MECH 2502 Final Project Proposal  

Winter 2018

 
 
Group 20: 
Anthony Reyes 214261341 
Kuldeep Hujan 213585849 
Liam Cope 214331052 
Mahgoub Mohamed 214717235 
 1

Table of Contents 
 

Summary of Proposed Project 3 

System Design 7 

Design Specification 9 

Bill Of Materials 10 

Project Planning and Management 11 

Appendix 13 
 

Figure Index 

Figure  Page Number 

1.0  3 

2.0  4 

3.0  4 

4.0  5 

5.0  6 

6.0  7 

7.0  12 

8.0  13 

9.0  13 

10.0  14 

11.0  14 

12.0  15 
 2

Table Index 

Table  Page Number 

1.0  10 

2.0  11 

 
 3

Summary of Proposed Project 

 
The main goal of our system is to utilize accelerometers and thermistors to track the overall well being of athletes 
in practice and in games. It is a known fact that athletes are at risk of injury when competing. The very act of 
competing calls for the utmost effort. Strong effort with a physical game is a recipe for concussions. This is what 
led our team to develop a means to help diagnose concussions with the use of accelerometers. Another risk 
athletes are often exposed to is heatstroke. This is where the thermistors are used to track the athletes body 
temperature.  
 
Accelerometers are used to firstly measure acceleration. They can also be used to measure force. According to 
Prof. Michael Gilchrist [1], both linear and angular acceleration are the culprits behind TBI’s. The accelerometers 
will measure the motion of the athletes head and upon passing the threshold of acceleration a LED will be actuated 
thus alerting coachs of a potential TBI.  
 
The Thermistors work in a similar fashion. Measuring the the athletes body temperature and illumintating a LED 
upon surpassing the threshold.  
 
 

Figure 1.0: ​In these pictures the black represents the accelerometers and the red represents the thermistor.1

1
http://clipart-library.com/football-helmet-drawings.html 
 4

Rationale for the sensor selected as well as explanation of underlying physics of 
the proposed sensor

To better understand the choice of sensors we must look at the underlying principles of each sensors individually.  
Firstly, the accelerometer is a tiny mechanical structure (MEMS) utilizing the principle of the capacitance[2]. When 
the orientation of the accelerometer is changed the area surface area of the microscopic capacitor changes as well 
resulting in a change in capacitance. This change in capacitance is then converted into useful voltages that the 
DAQ will send to LabView. In LabView we plan to manipulate this data in a way that provides meaningful responses 
from our system. 
 

Figure 2.0: ​Functional diagram of an accelerometer.2 

2
​http://www.analog.com/media/en/technical-documentation/data-sheets/ADXL193.pdf 
 5

Figure 3.0: ​Principle of capacitance within an accelerometer.3

Figure 4.0: ​Close up of an accelerometer and property diagram.4

Secondly, we have the thermistor. The thermistor works on the principle of resistance. We Know that the resistance 
of an electrical component is linearly proportional to its temperature assuming first order approximation the 

formula is . The thermistor is a highly thermal sensitive resistor. There are 2 types of thermistors, 
NTC and PTC. The difference between these 2 types is how the resistance changes with temperature. NTC 

3
​https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/textbook/reference/chpt-1/capacitor-sizing-equation/ 
4
​http://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/18/2/643 
 6

thermistors actually react in the opposite fashion, decreasing in resistance as temperature increases. The change 
in resistance is converted to useful voltages and then send through the DAQ to our LabView program where it will 
be manipulated to fulfill our needs. 

Figure 5.0: ​Picture of a thermistor.5 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5YXyCBYEds&t=116s​ -Prof. Michael Gilchrist 

5
​https://www.omega.ca/pptst_eng/HSTH-44000.html#description 
 7

System Design  

Figure 6.0:​ Functional block diagram that summaries the operations of the project.  
 8

The System starts off when the user experiences a sudden change in acceleration or their body temperature 
changes. As described previously, our system is targeted toward athletic use. Many people experience preventable 
injuries on the field, most of which are a result of sudden acceleration or overheating. The system illustrated in 
Figure 7.0 is designed to carter to this need.  
 
