Make your windows intelligent. The first truly wireless window opener with long-lasting battery life with automatic solar charging.
Project Category: Electrical
About Our Project
Sometimes windows are located in difficult-to-reach places, or there are too many to manage such as in hospitals and office buildings. Being unable to manage windows reduces airflow and increases energy costs for heating or cooling. Whether you have a corporate office building with thousands of windows or just a single one in a hard-to-reach place, our Wireless Window Opener provides an easy way to control and manage them.
AlphaWave aims to solve these problems through an easily controllable window system. Our device sits on a windowsill and mechanically operates the window using either a handheld wireless remote or a cross-platform app for even more windows. The app provides additional remote management capabilities including monitoring battery life, localized weather, and scheduling.
With just a click of a button on the remote, you can control a window from over 250 feet. The window also includes a built-in temperature sensor so that it will automatically close if temperatures reach below zero, protecting your homes and offices from pipe damage.
The window opener is specifically designed to conserve battery power and provide hundreds of cycles of use on 4 AA batteries. Alternatively, the window opener includes solar charging, which can provide maintenance-free use for years.
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Media Gallery
Meet Our Team Members
Surbhi Kashyap
Robert Krivelis
Kayhan Baig
Usman Zia
Saksham Nanda
Prapti Sarker
Details About Our Design
HOW OUR DESIGN ADDRESSES PRACTICAL ISSUES
Windows are often located in difficult-to-reach places, and therefore difficult to open and close. This issue can impact people with movement impairments, who are unable to easily reach windows that are high up or in otherwise difficult to reach areas. Being unable to manage windows reduces airflow in homes and increases energy costs for heating or cooling the house. AlphaWave aims to solve these problems by allowing individuals to easily control and monitor their windows using a battery-powered window opening device.
WHAT MAKES OUR DESIGN INNOVATIVE
Our design is innovative because it has a unique set of features that no other automated window openers have. The window opener is solar-powered, fit for crank-style windows, affordable, and convenient. No other automated window opener is solar-powered, which allows our device to work without having to change batteries. The AlphaWave window opener is uniquely made to be retrofittable to crank-style windows. In addition, it’s cheaper than other automatic window openers–similar window openers are upwards of $200, while our design can be produced for less than $80. The smart features of our desktop and mobile web app allow convenience in being able to schedule and control the window opener.
WHAT MAKES OUR DESIGN SOLUTION EFFECTIVE
Providing a way to open windows using a remote control or PWA gives the user freedom to monitor their window opening activities. Furthermore, our solution allows users to schedule the opening and closing of windows based on their preferred times. Lastly, our design took into account that the windows are located on hard to reach places which would make the battery changing and firmware up-gradation difficult, so the team decided to use the remote as a hub. The hub is the middleman between the app and the window opener itself, the signals are sent from the app to the remote via wifi and are transferred to the window using ESP-NOW.
HOW WE VALIDATED OUR DESIGN SOLUTION
We applied the waterfall testing methodology to our hardware verification plan. Waterfall testing is a type of testing in which testing is a different phase and there are steps and testing is performed only in that order. The next testing phase is only carried out after the completion of the first phase. This strategy allowed us to optimize our power management tests after validation of the motor and PCB had already taken place. The software aspect of our project was validated using Agile Testing that involved constant cyclical testing alongside the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) phases instead of completing it in steps like the Waterfall Test Methodology. Agile Testing allowed us to innovate in our software design solution by adding in new features like google authentication, battery life dashboard, and multi-device capabilities.
FEASIBILITY OF OUR DESIGN SOLUTION
Our device covers all four major consumer needs: Price, Quality, Choice, and Convenience.
Price: It cost us $80 to build the whole prototype; with batch production, the cost could be reduced down to $20-$30, which would be less than similar competitive products out in the market.
Choice: As an IoT device, along with a Bluetooth remote controller, our device comes with a very user-friendly desktop/mobile web interface. It gives users access to operate our product easily.
Quality: With low-power consumption and, comprising solar charging with a lithium-ion battery, the window opener can potentially last forever. Even without solar charging, our battery can last for 960 cycles, which is about double the time required by our sponsor.
Convenience: With low-weight, easy to install, user-friendly features, it is one of the most convenient wireless window openers. With sliding plates on each side of the window opener module, the device can be installed at various types of window sills.
Partners and Mentors
We want to thank the many people who helped us with this project:
Our Sponsor: Lorne Sanborn(P.ENG)
Sponsor Representative: Dr. Alejandro Ramirez-Serrano
Technical Advisor: Dr. Abraham Fapojuwo
And,
Supreme Window for providing us test window
