi jeans

What should we call your project? Qi Jeans

Who you are (are you an individual, a team, etc)? By Gregg Van Dycke

A description of what you would like to create.

I would like to create a pair of jeans that allow you wirelessly charge your phone from your the pocket.

1) What does your project do? (1-2 sentences)

My project is to have a pair of jeans that is capable of charging your phone wirelessly while it is in the pocket.
2) Who is your project for? (1-2 sentences)

My project is for people that are looking to increase their phones battery life. While still allowing them to be flexible in there day to day activities.

3) Describe how someone would use the developed device.  What are the steps that a user would go through to interface with the technology? (at least a paragraph)
To use the device the user will first need a smartphone that is wireless charging capable. Second the user will need to to charge the device so I can supply their phone with battery. Next the user will insert the device in their jeans, in the special holder pocket and make sure the transmitter is facing their normal pants pocket. Then the user would put their phone in their pocket with the backside of the phone facing the transmitter.
4) What makes your project different from existing products? (2-4 sentences)

My project is different from other products because it is removable where others are not. Also it is in a pair of pants, while most others are in jackets. Also it uses wireless charging while existing products use a cable.
What is already out there that is similar to what you are trying to do?

Nokia actually did something exactly like this which I just recently saw. They disassembled one of these wireless charges and integrated it into a pair of pants. That might also be the best option for me. But there are other types of clothing that can recharge electronic devices, although they have different form factors or use a different form of charging. 

Digital or scanned sketches of your project

A bulleted list of the materials/tools you’ll use/need

Milestone 0 (March 15): Have received all bought materials

Milestone 1 (March 25):  Have a working transmitter from materials purchased.

Milestone 2 (April 8): Have jeans pocket built with package functioning outside of pants.

Milestone 3 (April 18): Have everything integrated in pants.

Milestone 3 (April 22): Have fully functioning unit.


What can you do to recover your project if it doesn’t go as planned? To use an already built wireless charger that sits in the pants where the custom made transmitter would have gone. This would still allow for wireless charging which is a key component but it will also allow me to work on the jeans portion as well.
What is the bare minimal outcome that you would consider a success? To have a functioning charging unit that can be used outside the pants. Or to have the pants pocket sewn with correct pocket size so that phone sits where it needs to be.

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Project pitch

Wireless charging jeans pocket

Gregg Van Dycke

  • The problem I am trying to solve is the having to stop your day to charge your phone. With phones being more and more powerful and batteries still being a last consideration in phone design. Heavy users often have to recharge their phone at least once per day. That can be a hassle, and you oftentimes have to carry a separate charger around.
  • The project is meant to be both experimental as well as playful. It will be interesting to see the feasibility of having a wireless charging in one’s pocket in terms of comfort as well as effectiveness.
  • The potential consumer for this product will be someone that is busy and is not able to sit around and wait for their phone to charge. Or someone that is a heavy phone user that is looking to extend their phones battery life without having to connect it with a cable or set it down to charge a standard wireless charger.

Some aspects of the project that I am confident in are any programming or data collection. I am also some what confident in getting hardware to work together.

Some aspects of the project that I have less skills in are sewing and handling different materials. and making it look good. I am not as confident in soldering or advanced electrical circuits.