“Automatic White Board Cleaner”

Sumit Chavan , Vishal Shinde , Nikhil Murade , Anjali Jagtap , Varsha Degaonkar

I. INTRODUCTION

In teaching and learning process, the main focus is on teacher and student, delivering and
receiving information and knowledge. Nowadays, there are many methods which are used by
teachers to deliver their knowledge such as a computer, note but not the least whiteboard or
blackboard as a medium to deliver the information to students. One of the problems we are
experiencing in our classroom is erasing the blackboard. Chalk is a composite of calcium
carbonate and it looks like a stick. It was comfortable but it creates dust during wiping the
board using the duster. A duster is a device which is used to wipe the writings from the board.
Though the blackboard has not lost its popularity as in present time and it's being used widely
across the world. Chalkdust scatter causes extreme nuisance especially for people who have
asthma, skin irritation, and serious health problems. Blackboards require a lot of time to get
rubbed which increase the demand for whiteboards. The first whiteboards were very
expensive and were made of enamelled steel but seeing the growing demand in the market
cheaper whiteboards made of steel with polyester or acrylic coating of white color on it was
launched. Here a marker pen is used as pen medium and as duster a piece of cloth or a foam
duster. As the whiteboard has the advantage of not creating the dust as it only makes the
duster dirty and it is very much comfortable using marker pen as it comes in different colors.
Across the world now the whiteboard is the best writing medium. Different types of
whiteboards like laminated chipboard, high-pressure laminated boards, and porcelain boards
were launched in the market for cheaper alternatives. Now almost everything is automated
and the automation system has the capacity to reduce the human effort and to make any
arrangement easier. Modifications were also done in cleaning and rubbing methods of
whiteboards. Remote control motorized cleaners were innovated to reduce the human efforts
required for cleaning. This type of cleaner is operated by motors and is controlled by the
switch. In this paper, Part II describes the Related Work where several previous works have
noted. The methodology is explained in Part III of the paper which introduces the different
elements of the automatic whiteboard cleaner like NODEMCU, DC motor, motor drivers. Part
IV of the paper describes the Results & Discussion. Then we conclude the paper along with
future scope in Part V. Acknowledgement and References are shown at the end of this paper.

II. RELATED LITERATURE

Sonia Akhter and Moudud Ahmad [1] overcome the problem erasing with a system in which
only one motor and driver with rack and pinion mechanism are used instead of belts and a
large amount of pressure has provided by rack and pinion mechanism with necessary
supports. S.Joshibaamali And K.Geetha Priya [2] explained that the cleaning process in three
steps as first it cleans the left side of the board, second, it cleans the right side of the board
and in the third mode, it cleans the whole area of the board. The machine uses two stepper
motors to move duster in horizontal (x-axis) and vertical (y-axis) direction. To move the duster
in up and down direction linear motor is used. The infrared transceiver is used to detect the
horizontal direction of the motor. Four limit switches are used to detect the boundary of the
board. Mr. Sunil R. Kewate et. al. [3] explained in their paper the design and principles of
sliding type wipe mechanism and also carried out the implementation and experimentation for
motion analysis. The mechanism automatically detects the blackboard chalk stains and erases
the font. This system consists of two motors, three guide rails, and three sliders. S.nithyananth
et. al. [4] has explained about rack and pinion mechanism with the application of steering
mechanism. In the steering mechanism, the author is trying to tell that the rotational motion
applied to pinion will cause the rack to slide up to the limit of its travel. Dong Yeop Kim et. al.
[5] proposed a limit switch module as a mechanical sensor method. In this system, there are
two limit switches. Their combination is translated to building wall shape information. The ARS
sensor and the height sensor are used to mapping to 3D localization of the robot. If ARS
sensor and height sensor is attached to another place of the gondola, the sensor data is
needed to send to this limit switch module process algorithm. Mojtaba Khaliliana et. al [6] used
a direct torque control technique to control the torque instantaneously and improve the
performance of the hybrid stepper motor. Then by taking the model reference adaptive system
scheme, which uses a hybrid stepper motor itself as the reference model, the speed of the
motor is estimated. The sensorless control of a hybrid stepper motor based on MRAS with
Matlab software is built and simulated. The results show that the control technology is simple
and effective and accuracy is considerably high [7]. The electric board cleaner and the
automatic whiteboard cleaner make use of belts. Most belts have low wear and tear resistance
and with the frequent operation of the duster (i.e. the cleaning process), the belt is likely to cut
and hence makes the device or the cleaner-less useful. In the process of trying to change the
belt, the whole components may have to be loosened which is time-consuming. However, as
for the case of the electric board cleaner, the idea of applying manual effort still comes in. The
difference being that effort applied is less since it is powered electrically. This project is aimed
at modifying the automatic whiteboard cleaner by replacing the belts with chains which will
improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the cleaner. The objective of this project is to
reduce the stress of cleaning the board by using an automated duster. This objective would be
achieved through the following specific objectives (i) conceptualization of an automated
whiteboard cleaner (ii) preliminary and detailed design of new mechanism (iii) Fabrication of
the Preliminary Design of an Automated White Board Cleaner automated whiteboard cleaner.
(iv) Performance testing of the automated whiteboard cleaner.

