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[IMAGE OF PROTOTYPE]
Creator:
Background Information
The inspiration for this project is from a few places. It was a desire to travel down the
lake without large gas bills mixed with many bond fire discussions with my father around solar
energy and other renewable ways to travel for “free energy” on the water like sailing. This grew
into discussing all the pains of every boat type including gas motors, sailing, electric, and manual
paddling. Then watching fishing boats blast across the lake but with trolling motors maneuver
the boat traffic and docks with ease because of the responsiveness of the electric motor with less
wear and tear wrapped up this project into a box that I believe I could build and sell. At the time
of these discussions, solar and electric motor technology was limited, and I still had years left to
graduate high school, so my abilities were also limited. Fast forward over a decade later to 2020
and some more focused and educated research, I found all electric and hybrid boats of any size
were newer and expensive so a modular system that is a retrofit for a boat such as mine just
doesn’t exist as an easy aftermarket install. I now intend to use this class to see if I can get it
together as a potential product with all the learnings that I have gained from a lifetime of all
types of boating.
Project Description
My project will entail a module that will attach to the main boat battery(s) and manage
auxiliary batteries with charging input from solar and gas power while monitoring and motor
controller output that will drive a electric motor module mounted to the outdrive. It will allow
gas savings, boat repair savings, and make operation easier at slower trolling speeds and around
the dock. There will be a phone app that will connect to the energy management module which
will provide feedback to the user of issues and suggestions to enhance the efficiency, user
experience, and proactive diagnostics.
Innovation Claim
My modular hybrid boat energy management system will be innovating in the
management of energy systems through software and hardware. The supporting app will be
innovative with how it uses that data to interact with the boat and owner to save energy costs,
repair bills, and make boat owners more aware of issues prior to failure.
Usage Scenario
The design is initially being targeted for boat use, it will typically be installed on boats
that are 21’ or less with inboard / outboard setups. The boat owner will be able to easily install
the devise(s) and get feedback to their phone as if they had a hybrid mechanic always monitoring
the system for robust and efficient operation. The technology could be in cooperated into smarter
ways to manage energy for electric golf carts or any other device that wants to support hybrid
technology for older transportation technology.
Evaluation Criteria
The following questions will identify the successful completion of the project:
Evaluation Plan
The initial evaluation will be done through bench testing with the various components. I
will test each input initially with a serial output from the controller to my laptop to see if a range
of inputs are as predicted to be. Outputs will be tested by triggering them to ensure they function
through the circuits as intended. I will then use the inputs to measure the outputs to ensure the
logic is as expected from the user’s perspective. Once everything is bench tested, I will then look
at installing it all into the boat for final testing for a later SIP class.
The last big lessons learned I had was setting up the embedded controller and Bluetooth
interface that would communicate with the app that I am creating for the user interaction. I first
learned there was a standard Bluetooth and a Bluetooth lite which was more energy efficient
which may be better for what I am doing. Either way I learned that Bluetooth lite is not as
common which I thought was the cause of my communication issues but learned wasn’t. When
creating the app, I used MIT app inventor first which I learned was primary for Android use. I
tried using it for iOS as it showed online, but it was a band aid at best and mostly unsuccessful.
After weeks of struggling, I finally bought a cheap android phone and it worked without issue, so
I learned the importance of laying out good architecture first around what operating systems the
innovation is slated to work on. I am just starting to dig into React Native more since that I
learned has a great multiplatform architecture up front and used for Facebook because of that.
This should solve my platform and operating system issue, but I learned how critical that
research and testing is upfront before creating a full app and then debugging when the core of the
problem could have been found sooner by starting smaller scale and doing more research.
Appendices
Appendix A: Outboard motor(s) hybrid manager patent - US20150005995A1.pdf