Automated Honey Extractor 2013
The honeybee population is vastly decreasing due to many reasons and has created a global concern due to their high importance. The Automated Honey Extractor is meant to increase the number of hobbyist beekeepers and small beekeeping businesses and as a result stimulate the globally decreasing population of honeybees which play an indispensable role in agriculture (honeybees play a major role in pollinating crops) and more. Beekeeping can be troublesome for hobbyist beekeepers, but with an introduction of an inexpensive, and yet full of useful features and ease of operation automated honey extractor, beekeeping practice becomes less difficult as honey extraction itself is usually the main reason why hobbyists practice beekeeping.
The major parts of the automated Honey Extractor include the Sensor module, the human interface module, the Heating coil and the motor. At the center of the honey extractor is the Cypress PSoC chip, the brains of the device. The Sensor module contains an infrared temperature sensor and a humidity sensor.The human interface module contains a LCD screen, a button array and a bluetooth module. The bluetooth module is designed to communicate with an Android device. The Heating coil consists of the heating coil itself and a heating coil driver. The heating coil driver is driven through a digital pin on the PSoC. the pin drives an open drain mosfet which drives a relay. The motor module consists of a ½ hp 3-phase motor and a Variable Frequency drive. The output shaft of the motor is connected to the honey extractor’s frame holder through a pulley system. Together, all of theses components create an Automated Honey Extractor.
Group Members
Brandon Parmeter is an Electrical Engineering student at UCF graduating in December 2013. He is the president of the UCF Robotics Club. He has an interest in designing hardware for robotic systems. He has experience in mechanical CAD, electrical CAD and embedded programming. He is currently employed as an intern at Primal Innovations in Sanford Florida. He plans on working there when he graduates.
Dmytro Boichev is an Electrical Engineering student at UCF graduating in December 2013. Dmytro has an interest in communications as well as hardware and software development for smartphone industry. He plans to attend a graduate school while working for a local engineering firm
Petr Boychev is an Electrical Engineering student at UCF graduating in December 2013. Upon graduation Petr is planning on attending the Slavic Missionary Bible School for half a year, after which he plans on finding a job in the Electrical Engineering field
Kira Farney received her Computer Engineering degree from Tashkent college of Information Technology in 2000. Kira will be graduating from the University of Central Florida with a Bachelor’s of Science in Computer Engineering in December 2013. She plans to continue her education and pursue a master’s degree in the future. Upon graduation, Kira will continue her employment with Northrop Grumman as a Software Engineer.