Here is the PDF for C4
Here is the link to the comments for S2A
Here is the link for test cases:
Here is the link to deliverable S2a:
Conceptual Design Documents
SAM 5000
Shower Automation Machine
Developed by Just Right Showers
Contributors
Rhiannon Tully-Barr – Functional Specification
Kathleen Garland – Management Plan
Ushanth Loganathan – User Interaction
Kushal Patel – User Interaction
Executive Summary
This document will provide a detailed description of the SAM 5000 shower management system. First, the motivation behind developing the SAM 5000 as a method of maintaining the shower’s temperature at a desired level will be explained. The system’s most important functions will be highlighted, and the benefits it will provide for the user will be shown. The system’s user interface will be described in detail, along with the intended interactions that the user can have with the system. A high-level overview of the system’s function classes and their relationships will be provided. Finally, the structure of our team at Just Right Showers will be provided including a breakdown of the project into sub-sections according to the team members who will be responsible for them.
Functional Specification
This section will summarize the project by describing the system being developed and what it does. It will highlight its most important features and describe the system hardware.
The System: SAM 5000
The SAM 5000 or Shower Automation Machine 5000 is a comprehensive smart shower solution. It is comprised of a touch screen interface inside the shower, a mechanical shower system to turn the shower on/off and modify the temperature via user input to the touch screen, and sensors installed in the hot water heater.
Its main function will be to show the user how much hot water is left. It allows the user to set a shower routine, which turns the shower on / off at specific time intervals and sets the temperature. The user can save these routines and temperature preferences. It calculates how much longer the user must wait for a full tank of water, and displays this information.
The SAM 5000 is targeted primarily at multi-person households, though single people with small hot water tanks could also benefit from the information it provides.
The system is targeted at users who need to keep track of how much hot water remains in their hot water tank. This is primarily an issue in households where multiple people are using hot water around the same time, which creates a risk for hot water running out mid-shower. No one likes the water suddenly running cold on them, and the aim is to avoid such an unpleasant situation. To that end, the system provides a warning to the user if the hot water is running low, allowing the user to avoid the unpleasant shock of being frozen.
In tandem with this, the shower system will allow users to set “shower routines”, where the water will turn on/off automatically at the chosen times. This service is provided for users who need to conserve hot water, once again, to avoid running out mid-shower. In addition, the hot water conservation will allow the user to save water for the next people who need to shower. The system should not only prevent a cold shower, but allow thoughtful users to save some hot water for their family members or roommates.
Another benefit of shower routines is that users will no longer need to fiddle with the temperature endlessly to get it right; instead, the shower routine sets the temperature to a pre-chosen value.
The SAM 5000 system’s objectives are as follows:
- Inform the user of how much hot water is remaining
- Prevent the user from accidentally having a cold shower
- Implement user-defined “shower routines” and preferences like temperature
- Help the user save water for other household members / the environment
- Make the showering experience itself more streamlined
The system will help users make shower-related decisions by delivering important shower information to them in real-time. It will help the user have a pleasant shower experience by remembering temperature and duration preferences, making the showering experience more streamlined with fewer interruptions. This also helps users save water, benefiting other members of the household as well as the environment. Finally, the system helps users avoid that most terrible fate of a sudden – and unwanted – cold shower.
Most important features:
- Interactive, information-based touch screen interface.
Touch screen features: displays remaining “hot water time”, percent hot water remaining, temperature, current routine, and current stage. - Shower routines to automatically adjust water temperature and flow at user defined time intervals.
System hardware
Since the system will need to control the shower flow and temperature, a control system will need to be in place. For this reason, the system will require installing a new shower. This part of the project will be subcontracted. The shower installed will need to conform to the following:
- actuators to turn the hot and cold water on and off
- a control system to set the shower temperature based on an input temperature.
The touch screen interface will be installed inside the shower, set into the wall. It will be covered in waterproof glass to prevent damage to the internal electronics. A small embedded system will be the basis for the interface, since the system does not require any web connectivity or very demanding computations.
The touch screen will be a resistive touch screen, meaning that it will be less responsive but will still perform when wet. The glass will be treated in order to prevent fogging.
The system will also need to interface with sensors, both in the shower head and in the hot water tank. The hot water tank should have a small floating device placed within, which will need to be heat-resistant. This device will measure the water level in the tank as well as the speed with which it is dropping, which will provide the data needed for the system to display “percent hot water remaining” and “time to run out”. The shower head itself should have a simple temperature sensor that can convey temperature information electronically, which will allow the system to display the actual temperature of the water. These sensors, and the wiring required for them to interface with the touch screen microcontroller/embedded system, will be installed when the shower is renovated.
