Design of smart tool organizer

Abstract

The increasing demand for compact and energy efficient machines and mechanisms, led to the emergence of a series of scalable instruments and devices used for testing, storage, manufacturing, and prototyping. The emergence of these devices indeed provided the flexibility and low capital cost that were necessary for product development and personal use. Furthermore, the demand is expected to proliferate to all domestic and industrial sectors of the economy, which brings us to the subject of the current investigation. The main objective of the proposed project is the design and prototyping of a compact electromechanical smart tool organizer that is capable of storing, tracking personal use and availability of machine shop tools in the college of Mathematics and Science at the University of Central Oklahoma. The proposed design incorporates a micro-controlled electro-mechanical dispensing unit, an interactive digital interface with key activation and a database for data collection & tracking of tools and personnel users. The dispensing unit consists of a CNC machine, linear actuator and a 3D printed mechanical clamp which enables the unit to efficiently hold and move various tools to the desired location. The skeleton of the CNC machine is assembled using five stainless steel v-slots operating on a belt and pinion system. Pinons are fitted to NEMA 17 stepper motors to achieve 2D motion by converting rotational motion to linear motion using a belt driven actuator. The assembly of the CNC machine utilizes various gantry plates to hold v-slots in position along with providing mounts for stepper motors and linear actuator. The linear actuator acts as a third axis which allows the motion of the dispensing unit to operate in three directions. This provides mobility to the machine to precisely take the mechanical clamp to a predetermined position within the frame of the dispensing unit. The design of mechanical clamp includes assembly of the base of the clamp, rack and pinion system, two gripper arms and a servo motor. The pinion converts the rotational motion to linear motion of the racks enabling the grip to open and close as required. The final assembly of the mechanical clamp is mounted on the linear actuator using the 3D printed mount bracket on the base of the clamp. The electronics and controls of the smart tool organizer includes low and high voltage operating components such as Nema 17 stepper motors, MG996R servo, linear actuator, limit switches, buck converter, DS3231 RTC module, SD card module, L298N motor drive module, TB6600 motor drivers, a 7” touch screen LED display and an arduino mega. The firmware arduino IDE is used to program these electronic components and ASCII is used to program the Interactive GUI and HMI on the Nextion display which connect to arduino using serial port and synchronizes to achieve the goal of the smart tool organizer.