The system takes input from the user via two different sources of data measurement devices; an accelerometer 
and thermistor. The accelerometers are attached to the helmet in such a manner that they provide data in all 3 
axis. The thermistor then takes the temperature of the user. All data gathered from these 4 inputs are transmitted 
to a data filtering component to weed out any unnecessary signals which may provide inaccuracies. It is vital that 
these inaccuracies are taken out effectively as they can be detrimental to the performance of a game if the sensors 
indicate false alarms. 
 
After the signal has been conditioned, it it then transferred to a signal amplifier such that the incoming signal is up 
to par with the requirements of the DAQ. After ample amplification, the signal is directed to the DAQ which 
conditions the data and converts all necessary signals from analog to digital. The DAQ is a devices which makes it 
possible for a computer to be involved in the process of data management.  
 
In a virtual environment such as LabView, sensors can be integrated within the code. LabView makes it possible to 
direct command based on sensor measurements. In the case of this project, labView broadly cover the following 
functions: 
 
1. Triangulate and compute the total acceleration and it’s direction. 
2. Take inputs for all 3 accelerometers and thermistor and save it into an array for analysis later on. 
3. Create a condition where if the acceleration or temperature readings go beyond a certain threshold, their 
respective LEDs would be turned ON to indicate that the user’s health may be at risk. 
 
 9

Design Specification  
a) Detail specification of each system component in full detail (e.g., calculation of
resistor/capacitor values and cut off frequency for filters, calculation of gain for amplifiers,
calculation of Nyquist frequency, layout of circuits,…).

Our system involves the spring loaded rotating arm from the lab. On this arm we will be
mounting a mock helmet where our sensors will be located. The idea is to change the springs to
offer a certain aceration upon releasing the tension. This acceleration will be used to calculate
force when struck against the wall. The famous equations F = ma allows us to make this
conversion. The use of accelerometers will ensure we collect accurate accelerations for this
calculation. The SEN-09332 accelerometer as a range of +- 250 g’s. This is a more than
sufficient range. The interface in this sensor is analog so we will need to convert our signals to
digital. The sensitivity is 8mV/ g. This useful voltage will manipulated in labview. We need a
voltage supply of 3.5 - 6V
To see the layout of accelerometers See Fig 1
The thermistor has the same specifications as the accelerometer but no conversion is needed to
be made to meet the required need of Our system.

The range of the voltage entering our system is about 3.5 - 6.5V from the voltage supply but
after the sensor stage we expected the range of voltage to be between 0 - 5 V which is the
voltage output from both the sensors were using. This voltage is them amplified 0 - 10 V to meet
the required input voltage of of the DAQ.

The expected sensitivity of our system is solely based on the sensitivity of our sensors and their
offset but based on the specs of our sensores the sensitivity should be about 8mV/g.

 
 10

Bill Of Materials 

Part Name  Part Number  Quantity  Needs to be 

Purchased? 
 

Accelerometer Sensor  SEN-09332   3  No 

1-Axis 

Thermistor  HSTH-44033-40   1  No 

Helmet  N/A  1  Yes, $20.99 

https://www.amazon.com
/JBM-Ventilation-Multi-sp
orts-Skateboarding-Roller
blading/dp/B01HNYZNXY
/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid
=1520048174&sr=8-5&
keywords=helmet 

Adjustable Power Supply  TENMA 72-8335A   1  No 

DAQ  Q8-USB   1  No 

 
Table 1.0:​ Material needed for this project 
 
 
 