In order to install the SAM 5000, the shower’s knob-based system for turning the hot and cold water on and off will need to be removed and replaced with a combined mechanical and electrical system. This system will receive input from the main system and change the flow of water from the hot and cold pipes according to the state (on/off) and temperature instructions it receives.
The system will include external knobs like an ordinary shower. These will serve as a manual override, so that if the SAM 5000 malfunctions, the shower is still useable.
In addition, the touch screen interface will need to be installed in the wall of the shower and properly sealed. The shower head will also need to be replaced with an upgraded, sensor-fitted model.
Due to the extensive nature of these renovations, a complete shower replacement will often be desirable. The system will be compatible with all most hot water tanks, so no replacement will be necessary.
The precise design of the mechanical subsystem, as well as its installation, will be handled on a subcontractor basis, being outside of the expertise of our team at Just Right Showers Inc.
User Interaction
This section will provide a detailed description of the user’s interaction with the system. Functions available to the user will be described along with expected input and output.
New user profile screen
Users will be able to create profile and set their own routines. Creating a profile includes the following steps:
- The user is required to provide a username that contains only alphanumerical characters and their gender.
- The slider lets the user select their preferred temperature between 20-60 degrees Celsius .
- There will be two buttons present at the bottom of the form. They can be “Create User” and “Cancel”.
- In order to successfully create the user profile, the user needs to click on “Create User ”. (The user can skip the Create Routine process)
Expected output:
- If the user clicks on “Create User Profile” button, the system checks whether inputs for the username is correct. An error message can be displayed if there was an incorrect input provided. It can be due to the following reasons:
- The username is empty or does not contain any alphanumerical characters.
- Invalid input was entered in temperature field.
- When the correct inputs are present in the form, the system prompts the user to create routine. A dialog box will be shown to request the user for creating the routine. There will be two buttons available to click. The “skip” button can be clicked to skip the process and the “Create Routine” button to create a routine.
- Clicking on the “Create Routine” button takes the user to the Create Routine page.
- Clicking the “skip” button alerts the user that the user profile was created successfully.
- If there was no input for the temperature the system automatically records the last temperature used.
- If the user wishes to cancel the process, he can click on the Cancel button which takes him to the Home screen.
Create routine
When a routine is created, the user will be able to set the time for various stages during shower.
There will be three stages during shower. These can be drench, lather and rinse with three different labels in the routine screen. During drench and rinse stages the water will be turned on. The water will be turned off during lather stage. There will be three different labels named as stage 1, stage 2 and stage 3 by default which can be modified by the user. Stage labels can be modified with alphanumerical characters.
Beside the stage labels, there will be empty fields to input the time required for each of the stages. The user can enter time periods between 1-10 minutes for each stages.
Additionally, the user needs to select the shower routine progress. Selecting the “Automatic” tick box allows the system to function automatically based on the time for each stages. If the user selects the manual, the system will notify the user to turn on/off the water.
When the user finishes filling all the inputs, he is required to click the “Done” or the “Back” button displayed at the bottom of the page.
Expected Output:
- Clicking on the “Done” button will successfully create the routine. If there are wrong inputs provided by the user, an error message will be displayed to correct the error. An error message can cause due to the following reasons:
- The stage labels are modified with non-alphanumerical characters or left as empty.
- Time period fields for any of the stages are left empty or filled with non-numeric characters.
- Time period for any of the stages fall behind 1 minute or exceed more than 10 minutes.
- If the automatic or manual tick boxes of the shower routine progress is left empty.
- The “back” button will take the user back to the user profile screen. Clicking on this button would reset all the fields and tick boxes.
User profiles screen
The user can click the different user profiles available in this screen. A button to create a new user profile and back button to navigate to the home screen are available in this screen.
Expected output:
- Clicking the preferred user profile will prompt the user with a new screen. This screen shows the summary of the user profile which was selected.
- If the user clicks the “Create new user profile” button, the system navigates to the new user profile screen.
- Clicking the back button would take the user to the home screen.
User profile summary screen
A summary page will be displayed when the user selects a particular user profile. This page contains the following information:
- The username
- Temperature that was already set
- Favorite routines
- Shower data
There will be an edit button available next to the username, temperature and routine fields. The user can click on this button if he wishes to modify them.
