Senior Design Proposal

HMS Smart Refrigerator

Son Dinh
Mark Solace
Hadeel Alqahtani
HMS - Refrigerator
Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department, Catholic University of America

Submitted to

Dr Hang Liu, Prof. Russo

Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department, Catholic University of America

Contents

Statement of Problem

Objectives

Technical Approach
Identifying Needs of Customers
Identifying Target Specifications
Generating Design Concepts
Selecting Design Concept

X
X
X
X
X

Project Management
Deliverables
Budget
Communication and Coordination with Sponsor
Team Qualifications

X
X
X
X
X

Conclusion

References

Appendix A: Rsums of Team Members

Name 1
Name 2
Name 3
Name 4

X
X
X
X
X

Statement of Problem:
In the modern word, food safety and management is considered one of biggest
issue. People usually forget or uncheck the expiration date and conditions of food before
using. It is dangerous to consume bad food since they cause many severe diseases.
Also, many people forget what they have in their refrigerator. They waste time and
energy to remember items inside their refrigerator. Therefore, our group decides to solve
these problems with a device for refrigerator. This device will keep tracking items inside
refrigerator, store the information such as weight, expiration date and users can access
these information using their smartphones.
The first interesting part of this device is helping people to keep track items in
their refrigerator. With our device, many people do not need to waste time and energy to
remember their items. Secondly, by accessing through smart phones, it is easier for user
to check without touching their refrigerator. Furthermore, with the help of Internet of
Things, the device can develop with more features such as recommending good recipes,
providing health advices.

Prior Art:
According to our analysis, to solve this problem, LG and Samsung made complete
smart refrigerator. This refrigerator lets user input and manage the food type/ expiration
period information and use smartphone to check the food list. The refrigerator can
communicate with smartphone using wireless. They use a high sensor camera so that
people can view inside their refrigerator. Also, users are able to write memos, interact
with refrigerators using the touchscreen. However, to use all of these features, people
have to pay a great amount of money; for example, around $3000 for a LGs smart
refrigerator and around $4000 for a Samsungs smart refrigerator

Proposed Solution:
The main difference between our device and the solution from LG or Samsung
company is that our device can integrate into most of regular refrigerator. We do not
intend to build a whole new smart refrigerator as Samsung or LG did before. We create a
small device that communicate users refrigerator with Internet. Through this
communication, we aim to solve the management problem by letting users access their
refrigerators from their smartphones, laptops.
The major functional aspects of our solution:

Item Identification through scanning

Keep track items inside refrigerator

Measure weight of each item inside refrigerator

Communicate with Internet, access device through smartphones or laptops

The non-functional aspects of our solution:

Size: small size, able to integrate with many kinds of refrigerator

Weight: light, around 1-2 kg

Power: efficiency power consumption. There will be 2 operation modes:

Sleep mode: Most of the time to save energy. During this mode, all
sensors are deactivated, only able to connect Internet.

Active mode: Only trigger when refrigerators door is opened

Cost: Able for regular consumers. Around $100.

Detailed Solution
1. Identifying Customer Needs Use Case:
The first case is when people go grocery shopping and forget to purchase the
goods they need to buy. Through our device, users will know what items inside their
refrigerator and quantity of them so they will buy exact items with exact amount.
The second case is when a food is out of expiration date. The device will alert
users by sending warning messages so users will know to throw correct items.
2.

3.

Identifying Target Specifications - Requirements

Able to recognize 95% items from their barcodes
Measure weight of product within 5-10% error
Can access using smartphones
Able to connect Internet even in Sleep mode
Generating Design Concepts
High level diagram of our device:

4.

Selecting Design Concept

Project Management
This section presents the plan for managing the project. This plan should follow a
logical sequence. Please make sure that you have a transition paragraph between the
heading Project Management and the subheading Deliverables. That paragraph
should introduce and explain your Gantt chart for the project. An example of such a chart
appears in Figure 1.

Figure 1: Gantt chart for the project. The solid bars indicate the portions of the tasks that have been
accomplished.

Deliverables
Here you would place a paragraph or paragraphs that present the deliverables that
you will provide the customer. Adopt the same paragraphing format as discussed in
previous sections.
Budget
Here you would place a paragraph or paragraphs that explain the budget for the
project. Include a table such as Table 1. Adopt the same paragraphing format as discussed
in previous sections.
Table 1: Requested items and funds for initial design.
Item
Vacuum Pump
Flow Pump
23/32" Plywood 4'x8'
4" Ondine Rainmaker
Acrylic Tubing 5' (OD 8")
"8" Flange (13" OD)

Supplier
McMaster Carr
Northern Tool
Lowe's Hardware
Smartbargain.com
McMaster Carr
McMaster Carr

Catalog No#
IJ-60825
CJX-689
none
129808
8486K626
KD-ERW

Communication and Coordination with Sponsor

Quantity
1
1
1
1
1
1

Unit
Price
$183.47
$139.99
$24.95
$19.99
$236.70
$44.24
Total

Total
$188.72
$156.62
$24.95
$37.86
$250.95
$44.24
$703.34

Here you would place paragraphs that explain how you will communicate and
coordinate with your sponsor. Adopt the same paragraphing format as discussed in
previous sections.
Team Qualifications
Here you would place a paragraph that introduces the qualifications for the team
and refers to the resumes located in Appendix A. In this section, you should provide a
paragraph for each team member. Adopt the same paragraphing format as discussed in
previous sections.

References
1. Houghton, Richard A., and George M. Woodwell, Global Climatic Change,
Scientific American, vol. 260, no. 4 (April 1989), pp. 3940.
2. Fox, R.W., and A.T. McDonald, Introduction to Fluid Mechanics (New York: John
Wiley & Sons, 1978), pp. 242245.
3. Varian Corporation, "Smithsonian Researchers Use High-Tech Digital Imaging
Device to Study Collections," http://www.varian.com/ (Palo Alto, CA: Varian
Corporation, 13 February 2002).

Appendix A:
Rsums of Team Members
The following pages present one-page rsums of the team members for this
project.