Development of piezoelectric braille cell control system using microcontroller unit (MCU)

Abstract

This paper describes about designing and developing a system for controlling piezoelectric Braille cell by using Programmable Interface Controller (PIC) microcontroller. For this purpose, PIC microcontroller is used as a controller to the system for controlling the piezoelectric Braille cell. Piezoelectric Braille cells are used in many refreshable Braille display applications. The Braille displays using piezoelectric Braille cell are able to refresh the Braille character that are read by the visually impaired by touching the dots at Braille cell. Each piezoelectric Braille cell consisting of six or eight movable pins or dots in rectangular array. The height of pins or dots in Braille cell is controlled by a piezoelectric bimorph. This will cause the pins or dots at piezoelectric Braille cell to rise or fall and therefore, create the Braille character or alphabet. Throughout the paper, the pin or dots at piezoelectric Braille cell which represent a certain Braille character is also presented. The architecture and operation of the system is discussed in detail, considering both the hardware and software elements involved. The software for programming the PIC microcontroller was written with CCS C program language. The system is developed and tested successfully. This system can be applied in the Braille Display which uses the piezoelectric Braille cell to display some of Braille characters.