Specifications

5.5 Display

They are many displays out there that all do basically all the same thing. These displays

range from 9-segment display to fully realized pictures with images as well as movies.

One of the main reasons in choosing our display is that it draws very little power and is

cheap. We also noticed that the more sophisticated the display the more power it draws.

Since we are going for low power we must have a system that consumes the least

amount of power available. This power saved can be used for many other things but the

most importantly is to maintain power on the objects outside the system. Our users

don‟t care whether the system has all the bells and whistles but most importantly

looking for a system that will encompass the needs of that specific individual and be

able to power there system.

The display is going to incorporate messages, which will be shown to the user. This will

be done in the C language as well as making functions that will show the user what

power is left in the machine as well as how much other information that will be

discussed in this section. Some of these functions will calculate how much power is left

and change that into time. Another function will show any errors that are in the system.

An example of an error that will show up is if the battery is not good. In that case the

user will need to replace the battery so that it can hold a charge. Another fault code that

that display will show is which unit is producing power weather it be the solar panels or

the wind turbine. This is important because in the future if the user wants to make

changes to the system he can decide that if it is worth adding more panels or taking

panels off to make room for another turbine or some other form of energy.

Figure 50 - Airflow Pattern to dissipate heat on board and display

Permission Pending

We have decided that placement is a very important consideration when taking on this

type of design. Because of the solar panels heat will be a issue that we need to take

into consideration as well as outside conditions since the device will be out in the

external environment. For this to happen this display will need to be in low section of the

box which will cause the heat to rise. According to the way we want the board setup we

will need to have a fan to circulate the air into the system and then out of the system.