Moreover, there will be a back button to navigate to the “select user profile screen”. Beside this button, there will be another button called “Start shower” for the user to start the shower.
Expected output:
- If the user clicks on edit button next to the username, the username field becomes active and the user can change the username.
- The temperature field will also become active if the user clicks on the edit button available next to it.
- If the user need to edit the routine, the system will take him to the routine page. This can be done by clicking the edit button.
- The shower data contains the following information displayed to the user:
- Average water temperature
- Average time spent in shower (total time)
- Average time spent in shower (with water)
- Average amount of hot water used per shower
- Clicking the back button will take the user back to the user profiles page.
- Clicking the start shower button would turn on the water and user can shower.
Shower screen
When the user starts showering, the shower page is shown by the system. The user will be able to monitor the following information during shower:
- The username
- The hot water level that is available in the tank(percentage).
- Time left for the shower to complete
- The current temperature of the water dispensed from the outlet.
Additionally, the user will be able to control the water by turning on/off during shower. This can be done by switching the on/off button available in this screen.
A button is available to logout the user from the system. The user will be able to click on this button when the shower is completely done or in the middle of the shower.
Expected output:
- If the user has selected the manual shower progress, the system will notify to turn on/off the water.
- Automatic shower progress is fully controlled by the system. Therefore, the user does not need to control the water.
- Clicking the logout button will make the user the exit the profile and go the home screen. The statistics will be saved accordingly.
Home screen
The Home screen is the first view the user can see when the system is working. This screen contains the following features:
- The current water temperature
- Hot water level
- Timer
- Routines – These are pre-programmed routines available in the system
- Shower On/Off
- User Profiles
- Settings
Below show is the Home screen of SAM 5000:
The user will be able to monitor the temperature, hot water level and the timing. Clicking on the User profiles button takes the user to profile screen for adding new user or selecting an existing user. The routines button will navigate the user to pre-programmed routines screen and the settings button is used to change settings of the system.
Expected output:
- If the user on the system, the system by default works with a pre-configured standard routine. Based on that routine, the hot water level, timing and the water temperature might change.
- The user needs to turn of the water in order to choose any option because the system locks the user from selecting any other buttons when the water is on.
Pre-programmed routines
Pre-programmed routines allows user to pre-set routines from the system. There are 3 buttons for choosing in the pre-programmed routines menu. They can be the following:
- Environmental
- Standard
- Luxury
Expected output:
- Once the user selects one of this button, he is taken back to the Home screen with the pre-set option that he selected.
- Once he is in the home screen, he can turn on the water for shower.
- The user can only select one button
Management Plan
In this section, classes of functions, their interactions and relationships will be described. Possible implementations will be discussed, and a breakdown of labor according to team members will be provided.
Features:
- Touch Screen Interface
- Temperature Sensing,Changing
- Pre-programmable shower options
- Amount of Available Hot Water Sensing
- Timer
- Shower Data, Analytics
Touch Screen Interface:
- Will display User profile on screen
- Will allow client to switch User Profile using touch pad by logging in with username and password
- Will display temperature of water on screen
- Will allow client to change water temperature using touch pad
- Will display different pre-programmable shower options on screen
- Will allow user to choose a pre-programmable shower option using touch pad
- Will display amount of available hot water on screen; with three different colours indicating different levels of hot water left – green = >50% yellow = >20% <50% red = >20%
- Will display amount of time left remaining on shower using a countdown timer
Temperature Sensing/Changing
- System will be able to sense what current temperature of water is within +/- 1 degree
- System will be able to change temperature
Pre-Programmable Shower Options
- System will have three pre-set shower options: Environmental, Standard, Luxury
- Environmental option will be 5 mins at 10 degrees less than set preferred temp (default 50 degrees Celsius )
- Standard Options will be 8 minutes at set preferred temp ( default set at 50 degrees)
- Luxury Option with be 15 minutes at set preferred temp ( default set at 50 degrees)
- System will allow users to create a showering program by altering preferred temperature and duration
Amount of Available Hot Water Sensing
- System will sense how much water is available in the hot water tank
- System will take the how much hot water is left and current rate of use to determine how much hot water is left
Shower Data, Analytics
- System will calculate time of duration for a particular user, while user is logged on, system will keep this data for a month
- System will calculate average temperature for a particular user, while user is logged on, system will keep this data for a month
- System will use duration and temperature of shower to calculate energy used during shower
If all goes well, we would like to implement a separate mobile/desktop application where clients can set up a specific user profile and have access to shower data, and be able to create different shower routines.
