Alt-BEAM Archive
Message #07743
To: beam@sgiblab.sgi.com
From: Simon svandemo@esat.kuleuven.ac.be
Date: Tue, 16 Nov 1999 10:47:21 +0100
Subject: [alt-beam] Re: BEAM Prism ??
Dan Larson wrote:
> With all of this talk about Solar Smart Heads, Carbots and all, I
> got the idea for a BEAM window prism. A solar head would
> turn the prism in order to keep the rainbow on the same
> spot on the wall as the sun moves. Anybody think the
> geometry would work out? For instance, would you
> want your photo cells to track the sun directly, or track
> the position of the spot on the wall, or perhaps even track the
> angle of the beam exiting the device? The basic question
> is where to establish the feedback. A 2DOF head could
> track elevation of the sun in addition to the azimuth.
> The prism angle would have to be manually adjusted to get the
> desired spot placement, but from there the head would keep it
> in place.
>
> This might just become my first BEAM project if it
> sounds feasible...
>
> I've been looking for an interesting BEAM project to
> do since lots of folks are building walkers, photovores,
> and heads... A Carbot sounds cool too. I gotta get off
> my rear end after 2 years and buy some solar cells
> super caps, an 1381s!
>
> Dan
Have you ever considered using other objects than a prism (which is
rather bulky) to produce your rainbow ?
E.g.: you can get the same effect by shining light on a CD under a
certain angle, try it.
Good luck.
--
Simon Vandemoortele
4th year Civil Engineering (Electronics)
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