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Motorized glass door

franktank

Hi all

 

I am not an EE but my projects frequently make me put on that hat. Lol.

 

My ma has requested an automated system to open the sliding glass door for her dog.

 

The typical dog door inserts really won't work as her dog is a monstrosity and would get stuck in or smash the biggest ones I've seen, and if we built one to fit, the door would be useless.

 

The idea so far is a motor and a track to open the door. That sounds easy.

 

What I need your help to figure out would be some form of (arduino/raspberry pi) based RFID sniffing controller. Would need adjustable sensitivity for the sensor, and some means of overriding it so a person could open it or lock the dogs out, etc.

 

I welcome all ideas!

 

Thanks.

 

Frank

  • Kimage

    So I found a thing,  RC522

    Look at this on eBay http://www.ebay.com/itm/301820026116

    This listing has pretty decent info

     

    It's an RFID sensor. Looks like it's meant for arduino but would be sweet if it could be used as a stand alone device

     

    Any advice on the hookup of the thing would be good. I see ground, 3.3 hot, all I need is the terminal that goes hot when it sniffs and I'll be in business, right?

     

    I scratched up a system that should work,  some obvious things like power leads or grounds to transistor have been omitted for now.

     

    Oh, the last time I had a weird project I found some trouble finding a transistor that would accept a hot signal to make a hot output? A little advice on that would be appreciated too. Lolz. Suggested part numbers or hookup methods and such.

  • in reply to franktank

    The problem with this idea is that you may end up crushing your ma or her dog. The system must be safe which means that it must have some means of detecting that it is closing on a human/dog. If you can design it so it is ALWAYS safe to open then that make things easier. An actuator powerful enough to open and close a sliding door will be capable of causing injury.

    Don't use a PI !!!! - Pi based system could never be reasonably demonstrated to be safe unless there were so many Pi independent interlocks that the Pi is redundant anyway. An Arduino is a little more hopeful but I wouldn't trust my dog's life to one !

     

    Google for some information on factory automation and safety to get some ideas of the stuff you should be thinking about.

     

    I can't read you sketch - when I tried to rotate it half of it got cut off.

     

    Try using black ink on plain paper and scan in black and white - or even better use a diagram editor or CAD (free ones exist).

     

    MK

  • If it is programmed with Arduino the code could detect force maybe and reverse, or a sensor like garage doors use...

  • in reply to bradnorwood

    True but ...........

     

    A while ago I designed a sophisticated autoclave controller for a company with no experience of fancy electronics or software (but they knew lot about high pressure steam and electro- mechanical control systems). Their first thought was that the PC with the user interface would be able to do all the safety interlocks. To help them understand why not I suggested that they should view the electronic control system as a fairly smart homicidal maniac whose sole aim in life was to lull them into a false sense of security and then wind the autoclave up to full pressure and temperature and open the door. (Such an event being capable of taking out a reasonable sized building ! (About 750l of steam at 140C, very roughly 2.5Mj = 0.5 kg of TNT).

    The final design used an Atmell AVR based low level controller (not an Arduino) and a PC running embedded Windows for the user interface. The mechanical and electro-mechanical was designed so that with two faults in the low level stuff (ie not including either processor or ANY software) then it was, as far as we could make it, impossible for an unsafe event to occur.

     

    Your door isn't as dangerous but the same mindset should apply - assume the software does the worst possible thing, and then design so no dogs are harmed !

     

    MK

  • It maybe best to set up so that the force of the motors do not except a torque limit that would cause harm. And maybe add sensors as a secondary precaution. We do not have enough redundant safety systems for our protection. A good A.I.(artificial intelligenc) can over see this too...

  • Thanks for the input, all.

     

    I hope to keep this as simple as possible but I certainly hear the need for some form of safety. Perhaps a garage door laser set. Find one for nothing. Done.

     

    Is there anything else I'm really lacking here? I'd like to keep the whole mess as analog as possible cause I really don't understand jack diddly about the programmed kit box computers

     

    Oh. I need a good RFID tag reader that's good for a foot or two range. The one I posted before is only good for 60mm. Not so good for a dog that doesn't get it. Need suggestions!

     

    Thanks

  • Idk what the problem is with diagram,  my phone downloads it as though it has never seen it before, opens it in screen just great. Crispy.

     

    You might be able to select a program to open?

     

    Diagram will serve my purposes well enough as is.

     

    Will add garage door laser on close lead