Mar, 2020
A semi-functional replica of Larry David's heated coffee cup from Curb Your Enthusiasm.
Test power consumption and heater efficiency.
Arduino,
Esp8266
Fusion360
Cura/3D Printing
The case is designed to fit an existing coffee cup from a local roaster that closely resembles the cup from Curb.
The model shows 10 holes for snap-fitting 5050 LEDs, two cavities for capacitive touch buttons, and mounting holes below for the circuit subassembly.
The subassembly contains an esp8266, a lipo charge/control module, a MOSFET module, and a 1000mah battery.
For warming, I used a polyimide film trace resistance heater attached to the bottom of the cup. Using a variable power supply and water with a constant starting temperature of 150°F I measured the temperature decrease every 5 minutes until I deemed the water too cold.
As result, 16 watts were required to keep the coffee drinkable for over 30 minutes. This would drain a 18650 battery in less than 30 minutes.
A possible workaround is to add wireless charging. Some off-the-shelf inductive charging coils are capable of transferring 15W. Combined with better thermal transfer this may be enough to make it feasible.
Ultimately this did not pan out to be 100% functional. At some point, I may revisit and do a complete redesign. For now, it is shelved and merely serves as decoration. Regardless of pitfalls in functionality, I was happy with the overall project design.