Photon in DIN rail box with lot of I/O and features (TFT,SD,BT,OneWire..)

Social Project Share
1

Let me introduce myself, I’m an Italian Engineers and DIY passionate found of electronics , controller and process automation especially in the food and beverage area

What I would like to share is a project that I’m running since a while… the basic idea comes form another project where I was engaged so far for home beer brewing automation.
With other beer and technology passionate in Italy we develop a full beer process control and automation based on Arduino Uno.
Since the resources of the most famous controller are very limited for the scope and I would like to add some new requirements I start investigating other MCU with more power and well supported and for many good reasons the choice has been Particle Photon

I start developing a complete new board adding graphical LCD, SD card for logging and recipe management, wifi and BT connectivity for web and smart-phone applications and lot of I/O to control any possible equipments (SSR, relay, pump, solenoid valve) and interface digital temperature probe as well analog NTC

the result is a very compact and powerful controller engineered in a DIN box 5U case with robust power supply and protections on all I/O as an industrial controller

the project has become so general purpose that I hope that other people are interested in the controller to develop their own application…with such a characteristics there is no limit to creativeness

Here below a list of main characteristics

MCU --> Particle Photon
Power --> 12v
Enclosure -->DIN box 5U
OneWire --> 3 input (DS18B20)
NTC --> 3 inputs (configurable)
Digital IN --> 4 0-12v bidirectional
Digital OUT --> 10 with opto isulated
WiFi --> Photon native
BlueThoot -->HC-05 module
Display --> TFT 2.2” or 1.8”
SD Card
Buzzer
RTC --> back up battery CR2016
Operation -->4 push button or one rotary encoder
LED --> 2 leds for operation + 2 Led for BT

The circuit is plit in two main boards, base board with docking for Photon, power supply , all I/O terminal block and driver.The top board support TFT display, LEDs, Buttons/encoder, BT module , battery holder and buzzer

All has been engineered in order to fit the DIN rail box and two boards are connected via 8+8 strip

PhotoGrid_1453554721054.jpg1024×1024 680 KB

At current stage I have completed circuit and PCB design and I have produce couple or prototypes to test, could be interesting for me understanding if someone is interested to such a device na maybe I can produce a mini-serie

I hope you find the project interesting and more than happy to understand what type of applications you can be developed

Davide

6 Likes
2

Photon will be shelded by up and down pcb.
And din rail automate box usualy build from metal.
So with internal chip antenna signal power will be poor.

3

Thank you for your suggestion @Godz
I have tried to position the photon in such a way to have no metal components very close and also the top PCB ground plane has been reduced both for wifi an BT module

Indeed the box is plastic

Davide

4

I'm not about your box :smile:
I'm about automatic box, like in atach foto

5

ok …understood…there is not solution with such a kind of industrial box…unless an external antenna or ethernet connection

my controller is more for “consumer” application so maybe inserted in a box like this

Davide

6

Mine used to be all plastic and during a recent upgrade was replaced by one with a metal door on the front and the rest in plastic.

As it is within 2m of the WiFi AP, I guess the signal should get thru…

Mounting an antenna on the outside of a metal box, may not be the best idea - for overall mains isolation(?)

In your original photo above, you could consider locating the Photon header on the underside of the top PCB to avoid messing with the Antenna stuff or maybe use a P0/P1 to reduce costs and place it beside the BT module.

Also checkout the Redbear DUO which has a photon + BT in the same photon footprint…They start shippping in the next couple of weeks

7

Is there a plan to sell this?
Would love to see the finish product :smiley:

8

Hi @fotoKrille
yes I’m evaluating the opportunity to sell , first application could be home beer brewing controller but as reported in the introduction the platform is so general purpose that could be sold “stand alone”

I’m currently testing the basic functions and evaluating also crowdfunding campaign

What do you think about? What kind of applications can be developed ? Anyone interested ?

Davide

9

this is a good suggestion , I think about it but you should also consider extra circuit to add USB support (where to place connector?) and surrounding ciruitery

I like Redbear DUO and I have pledged on Kickstarter.. waiting for the delivery !
I’ts a nice piece of HW ..all in one…indeed little bit expensive.. if i put together STM32 ARM M3 MCU + low cost wifi module (ESP8266) + low cost BT module (HC-05) the overall cost is much lower, off course the integration in one SoC has a value !!

Davide

10

We are looking for
• 4 digital inputs

  • Input currents: aprox. 4mA at 24V
  • Optical isolation (each input)
    • 2 digital (relay) outputs
  • SPDT, max. 2A at 30V DC
    • 2 analog inputs
  • 16bit sigma-delta ADC (ADS1115)
  • 0(4) – 20mA
11

about digital IN and OUT you the controller has more than what you need
12V relay should be connected externally

about analog IN the controller can mange 3 NTC resistor, OneWire (digital) bus , Analog Input by configuration

Davide