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We had a number of beehives on our farm years ago. Monitoring the health of the hives was a big job and when neglected could spell disaster. This Beehive Monitoring System could mean the end of that problem. Have a look below for a short list of system features. "This project provides a means to monitor honeybee health parameters in a hive, to allow efficient bee management and research on the quality of the colony. |
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Since this Electric Trike was a school project there were lots of cool tools that were are the disposal of Smegger. By the looks of it the electronics and motors are top notch. "- I used two 12v 32amp batteries - A 75amp 24V speed controller made by 4QD in England- quite pricey but really reliable - 5 LED battery condition meter - Plunger pot for throttle - Lots of cable - Connectors for batteries - Two 24v 300W DC motors"
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If you are looking for the best speakers for your heavy metal these Granite Speakers would not be the correct selection, but if you need some speakers to blast your hard rock music then read on. "Box dimensions 220 x 350 x 250 mm. Box material 20 mm thick black granite (Nero Assoluto). Weight 35 kg.
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Many of us are currently battling the elements. Clearing snow is a necessary task but it doesn’t have to be tiring. The one pictured above and in the video is autonomous but I think there is still room for some good remote control designs such as the picture below.
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Remember the Fisher & Paykel Smart Drive Washing Machine Wind Generator from earlier this month? Well it looks like there is more uses for those motors! How about recycling 3 used washing machines into a huge powerful CNC machine. It takes a bit of work but apparently the 3 phase stepper motor makes for a good and accurate CNC motor. "The motors from a fisher and pykel washing machine are removed along with the control board. Three motors are required. Connecting the stepper motors to the HM30 machine The hole at the end of the plastic housing the motor spindle, slips over the end of the x,y axis on the mill table. The spindle is shortened and drilled to allow the shaft from the table to slide into the shaft from the washing machine. A tapered pin and hole, hold the two together. The motor is basicly a three phase stepper motor. Good luck finding a driver for it. A driver can be made by using the FETs from the washing machine controller. A PICAxe chip (see Oatley electronics) is programed to take the step and direction pulse’s and energise three outputs for the three coils (5 input/outputs fits on the PICXE08 model, this is programmed with free software on the serial port of the PC). The three outputs are used to drive a darlington pair in the chip ULN2003 (drives up to 8 outputs), this in turn drives our FETs from the washing machine."
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Seems like there is tremendous amount of information over at LUTEC Australia PTY describing their technology but is any of it real? I have seen lots of claims over the years form companies like this but none of them have turned out to be feasible. "In order to gain an understanding of the operation of a LEA (Lutec Electricity Amplifier) it must be understood that there are actually three separate and completely individual events occurring in the one machine. Each of the three is equally important because without one of them operating in a completely synchronistical manner with the others, the end result would not achieve the efficiency levels required. The LEA has been designed to maximize and exploit Events One Two and Three in a synchronous manner so as to produce a highly efficient means of generating electricity. It could be described as a tri-brid system. This harmonious triumvirate result has been accomplished by identifying and controlling the precise timing of input and output voltages; so to allow the separate Events to operate within the same space, using minimal shared components while retaining their original individual effects. Other applications for this technology could be water desalination, hydrogen production, highly efficient motors for plant, pumps, and machinery, or as a more efficient and cost effective drive for anything that turns spins or rotates." |
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Mark Csele has built a Laser Light Show Controller based on the dsPIC 30F6012 microcontroller. There is a good operational description that could spark some of your own project ideas.
"In a basic light show, a beam from a laser is deflected by two galvanometer scanner heads, each of which moves a mirror to steer the beam in the horizontal and vertical direction independently. Given the high speeds at which these galvos are required to operate, they are quite pricey. As well as the actual galvanometer movements a driver is required which usually has feedback from the sensors. The entire system is usually a PI or PID (proportional-integral-derivative) control loop with the output fed to the galvos and feedback supplied via a capacitive sensor inside the galvo scanners themselves - you can probably appreciate the expense of the scanners owing to the fact that they contain a variable-vane capacitor which changes at most a few pF during rotation. The driver/control-loop usually accepts analog signals: in my case the GSI-Lumonics scanner board employed gives full deflection in one axis with an applied signal varying from -3V to +3V (it is bipolar)."
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Most of the work I have done has been with wood, I can’t imagine the time it would take to work with rock.
