Specifications

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We will need to look into different airflow patterns to keep our system cool. We will be
doing this by using fans that will draw air from the bottom of the box and pull it in and let
it out through raised slits in the side of the box. This is the best type of design because
we need to keep rain and other elements out of the box. The rain will completely
compromise our system and need to take precautions to keep it out of the system.
Since the fan will be drawing air from the bottom of the box there will be very little
change of water getting in because if the fact water cant fall up. The slits in the side of
the box will have a very 45-degree angle in the metal, which will deflect the water from
going into the skits and let the heat go out of the box.
The display will need to be weather proof because if water damages the LCD screen
then the user will not know what is going on with the system which can cause it to have
some sort of failure. The best way is to seal the display in some sort of clear material
that will keep the elements out of the box and cause it to fail. The buttons to change the
information on the display and show other parts of the system will need to be waterproof
buttons. We are going to go with buttons instead of touch screen. The reason why is
because the water can damage the capacitive touch sensors rendering the display
useless. The buttons we are using will be made for the rough conditions that we are
going to face. The buttons will need to deal with heat as well as rain and maybe even
snow and ice. This is why our buttons need to withstand the environment and be able to
function in the harshest environments. Finally the display will always be assessable all
the time when the system has power and when they system has shut down it should still
stay active explaining to the user that there is no power left in the system and should
find another means of power. We are planning on the display being active at least 1
hour after the system has completely lost power such that the user can be aware that
they need to use something else. This is highly feasible because of the fact that the
display will use such little power it will not be necessary for us to keep reserve charge to
run this feature it should require less that half of a percent of battery to accomplish
according to our calculations.
The display that we are using in our design has a 16 x 2 display. This is more than
enough to display our messages to the user. The model of the display we are using is
LCD-09395 16 x 2 Black on White Serial Display. This LCD has special commands,
which cause it to sleep when not in use and also to dim the brightness. These are the
main features that we are using in our box so we can save current and make the box
perform more efficiently and increase productivity.