press_controller

Control logic for ski press. Includes a poor-man's PID along with ability to configure and monitor a run. Pressing is dangerous! This software is designed to work with pressure vessels which should they fail could kill you and cause a lot of damage. Use at your own risk and only with a full understanding of what could go wrong.

Devices

• Raspberry Pi
• Custom PCB
  • Contains GPIO Expansion chips & A2D converter
• Solid State Relays
• Solenoid valves

Physical Inputs

• Temperature Sensors -- top and bottom heat blanket
  • Optically isolated from the rest of the board
  • Use SPI protocol
• Pressure Sensor -- monitor air bladder pressure
  • Input from A2D converter
• Pots
  • Used for manually setting configuration
  • Input from A2D converter
• Selector Switches
  • Used for manually setting configuration, starting/stopping runs, overriding relay positions

Physical Outputs

• 4x20 Character LCD -- display status
• 16 LEDs -- also display status
• Solid State Relays -- control heat blankets and solenoids for air bladders

Getting Started

To run on a fresh install of Raspbian:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get install git build-essential python-dev python-pip python-smbus git
sudo pip install RPi.GPIO

    cd ~
    git clone https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_Python_CharLCD.git
    git clone https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_Python_MAX31855.git
    git clone https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_Python_MCP3008.git
    cd Adafruit_Python_CharLCD
    sudo python setup.py install
    cd ../Adafruit_Python_MAX31855
    sudo python setup.py install
    cd ../Adafruit_Python_MCP3008
    sudo python setup.py install