Electronic Cigarette Smoking Machine Controller Needed

Chris Havel said:

I'm in San Francisco California.

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The bad news is that there is nothing cheap about international postage from Australia.

ronv said:

MCU88 has an unbeatable deal if he is up for it. It would be a good fit for a micro.

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The way I see it is that if he is happy with the end result he might throw me a bone. I do it all the time out of gratification, merit and reward for what I receive in this world... It makes you feel good about yourself.

Just the other day I gave my doctor some gourmet and bloody expensive vegetable soup. Just to show my appreciation if you know what I mean. I like an first class medical treatment and I am prepared to pay the premium.

Chris Havel said:

ronv and MCU88. Sorry I got confused as to who I was responding to in the last few posts. If both of you want to build controllers that's great.

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This job is taken? I am outta here then...

MCU88 said:

In academia we call it an requirements and analysis document. It is the first step, the initiation of an project. Your analysis (could be just conclusions with or without support) -- I am more of an practical person though. The less reading the better. I like to see block diagrams and requirements in dot point / step form. So just two page me an document. Say a paragraph on the project goal and an down to earth explanation about what it is meant to do. Then the requirements in high detail step form. Block diagram(s) Paragraph on any conclusions / errata that you may wish to add. You may wish to consider restraints also. Such as the max or min size of the project enclosure.

Make up your mind with everything. No abstract please.

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Good idea. I'll prepare the document and post it by the weekend.

MCU88 said:

This job is taken? I am outta here then...

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No the job is not taken. The more ideas on how to design a controller that closely mimics how e-cigarette users use their products the better.

This machine will allow for researchers studying e-cigarettes to evaluate the health risks involved with inhaling heated glycerol, propylene glycol vapor and a host of other flavors and components. The end results could be life saving.

ronv said:

Hi Chris,
No problem.
I'm not quite done with the design schematic, but a rough price for the printed circuit boards alone are a little over $100 for 5. Just a guess that there would be a little less than $100 for each set of parts. Most of that in switches, the box, knob etc. The electronics are pretty cheap. I enjoy the design, but not so much the PCB layout and assembly so I classify that as work. But based on what you paid for the one you have I think I would still do it for 25% less than your guy. In any case I'll finish the schematic and you can see what they want for it and we can go from there.
MCU88 has an unbeatable deal if he is up for it. It would be a good fit for a micro.

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Great Ron. I look forward to seeing what you come up with.

Chris Havel said:

No the job is not taken. The more ideas on how to design a controller that closely mimics how e-cigarette users use their products the better.

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20-years experience electronics. 10-years experience computer programming. Some University study B.SC information technology. Have had projects published in magazines during course of last decade. I have a lot of free time on my hands at the moment so I can do the project. I need an commitment (handshake agreement) -- from you though that at bare minimum you will pay for the cost of parts and international shipping. You can see on the Internet the cost of postage https://auspost.com.au/apps/postage-calculator.html I am in Australia Sydney NSW 2775...

This machine will allow for researchers studying e-cigarettes to evaluate the health risks involved with inhaling heated glycerol, propylene glycol and a host of other flavors and components. The end results could be life saving.

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Excellent. Medicine is an very interesting field too.

Chris Havel said:

Great Ron. I look forward to seeing what you come up with.

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OK, Here you go.
This is a schematic and simulation of the box.
The top trace is the coil on signal. the second the valve on signal, and the 3rd the cycle count.
The switches are set for 1 second delay, 6 second puff, 10 second rest and 4 cycles.
The schematic got a little busy for 1 page, but I think it will be ok if you print it or have good eyes.

ronv said:

OK, Here you go.
This is a schematic and simulation of the box.
The top trace is the coil on signal. the second the valve on signal, and the 3rd the cycle count.
The switches are set for 1 second delay, 6 second puff, 10 second rest and 4 cycles.
The schematic got a little busy for 1 page, but I think it will be ok if you print it or have good eyes.

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Looks great! Will it work? My eyes aren't all that great.

Looks like a lot of work. How are your eyes?''

No, seriously, I do see the 3 timers. I assume this will be powered by a 15 volt 200 mAmp power supply and there will be 2 output terminals one for the valve and one for the coil. How long does it take to put it together?

Chris Havel said:

Looks great! Will it work? My eyes aren't all that great.

Looks like a lot of work. How are your eyes?''

No, seriously, I do see the 3 timers. I assume this will be powered by a 15 volt 200 mAmp power supply and there will be 2 output terminals one for the valve and one for the coil. How long does it take to put it together?

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The simulation looks ok, but sometimes I still miss something.
Yes, same power supply. I guess you are running your 12 volt relay and valve off of 15 volts?
It would probably take a month. I could send you the parts list to buy and you could ship them to me while I was laying out the PC board. That would take about a week. I could then check that the parts look like the datasheets and check them against the layout. Then send it off to get boards made. About 2 weeks. A week to build and test it and away we go.

ronv said:

The simulation looks ok, but sometimes I still miss something.
Yes, same power supply. I guess you are running your 12 volt relay and valve off of 15 volts?
It would probably take a month. I could send you the parts list to buy and you could ship them to me while I was laying out the PC board. That would take about a week. I could then check that the parts look like the datasheets and check them against the layout. Then send it off to get boards made. About 2 weeks. A week to build and test it and away we go.

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A lot more work on your end Ron than I anticipated. I'm learning a lot from this thread on how electrical engineers create and design electronic machines. I didn't know about computer simulation of circuit design for instance.

I've been keeping my colleagues and PI's informed on what I'm doing on this thread and so far they seem fairly positive obtaining a more sophisticated controller than the one we are now using. I for one will be able to do other things besides siting there watching a timer so I can stop the vaping after 7 minutes to do 15 4-second puffs. I am getting close to having enough data with the existing setup to write a paper for Nicotine and Tobacco Research. I will put in that future directions will be the development of the controller that we've been talking about.

Take your time and send me the parts list whenever you can.

Yes, the 12 volt relay is being driven by 15 volts. For some odd reason I thought it was a 12 volt system. The valve doesn't have a voltage written on it and I haven't been able to find the specs for it online.

This is a great forum.

Thanks again Ron for taking an interest.