Alt-BEAM Archive

Message #08424



To: beam@sgiblab.sgi.com
From: "Mike Kulesza" mikekulesza@hotmail.com
Date: Sun, 19 Dec 1999 02:01:17 GMT
Subject: [alt-beam] Re: thin film solar panels


Yeah... theyre really slick, especially those flexible ones - theyre like
saran wrap... I just hope that solar powered flashlight on theyre website
charges batteries with the cells so it can shine at night - unlike the dumb
idea of running the flashlight as the sun is shining on it .. (!!!!)
dodododohhhhhh


>From: "adam-m"
>Reply-To: beam@sgiblab.sgi.com
>To:
>Subject: thin film solar panels
>Date: Sat, 18 Dec 1999 14:20:01 -0800
>
>Hello fellow beamers,
>
>Has anyone had experience using thin film 'ITF' type solar PV panels??
>
>They look very interesting. A little big for small bots, but they have
>superb amperage, and if 2 in series are used, great voltage. Their
>flexibility is interesting, and because of their thinness - they must be
>REALLY light.
>
>The SunCerams are pretty heavy because of the glass, and how many of you
>have dropped one and broken the panel...?
>
>checkout:
>
>http://members.aol.com/photontek3/photon3/itf2.html
>
>2 in series would give 6V at 50mA !! with the weight savings and the
>ability to bend it around things, some very active creatures would be
>possible!
>
>Unfortunately, they only sell in bulk...
>
>Anyone tried them?
>
>
>/Adam
>
>

______________________________________________________



8425 Sat, 18 Dec 1999 19:28:23 -0700 [alt-beam] Re: Solarbotics Miller Engines beam@sgiblab.sgi.com Dave Hrynkiw At 03:10 PM 12/18/99 , Darrell Johnson wrote:
>heh..
>*I* like your circuit Dave.. I'm actually wiring it up
>right now to use on my unicore BEAMant. I'm assuming
>that I can use the output to drive the enable pins of
>a '240 right?

Yup, you can, but here's a better answer:

Go get yourself a selection of 13812 triggers - they are active LOW (ie:
will turn on a '240). Just dump the fet/transistor of the MSE, use a 13812
instead of a 1381, and you have a configurable turn on voltage/time on
configurable circuit using 1 device, 1 diode and 1 cap (plus
solarcell/storage cap).

It's tidier an _very_ efficient. I'm using it on some new designs.

Regards,
Dave
---------------------------------------------------------------
"Um, no - that's H,R,Y,N,K,I,W. No, not K,I,U,U, K,I,_W_. Yes,
that's right. Yes, I know it looks like "HOCKYRINK." Yup, only
2 vowels. Pronounciation? _SMITH_".
http://www.solarbotics.com



8426 Sat, 18 Dec 1999 19:31:39 -0700 [alt-beam] Re: thin film solar panels beam@sgiblab.sgi.com Dave Hrynkiw At 07:01 PM 12/18/99 , Mike Kulesza wrote:
>Yeah... theyre really slick, especially those flexible ones - theyre like
>saran wrap... I just hope that solar powered flashlight on theyre website
>charges batteries with the cells so it can shine at night - unlike the
>dumb idea of running the flashlight as the sun is shining on it .. (!!!!)
>dodododohhhhhh

I've got a sample of them in stock for eval purposes. They're about 1/2 as
efficient at the Suncerams in my side-by-side tests (for same surface
area), but they are LIGHT and soooo flexible. Very nice. Hope one day to
put them into inventory.

-Dave
---------------------------------------------------------------
"Um, no - that's H,R,Y,N,K,I,W. No, not K,I,U,U, K,I,_W_. Yes,
that's right. Yes, I know it looks like "HOCKYRINK." Yup, only
2 vowels. Pronounciation? _SMITH_".
http://www.solarbotics.com



8427 Sat, 18 Dec 1999 19:15:11 -0800 Re: Head circuits beam@sgiblab.sgi.com Thomas Pilgaard Nielsen Well what you suggest is entirely possible
but the head motion will be a bit chunky.
You could use a conventional microcore for
the walker motors and enable the head Bicore
from Nv1 and then from Nv3. That way you save=20
50% power for the head. You can even use the=20
head servo pot to adjust the proportional "on"
time of the Nv1 and Nv3 neurons to make turn=20
the walker towards the light.

regards

wilf =20


I have very little experience in the field of beam and electronics so =
please
excuse me if I sound stupid.

Would it be a solution to assign one process of a bicore to the =
lightseeking
head on - say - a walker?
With that I mean to discharge power to the head once a loop and the
remaining processes are directed to the servo's of the walker. In that =
way
the head won't suck up too much of the total juice in the system while =
the
same time being almost directed perfectly at the brightest lightsource.

Cheers - Thomas


JVernonM@aol.com wrote:

> In a message dated 12/18/99 5:47:53 PM Eastern Standard Time,
> phillip@ryals.com writes:
>
> > A head cicuit looks at the brightest light. Why not change the =
design
of
> the
> > average 'bot so that the solar panel is in line with the PD's? So =
that
the
> > solar cell points at the same thing the PD's point at. That way,
wherever
> > the brightest light is, you can always be sure that the robot is =
getting
> the
> > most out of it's light source. Especially if it can't go any =
farther
> toward
> > the light because of terrain.
> I've been thinking of something like that myself. I've been fiddling =
with
> Craig's solar power plant and keep wondering why I should have a bot =
go
find
> the thing, figure out how to get a connection to feed, and release =
when
> charged, when I could just stick the thing on it's back. A bot with a
solar
> array that is always kept at maximum charging angles. I suspect that =
the
> problem would be that the power required to move a 2DOF (which would =
be
> needed to account for pan and tilt) head simply to charge the bot may =
use
> more power than the gain it produces. Besides, Craig's solar power =
plant
> would make for a truly unique BEAM plant in the true sense of the =
name.
Ah,
> so many ideas and so little time.
>
> See ya,
> Jim
> http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Exhibit/8281/beamart.html
> ICQ# 55657870

--
---
"Stj=E5lne tusser skriver bedst."
Yvonne Miller


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