Our Systems
At Sulis, our expertise with system prototyping is always on demand. Our current contract involves producing a proof-of-concept design model to deal with hazardous waste processing. The system is required to correctly identify waste materials based on their colour and size and sort them into an appropriate container.
For our prototype, Sulis has made use of a variety of duplo blocks to represent these different types of waste. Furthermore, since the specification mentions that there shall only be one type of hazardous material, the small red block was identified to us as the "hazardous" block, that must be deposited in a different container to the other waste blocks.
Some key features of our mechanical design include:
- The opening of the upper chute of the system is shaped so that blocks may only be admitted in a certain position, to avoid blockages or flawed sensor readings
- Our system relies on gravity to convey each block through the system. There are no conveyor belts or moving parts present, meaning our block will more reliably travel through the system from start to finish. This also means that there is no need to devote power to any additional moving parts.
- The system's FPGA and MBED boards are integrated into the structure to reduce the overall size of the system. This also allowed for the boards to be programmed to display information while the system is operating, since the LCD of the MBED and seven-segment display of the FPGA are in clear view.
Below is our image gallery, showing design schematics and photos of our current contract:
Presentation video of completed system:
Here the system is shown from the front and from above, showing the waste processing operation in action. The controlling laptop with the GUIcan be seen to the right of the system.
