Electronic Products
I am proficient in advanced soldering techniques, simple PCB design, modeling custom enclosures, and Arduino programming. This has enabled me to invent and develop products for the reef-aquarium industry, some of which have been licensed out and are available in large online retailers.
Switch box designed to integrate with a 0-10v controller input. This contains a custom resistor-tree based PCB that applies unique voltages depending on what switch is triggered. Thus the aquarium controller can then be programmed to each voltage
Battery backup module that connects a battery charger, the battery itself, and two battery outputs. This also contains a voltage meter and is used to maintain critical flow in one’s reef during an outage.
Fully scratch-built belt system for automatic print ejection. This project relied on 3D printing, machining of custom shafts and baseplates shafts, and quite a bit of customized G-code for the printer. The belt was made of a base of Gaffers tape covered with kapton tape, and it was invaluable for larger production runs of smaller parts. Ultimately this ran into limitations with the DIY belt material itself and was discontinued- the belt kept coming apart or getting caught on the aluminum print bed that was underneath. This was early 2019, and now in early 2021 you can see belt-based printers starting to be released.
This “coral carousel” was intended to explore the effect of rotation on growing Acropora (small polyp stony) corals. It provided more irregular flow patterns as well as more even light exposure, and is an ongoing project. The belt drive allowed me to move the stepper motor away from the salt water, preventing oxidation. The Arduino has several programmed patterns that can oscillate and rotate at various speeds.
This is a 0-10v based LED indicator system. It uses the aquarium controller 0-10v output to display up to 20 visual and 3 audible patterns, so the owner can easily see if there are alarm conditions present. For example if the tank is cold it can flash blue. If hot, flash red. If a pump is drawing excess current, it can scroll red and beep. This utilizes a custom designed PCB that divides the 0-10v output to 0-5v (suitable for microcontroller), a reference voltage to calibrate the analog input, custom cable, etc. The opaque diffuser is printed with clear filament with an irregular infill pattern.
Large custom switch panel with LED toggle switches. This required using relays to isolate power from the digital input of the aquarium computer, and is used to control all aspects of a 800g+ aquarium system.
