Mark IV Control Panel Design

The control panel for Mark IV is a critical part of the system. The computer is able to tell us how many camera circuits have power being supplied to, which can be controlled by using the buttons on the panel. This was very crucial in allowing us to work out bugs quickly and speed up the design process till we were able to safely operate seven camera circuits.

The control panel was also designed for the user in mind as the plasma discharge is a four stage process. The first switch shuts off all power being supplied to the circuits, the second isolates the capacitor bank from the circuitry, the third discharges the energy, and the fourth discharges the remaining energy stored in the capacitors after firing. This allowed us to speed up the experimentation process, and minimize risk.

 

Control Panel

 

Another critical aspect of the control panel is to regulate the voltage of the capacitor bank. Overcharging the bank accidently is a major risk, which the computer is able to prevent. A phototransistor was used to isolate the microcontroller from the capacitor bank to measure voltage. When the capacitor bank reaches 300v, the computer automatically turns off the power being supplied. Light from the LED on the camera circuits was connected to the phototransistor.

 

The computer was made using a Parallax microcontroller and programmed using BASIC Stamp. The coding took up five pages.