Tick Bot Terminates Those Lil Buggers

What good are ticks? They transmit awful diseases including babesiosis, ehrlichiosis, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, Lyme disease and tick paralysis and the critters have been associated with encephalitis. And warmer temps aren’t helping. Insects are cold-blooded, so hot weather makes them more active.

But listen up, ticks. Researchers at the Virginia Military Institute have your number. They’ve built a small rover that mimics a live host to draw you from your hiding places and kill you on contact.

DIGITAL MULTIMETERS

“Digital Multimeters” the most important and the most versatile device an Electrical or Electronics engineer should be having. Multimeter as the name suggests can measure multiple parameters like AC voltage, DC voltage, resistance, DC current, Continuity and lots more.

All these are measured using just a single device, that’s the specialty of this device.

Now lets have you all briefed upon the features of a Multimeter.

Digital Multimeter

Digital multimeters (DMMs) are great for measuring things that don’t change quickly. Battery and power supply voltage, along with resistance and current, are prime candidates for being checked with a DMM. The instrument is less effective for observing changing voltages and currents, which look like moving numbers and are tough to interpret.

GETTING STARTED WITH ELECTRONICS

Electronics is really a very interesting field of Science and Technology since its really vast and deals with a lot of projects and DIY hacks and a lot more interesting stuff. Its really a great hobby in fact, be it building your own variable power supplies, or building your own crazy Robot, its time we become “EVIL MAD SCIENTISTS”.

To get started we have to learn about the various components and their functions. So lets get you briefed thoroughly.

All budding engineers  and electronics hobbyists out there, get ready for an in depth analysis of the most common electronics components for you to get started.

ELECTRIC FENCE CHARGER

Here is the circuit of a simple electric window charger. With a couple of minor circuit variations, it can be used as an electric fence charger too. A standard 12V, 7Ah sealed maintenance-free (SMF) UPS battery is required for powering the entire unit.

Any component layout and mounting plan can be used. However, try to keep the output terminals of transformer X1 away from the circuit board. Timer NE555 (IC1) is wired as a free-running oscillator with narrow negative pulse at the output pin 3. The pulse frequency is determined by resistors R2 and R3, preset VR1 and capacitor C3. The amplitude of the output pulse can be varied to some extent by adjusting variable resistor VR1. You can vary the frequency from 100 Hz to 150 Hz. 

WHAT IS ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAPHY (EEG) ?

Source of EEG activity

The brain’s electrical charge is maintained by billions of neurons. Neurons are electrically charged (or “polarized”) by membrane transport proteins that pump ions across their membranes. Neurons are constantly exchanging ions with the extracellular milieu, for example to maintain resting potential and to propagate action potentials. Ions of similar charge repel each other, and when many ions are pushed out of many neurons at the same time, they can push their neighbours, who push their neighbours, and so on, in a wave. This process is known as volume conduction. When the wave of ions reaches the electrodes on the scalp, they can push or pull electrons on the metal on the electrodes. Since metal conducts the push and pull of electrons easily, the difference in push or pull voltages between any two electrodes can be measured by a voltmeter. Recording these voltages over time gives us the EEG.

The electric potential generated by single neuron is far too small to be picked up by EEG or MEG.EEG activity therefore always reflects the summation of the synchronous activity of thousands or millions of neurons that have similar spatial orientation. If the cells do not have similar spatial orientation, their ions do not line up and create waves to be detected. Pyramidal neurons of the cortex are thought to produce the most EEG signal because they are well-aligned and fire together. Because voltage fields fall off with the square of distance, activity from deep sources is more difficult to detect than currents near the skull.

Scalp EEG activity shows oscillations at a variety of frequencies. Several of these oscillations have characteristic frequency ranges, spatial distributions and are associated with different states of brain functioning (e.g., waking and the various sleep stages). These oscillations represent synchronized activity over a network of neurons. The neuronal networks underlying some of these oscillations are understood (e.g., the thalamocortical resonance underlying sleep spindles), while many others are not (e.g., the system that generates the posterior basic rhythm). Research that measures both EEG and neuron spiking finds the relationship between the two is complex with the power of surface EEG in only two bands (gamma and delta) relating to neuron spike activity.

GADGETS THAT EASE YOUR LIVES

Sometimes we find new, patented technologies being used in products. at other times, combining common technologies with just a spot of thoughtful design gives rise to a different—and admired—product. Here is a small sample of recent innovations that combine both the categories. take a look at them, and imagine how the engineers would have gone about making them. Perhaps it will spark a new idea in your head!