II. METHODOLOGY

The main aim of this project is to design and develop Automatic Whiteboard cleaning
system using Microcontroller which can overcome the problems related to discomfort
for the teacher, breaking concentration and conceptual link between lecturer and
student and wastage of time and energy while erasing the board. Objectives:  To
achieve a general understanding of the technology implicated in using automatic
whiteboard cleaner in college.  The written can easily clean and not a waste of time. 
To saves our valuable and precious time.  To do cleaning work, merely by using an
automatic board cleaner.  Make a low cost and user-friendly whiteboard cleaning
machine. Outcomes:  We will successfully clean the whiteboard automatically.  We
will operate this project from long distance by mobile. We have attended many lectures
on Power electronics, Digital communication, and Digital signal processing and so on.
What we always say that teachers need to clean every corner of the board for plotting
 graphs and writing equations. Teachers more time and energy is wasted in cleaning the
board during 60 minutes lecture. So students were getting bored, deviates from the
topic and start chatting on mobile. The link of teaching is disturbed. So after cleaning
board teachers need to pay more attention to students to get them on track again. This
is a very difficult task to do. This motivated us to propose “AUTOMATIC WHITEBOARD
CLEANER”. The mechanism of the automated board cleaner entails a horizontal
motion. The duster which spans horizontally across the width of the board is to clean
the board. The design is such that when the switch is turned on, the motor transmits
energy which turns the shaft which in turn, drives the pulley. The duster is fixed to the
pulley chains which move to and fro (horizontal motion) along its plane, thereby
cleaning the board. The first command signal is given to NODEMCU. Then the voltage
is given to DC motor through L298N motor driver. In the Arduino program, there is
uploaded for DC motors rotation. After getting instruction from Arduino dc motors are
rotate at speed by given instruction in the program. Motors are connected to a
mechanical shaft which has also cleaning material of duster is attached. After start
rotating of motors in the path the shaft also moves and due to this the cleaning material
of duster getting a move and it is closed to the whiteboard surface. So it cleans the
written on boards.

FLOWCHART:

Electrical ES P82 Wooden

Android
App Duster
IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

It is observed that the time of complete cleaning of the board using this system is average 5.975 sec. On
the other hand, while using the manual process the time of cleaning is about 25 sec which is about four
times of the machine time. So proposed whiteboard cleaner takes less time than other previous models.
It creates less noise than other motorized cleaners. Sufficient pressure has been induced during the
operation due to the attachment of brush to the side reels of whiteboard which helps to clean the board
very effectively and efficiently. Change of brush is very easy and it does not affect any other parts while
changing. This system is only applicable to the whole board cleaning. Partial cleaning of the board is not
possible through this system. Though there is some lagging in to start the motor, averagely it is optimum.
For controlling the positions of the shaft we have created an Android application called Mert-Arduino. We
have used the platform called MIT App Inventor for the application development. The application has
buttons such as forward, backward, and stops. In the figure below forwarding, the operation is explained.
Through the mobile application forward command is given and Shaft moves in the forward direction and
motor running in a clockwise direction.

