Experimental Incubator/ei prototype designing

One of the most important things which we have to decide on is "how do we want to do it?" meaning mostly in this case the practical way of building up a prototype. Below are suggested strategies.

• Industrial prototyping

Inspired by my (Algoldor's) friend Arnd I would suggest to go what he explained to me as an "industrial prototyping". Simplified: get well supported and functional parts for bit of extra cash and build up the first functional prototype from them. Afterwards when the prototype is working, start to break it down part by part redesigning them or using another cheaper/more feasible variants shaping the incubator to your like, bringing the costs down. This approach seems to be bit more expensive to start with but it ensures that even less experienced contributors to the project would be able to build their functional experimental machine having than what to work with which I think is crucial. For more info please check this page created at Techinc hackerspace by Arnd.

Parts suggested for ei prototype build based on industrial prototyping scheme

Component	Function	Model Specifications	Amount	Cost (€)	Purchase links	Component Suggested by
Atmega328P-PU	brain of control unit	???	1x	4	Amazon	Arnd
LCD Display	display data	???	1x	7	Amazon	Arnd
button-switches	set input/output values	???	6x	0.60	Amazon	Arnd
Power-supply-logic	connect to power	???	???	4	???	Arnd
Connectors for temp-probes	connect the temp-probes	???	2x	1	???	Arnd
Temperature sensors	to measure temp.	???	2x	4-9	???	Arnd
PCB board	to mount the parts	???	1x	3	Amazon]	Arnd
Solid state relay	switch on/off 220V elements	???	2x	6-10	???	Arnd
Bread board	to set up prototype	???	1x	6	Amazon	Algoldor
Jump wires	connect components	???	???	5	Amazon	Algoldor
Arduino Ethernet shield (optional)	connect to Internet	???	1x	20	Amazon	Algoldor