User Profile:
- Clients will be able to log into a User Profile with a username and password
- Client will be able to set a preferred temperature
- Client will be able to set a preferred time of shower
- Client will be able to see past showering data
– Average time of shower
– Average amount of water used
– Average energy used - User Profile will be able to wirelessly connect to Touch Screen Interface via bluetooth
Detailed User Interaction
New user profile screen
Users will be able to create profile and set their own routines. Creating a profile includes the following steps:
- The user is required to provide a username that contains only alphanumerical characters and their gender.
- The slider lets the user select their preferred temperature between 20-60 degrees Celsius .
- There will be two buttons present at the bottom of the form. They can be “Create User” and “Cancel”.
- In order to successfully create the user profile, the user needs to click on “Create User ”. (The user can skip the Create Routine process)
Rhiannon – System Integration Expert
Rhiannon is in charge of the physical usability, software integration with mechanical components and sensors of the SAM5000. This includes:
- Placement of TouchPad Interface in shower
- Temperature Sensor and Hot Water Heater Sensor
- Wired communication between sensors, shower actuators and touch screen
- Processing of Sensor data into display values for touch screen
- Processing of user input into instructions for the shower actuators
Kathleen – Client Account Manager
Kathleen is the client – supplier relationship expert, and is in charge of making sure clients are happy with the design and progress made during the project. Her main duties include:
- Scheduling regular client/supplier meetings
- Answering client questions
- Addressing client concerns in prototype stage of development
- Creating client/supplier links
Kushal – Front End Developer
Kushal will be In charge of creating the Graphic User Interface for the Touch Screen Interface. This will include:
- Creating icons
- Placement of icons on screen
- Transition to different screen
Ushanth – Back End Developer
Ushanth will be In charge of back-end design of Touch Screen Interface and Interface usability documentation.This will include:
- Displaying the rest of time left in the timer
- Displaying the water temperature
- Displaying the amount of hot water available
- Displaying the shower options
- Saving client-made shower routines
What are the related products & projects
1. Smart “flow” boiler
- Part of the internet of things, smartphone connected and able to be turned up/down from anywhere. This seems to be more related to a boiler for generating electricity than for keeping water hot, though.
- http://www.flowenergy.uk.com/meet-flow/the-first-smart-boiler
2. Tankless Water Heater
- Deals with the “never run out of hot water” aspect of the RFP but not much else. It does use a microcontroller to monitor flow and ensure you never run out of hot water, which could be extended to include more features.
- http://www.gotankless.com/
3. EVA smart shower head
- Comes with an app that tracks your water usage over time. It also has some other nice features for conserving water that we might want to consider. It would allow you to select water temperature from companion smartphone app.
- http://www.gizmag.com/eva-smart-shower-head/34834
4.HYDRAO
- A device you insert into your current shower that measures water usage. This device also emits different colours of light to determine what their water usage is (low,medium,high).
- http://www.hydrao.fr/en/
5.iShower
- iShower is a smart shower system that is used to store presets, control shower body jets, overhead shower, hand shower and foot showers. It dispenses shampoos and conditioners automatically when the user needs it. This system uses TCP/IP connectivity for communication over the LAN. iShower has an application which can be installed in iphone to control the functions of iShower control system. Feedback of water temperature at each outlet as well as the temperature within the shower can be obtained from the application. Users can heat up the shower area faster and setup their own user presets.
- http://www.bath-o-matic.com/html/EN/products/shower_control/shower_control.html
How can we set our product apart from what’s already out there?
According to my research, while smart showers with some interesting functionality exist, there is no complete shower solution that will allow the user to see, in real time, how much hot water remains in their tank. Since this is a need that is not being met by any product on the market, our product will be set apart from the existing options.
How can we execute and deliver on this product?
Most of the technology to do this already exists. Implementing the solution will be a matter of designing a “smart boiler” with water capacity sensors, hooking this up to a microcontroller that can gather the data, and enabling it to communicate with other smart devices using bluetooth, wireless or directly wired connectivity. The controller should connect to an interface within the shower itself, displaying the desired information and allowing the user some level of control over shower temperature, flow, and so forth. The main technical challenge involved in design will be creating an effective in-shower interface, given that current touch screen technology does not work well when wet.
Preliminary project roles & work assignments
Just Right Showers 
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