V. CONCLUSION AND FUTURE SCOPE

The objective of this work which is to design an automated whiteboard cleaner has been achieved to an
extent. There is a need for further fabrication works. The structures of the chains and sprocket were
conceived to fit properly into the cleaning mechanism, but due to inadequate tensioning, prevented the
automated duster from performing the required function adequately. The gear mechanism could have
been used to reduce the speed of the motor, but considering the weight which it might have on the
machine, variable speed regulators were inculcated instead. Due to the forward motion of the duster, the
sensor was needed to trigger off the motor whenever the duster gets to the end of the board. This can
be used to prevent damage to the motor. Finally, the automated duster when fully completed will give
effective cleaning after two to three sweeps. It is recommended that the machine be improved in terms
of tensioning of the chains to ensure effective cleaning and that rollers are placed at the base just in
front of the duster, creating a groove where it can move. Finally, proper fitting of bearings on the
sprocket is put in place to reduce the load on the electric motor`. It is concluded that automatic
whiteboard cleaner has successfully designed. The system was designed with innovative features which
reduces human efforts and makes teaching efficient. This type of whiteboard could be very effectively
used in schools, colleges, and universities as it increases the interest of the students to study with
different technology. The machine has reduced both time and human effort. The construction of
automatic whiteboard cleaner consists of Arduino microcontroller which is very userfriendly in
programming. On the other hand, to construct the main structure, very simple tool work is needed, and
the material used in this project is cheap and easily available in the market. So it is not complicated to
construct this machine and it will help to introduce an automation system. The system can be further
developed by integrating a Bluetooth remote for controlling the switch. Infrared sensors can be used to
convert this system to a smart whiteboard. Aesthetic looks of the whiteboard can also be improved.
REFERENCES

[1] Sonia Akhter*, Anindo Saha, Md. Rayhan Parvez Koushik, Md. Asaduzzaman, Razoana, Islam
Shorna, Md. Moudud Ahmed,” Automatic Whiteboard Cleaner Using Microcontroller Based Rack and
Pinion Mechanism”, International Conference on Mechanical, Industrial and Materials Engineering 2015
(ICMIME2015), pp. 11-13 December 2015.

[2] S. Joshibaamali, K.Geetha Priya, “Automatic duster machine”, International Journal of Emerging
Technology in Computer Science & Electronics (IJETCSE). Vol. 12, Issue 1, March 2015. [3] Sunil R.
Kewate, Inzamam T. Mujawar, Akash D. Kewate “Development of new smart design to erase the
classroom blackboard of schools/colleges”, IOSR Journal of Mechanical and Civil Engineering (IOSR-
JMCE), Vol III, Issue III, March 2016.

[4] S.Nithyananth, A. Jagatheesh, K. Madan, B. Nirmalkumar, “Convertable four wheels steering with
three mode operation”, International Journal of Research in Aeronautical and Mechanical Engineering.
ISSN 2321-3051.

[5] Dong Yeop Kim, Jae Min Lee, Jongsu Yoon, et al. “Wall shape recognition using limit switch module”,
International Journal of Control Theory and Computer Modeling (IJCTCM), April 2014.

[6] Mojtaba Khaliliana, Ali Abedi, Adel Deris Zadeh. Energy Procedia. 2012; 14:1992–1997

[7] Deepjyoti Choudhury, “Real Time and Low-Cost Smart Home Automation System Using Internet of
Things Environment”, International Journal of Computer Sciences and Engineering, Vol.7, Issue.4,
pp.225-229, 2019.