jleblanc: sustainable energy
2.4.07: SafeRun - an inductive running safety light:
Running in the dark can be very dangerous for obvious reasons, namely it is very hard for cars to see you.
Many people wear bright or reflective clothing, but this is not always enough. A set of bright blinking lights
is the best way to make sure that drivers see you. However, it is often inconvient to worry about battery powered
light flashers.
This system uses an inductive coil and a magnet to generate electricity to power super bright LEDs. The inductive
coil is wrapped around a short tube (which we removed from an inductive flashlight) inside of which is a magnet.
The output from the coil is fed through a rectifier circuit and then to the super bright LED.
The Tube is placed in a chest pocket and the LED goes on your back. As you run, the magnet bounces up and down in the
tube, causing a current to flow in the coil each time it passes through. Thus the natural rhythym of your body as you run
causes the LED to blink.
Below are videos of the prototype in action, and our work testing the components:
2.16.07: BEAM robots:
Taking first steps towards building some BEAM Robots. I am going to first figure out what I need to
build two simple base circuits, a solar engine and simple pummer circuit.
These diagrams are from Make Magazine.
So those are the circuit diagrams for the 2 simple circuits. Below is my list of components not
available in the shop or junk bin that are needed to make the circuits.
Prices and part numbers are for Solarbotics.com.
Note this is for building all 3 (both engine and LED pummer)
2.20.07: Class:
Look at tantalum capacitors because they charge and discharge very quickly.
Maxim 1555 (Sparkfun)
Valance, A123
nano the advantage is power not storage (why exactly?)
In a car if you have a fuel cell you will still need a battery because fuel cells
can only supply low constant load, so you need a battery to provide the big push.
primary (non-rechargable) secondary (rechargable)
