Automating heating vents with openHAB, esp8266 and LEGO - Part 2; Hardware implementation

In the first part of this series I outlined what I'm trying to build - a smart vent on the cheap - so now it's time to build it! Here's what I'm working with - these are "period-style heating registers" as available from my local warehouse-style hardware store. A decorative "vintage" metal plate (scratched to hell) holds a rectangular plastic frame with two pivoting slats sitting in the airflow. A simple plastic slider protrudes through a slot in the metal plate for user control of slat angle.

In the grand tradition of absolutely-ridiculous first hardware versions (check out Mouse v1.0!), I've built this proof-of-concept out of LEGO Technic. In an excellent coincidence, the width of the vent is a perfect fit for the crab-claw-like clamping mechanism I've created, which is fortunate because it requires quite a decent bit of force to move the slider. This gizmo is heavily overbuilt using my best "LEGO Masters" techniques and doesn't flex, warp or bend one bit once it's in position. I'm using an "XL" LEGO Power Functions motor with a worm drive PLUS some extra gear reduction to make sure that:

• I have the torque to move the slider
• The slats won't move unless I want them to (one of the best features of worm-drives); and
• The transition from shut-to-open (or vice versa) takes a while

It might be counterintuitive, but since this solution has no feedback (i.e. to tell it when the slats are truly open or shut) then timing is all I have. Moving everything slowly gives me the best chance of stopping any movement before any hardware limits get exceeded (and expensive Danish plastic starts snapping).

Here it is all mounted up. It sits up about 5cm above the normal vent height, which is obviously less than ideal, but should be fine as the whole assembly sits under a sofa-bed which has copious amounts of space underneath it. The dual pinions (to spread the torque and keep everything level) drive the rack left or right, and the slider is "captured" between the red elements and opens or shuts the slats.

The remainder of the hardware is pretty simple - a butchered LEGO Power Functions cable connects the motor to a standard L293D H-bridge, and thence to the "embedded computer" part of the solution, which I'll talk about next...