Compact, wearable GPS tracker

‘i’m Here’ is a cute little GPS tracker that ensures you lose nothing. It is so small that it can be simply put into a bag or suitcase, or worn as a pendant, enabling you to track everything from your handbag to your cat, child or grandmom. Suppose you do not remember where you left your handbag, simply ping the ‘i’m Here’ tracker inside it to immediately get its location in response. Using the desktop or mobile version of ‘i’m Cloud,’ you can see its location on a map too. Apart from pinging the ‘i’m Here’ device, it is also possible to request the location from the ‘i’m Cloud’ panel.

 

You can also set up the device to get constant updates on its location. You can locate it for free the first200 times. Thereafter, you need to pay a very, very nominal price per ping. The device will be available in India from May 2013, for less than Rs 10,000.

Inside: The device is very small, measuring just 3.7×3.7×1.5 cm3. It has a built-in rechargeable Li-Po 300mAh battery, which can be charged via USB and gives a standby time of two to three days. i’m Here works using a built-in Zeromobile SIM for GSM connectivity. The GPRS module is quad-band 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, multi-slot class 10, mobile station class B and GSM phase 2/2+ compliant. It uses USDD protocol for information exchange. The GPS receiver is a 42-channel, GPS L1 C, A code, high-performance STE engine. GPS functionality is extremely fast, and the time-to-first-fix  just around 30 seconds for cold starts and one second for hot starts.

Storm-warning radios

Alot of equipment work quite well but fail us in emergencies. However, nowadays the trend seems to be in favour of designing equipment for emergencies. We read about SpareOne battery-powered emergency phone in the February issue of EFY, and now here is an emergency clock radio that gives storm warnings and updates.

 

Eton Corporation’s ZoneGuard+ looks like a simple clock cum radio but whirrs into action when there is a storm ahead. The LED lights turn from green to orange to red depending on the intensity of the emergency, and the warning is broadcast on all the modules. While the package comes with one base station and two wireless modules, you can add any number of modules—even one for every room—to make sure you are always alert.

Inside: ZoneGuard+ features an LCD display, speakers, AM/FM radio, digital tuning, alarm clock and AC/battery power. Specifc-area message encoding (SAME) data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, USA, is used for detecting storms. You just need to enter your SAME county code and if there is a warning, watch or advisory, it will be displayed and broadcast on all the modules. You can set up to 25 locations. Wireless modules, which are powered by a pair of AAA-size batteries, work within a range of 50 metres around the base station.

World’s first 3D direct ear scanner 

Lantos 3D digital ear scanner is apparently the world’s first inra-aural 3D scanning system. The small handheld device produces a 3D image of the patient’s ear canal. Rather than providing a fxed image, it shows the changes that take place in the shape of the canal as the patient moves or swallows, and a lot of other data about the ear canal wall that manufacturers can use to improve the fit and design of in-ear devices. It can also beused by hearing device makers to understand the human ear better. Lantos’ device is likely to be available commercially sometime this year.

 

Inside: The Lantos scanner uses a fiberscopeenclosed in a conforming membrane, which is inserted into the ear canal. The conforming membrane is then filled with an asorbing medium, causing the membrane to expand and conform to the shape of the ear canal. The fiberscope then retrcts to generate a dynamic, 3D image of the ear canal in real time. The entire scan takes less than 60 seconds, after which the images are processed.

The Lantos scanner is based on a new technology called ‘emission re-absorption laser-induced fluorescence’(ERLIF), developed by Dr Douglas Hart at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Using the intensity measurement of two different wavelength bands of fluorescent light as they travel through an absorbing medium, ERLIF generates a highly-accurate 3D map. The medium selectively absorbs one wavelength band over the other. Thus the intensity  ratio of the two wavelengths as they travel through the medium can be measured using a standard camera.

Turn your iPhone into a bike trainer

Wahoo Fitness’ KICKR is a super trainer for cyclists. Using an application running on your iPhone and the wireless-enabled power trainer device, you can stay indoors and practice as if you were on the ground. The KICKR power trainer allows cyclists and triathletes to set the resistance and ride the bike while accurately measuring power, heart rate, speed and other parameters. Users can increase or decrease the resistance and simulate real-world conditions. They can also structure interval workouts. These adjustments occur almost instantaneously, so the user can go from gradients to flatland, and then steep slopes again, almost immediately. An application called Kinomap also lets you choose from various cycling tracks and eco-locations, to simulate the environment automatically.

 

Inside: KICKR power trainer uses a wheel-off design and super fly-wheel that produce a realistic road feel and work very silently. It measures power at the hub, giving consistent and accurate readings. The trainer includes an internal thermocouple to self-calibrate the strain gauge based on temperature variations. The resistance is driven by your iPhone or tablet during the ride and you can go from a 15 per cent gradient to a downhill run immediately. There are ten built-in resistance levels as well as a full manual mode that lets you stay in control.