 
 11

Project Planning and Management

Event Name  Start Date  End Date  Assigned To  Duration 

In-lecture workshop  02/13/18  02/13/18  All Members  1 d 

session 

Work on Video  02/17/18  02/18/18  All members  2 d 

Pitch and submit 

Group Proposal  03/01/18  03/03/18  All members  3 d 

In-lecture feedback  03/06/18  03/06/18  All members  1 d 

session 

Reflect on Feedback  03/07/18  03/10/2018  All members  4 d 

and implement 
changes and 
updates to design 

Complete Labview  03/11/18  03/18/18  Mahgoub  7 d 

Program  Liam 

Complete Helmet  03/11/18  03/18/18  Anthony  7 d 

Circuit  Kuldeep 

Testing and Finalize  03/19/18  04/02/18  All members  15 d 

Design 

Preparation for  04/03/18  04/03/18  All members  1 d 

Presentation 

Presentation in a  04/04/18  04/04/18  All members  1 d 

conference/fair 
style to a judge 
panel 

Submit Final Group  03/28/18  04/05/18  Anthony  9 d 

Poster  Liam 

Submit Final Group  04/01/18  04/05/18  All members  1 d 

Video 

Peer Evaluation  04/05/18  04/05/18  All members  1 d 

Table 2.0:​ Project timeline  
 12

Figure 7.0: ​Gantt chart perspective of the entire project timeline. 

 13

Appendix 
Accelerometer Specifications [2]

 
Figure 8.0 
https://www.digikey.ca/product-detail/en/sparkfun-electronics/SEN-09332/1568-1043-ND/5140808 

Figure 9.0 
https://www.digikey.ca/product-detail/en/sparkfun-electronics/SEN-09332/1568-1043-ND/5140808 
Thermistor Specifications [4] 
 14

 
Figure 10.0 
Tip Size - (2.3 - 2.5)mm  

​Adjustable Power Supply Specifications [5] 

·  
Figure 11.0 
 15

Amplifier Specifications [6] 

 
Figure 12.0 
Q8-USB DAQ Specifications  
  
System requirements  Type A USB 2.0 connector (USB 2.0 driver is required) 
Board dimensions (L x W x H)  22.8 cm x 16.8 cm x 3.4 cm 
Analog inputs    
Number of channels  8 
Resolution  16-bit 
Input range  ± 5V, ± 10 V 
Conversion time  4 µs¹ 
Input impedance  1 MΩ 
Maximum full scale range (FSR) error  ± 12 LSB, ± 6 LSB 
 16

Analog outputs    
Number of channels  8 
Resolution  16-bit 
Output range  ± 10.8 V, ± 10 V 
± 5 V, 10.8 V 
10 V, 5 V 
Slew rate  3.5 V/µs 
Conversion time  10 µs¹ 
DC output impedance  0.5 Ω 
Short-circuit current clamp  20 mA 
Maximum capacity load stability  4000 pF 
Non-linearity  ± 1 LSB 
Maximum full scale range (FSR) error  ± 65 LSB 
Maximum load for specified performance  2 kΩ 
Digital inputs    
Number of digital I/O lines  8 
Input low / high  1.5 V / 3.5 V 
Input leakage current  ± 2 µA 
Digital outputs    
Number of digital I/O lines  8 
Output low / high  0.55 V / 4.50 V 
Maximum drive current  ± 32 mA 
Encoder inputs    
Number of encoder inputs  8 
Input low / high  1.5 V / 3.5 V 
Input leakage current  +/- 2 µA 
Maximum A and B frequency in quadrature  24.883 MHz 
Maximum count frequency in 4x quadrature  99.532 MHz 
PWM outputs    
Number of PWM outputs  8² 
Output low (max) / high (min)  0.55 V / 4.50 V 
Minimum frequency  23.7309 Hz 
Maximum frequency  49.766 MHz 
Bits resolution  16 bits 
 
 
 17

 
 
 
 
 
 
Referernces  
 
[1] ​https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5YXyCBYEds&t=116s 
[2] ​https://www.digikey.ca/product-detail/en/sparkfun-electronics/SEN-09332/1568-1043-ND/5140808 
 
[3] ​http://www.analog.com/media/en/technical-documentation/data-sheets/ADXL193.pdf 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2U49usFo10  
[4] ​https://www.omega.com/temperature/pdf/HSTH-44000.pdf 
[5]  
http://www.farnell.com/datasheets/2257000.pdf?_ga=2.86462160.934275953.1520059054-1478027156.15
20059054 
[6] 
https://moodle.yorku.ca/moodle/pluginfile.php/3212545/mod_resource/content/1/VoltPAQ-X1%20-%20User%
20Manual.pdf 
[7] 
https://moodle.yorku.ca/moodle/pluginfile.php/3212551/mod_resource/content/1/Q8-USB%20User%20Manual.
pdf