The device can dual-broadcast the power and speed on ANT+ and Bluetooth Smart/Bluetooth 4.0 simultaneously. This means it is compatible with almost all current ANT+ power meter head units like the Garmin FR310XT/FR910XT/Edge 500/Edge 705/Edge 800, CycleOps Joule units, Timex global trainer and Magellan switch. What is more, the power trainer works on a completely free and open platform. So anyone with programming skills can create an application for it.

Neck-loop, audio-streamer for hearing-aid users

ClearSounds’ Quattro XS is an amplifie, Bluetooth neck-loop with advanced audio distribution profile (2DP). Perfect for hearing-aid users, it ensures that they hear perfectly in any environment. Transmission of sound from a Bluetooth-enabled mobile phone, directly through the T-coil of a hearing aid, reduces or eliminates interference between cellular phones and hearing aids or cochlear processors. It also tries to shut off background noise to a large extent. The device provides voice-controls for volume, amplification, dialling, etc.

 

Inside: Quattro XS features a binaural design. It includes an amplifierand removable Bluetooth microphone, as well as a user-friendly noise-cancelling neck-loop. A push-button slider is used to cinch the neck-loop for closer microphone placement. The device uses a universal micro-USB for fast charging and includes an attachable Bluetooth mini-microphone transmitter, intercom features, talking caller ID, and sophisticated profilesignal handling between the Bluetooth device and neck-loop signal interface. The headset jack accommodates audio headsets for non-T-coil use. Quattro offers 30dB adjustable amplification,and supports various profilesincluding hands-free, headset, A2DP and audio/video remote control profile.It is compatible with standard Bluetooth Version 2.1 + EDR devices, and has a range of 9 metres (30 feet). It uses a Lithium-Ion battery that offers a talk time of up to three hours and standby time of five days. It can be charged through USB cable,car adaptor or AC adaptor, all of which are included in the package.

Control battery-powered devices wirelessly

Power management solutions are all the rage. We keep hearing about controllers for air-conditioners, lighting systems, computers and so on. But what about smaller, battery-powered devices? Is it possible to turn off your radio through your mobile phone? Yes, Tethercell, an innovative product developed by Trey Madhyastha and Kellan O’Connor, veterans of the aerospace industry, lets you control the gadget you want. Just remove one of the AA-size batteries from the gadget and replace it with a Tethercell adaptor, which is a little app-enabled device with the dimensions of an AA-size battery. You can now remotely control the gadget through an app running on your iOS or Android device. Tethercell will be available commercially from June 2013.

 

Inside: Tethercell contains a lot of cutting-edge electronics based upon the TI CC2540 microcontroller. It also contains a current-sensing op-amp comparator, temperature sensor, n-channel MOSFET (capable of switching up to 5A), 1.5-3V boost converter and embedded 8051 microcontroller. The device is powered by a single AAA-size battery. Powering the on-board Bluetooth radio consumes just around 20 mA of current. However, the radio operates on a low-duty cycle, and spends most of its time in ‘sleep mode.’ In cases where Tethercell is used merely for switching on or off devices, it will be able to run for approximately six to twelve months on a single AAA-size battery. However, when it is configure to do more tasks and the host device draws more power, the battery might need replacement earlier. Tethercell utilises Bluetooth 4.0—the new low-power Bluetooth protocol that is expected to play a huge role in the Internet of Things. It has a range of around 18 metres (60 feet) indoors and 30 metres (100 feet) in open grounds.

Users will be able to tailor the behaviour of their Tethercells using the Tetherboard app with simple iOS-style app controls. An app developer kit can also be downloaded for free to build your own applications. The device also takes care of your privacy by including password protection.

ENSURING LED’s LONG LIFE

Long before Fukushima, energy saving was a watchword. Efficient use of energy reduces the number of power stations. The conventional filamentlamps are problematic because of their low efficiency On the other hand, energy-saving CFL lamps too are not without problems due to their mercury content. For this reason, advances in light-intensive white LEDs are welcome. These offer an additional advantage—long life. With proper cooling, LED lamps have a life expectancy 50 times greater than filamentlamps. However, these might

LOW BATTERY INDICATOR CIRCUIT

The following post describes a simple low battery indicator circuit by using just two inexpensive NPN transistors. The main feature of this circuit is its very low stand by current consumption.

We can also make a low battery indicator circuit using a 741 IC and a 555 IC, which are no doubt outstanding with their abilities of detecting and indicating low battery voltage thresholds.

However the following post relates yet another similar circuit which is much cheaper and employs just a couple of NPN transistors for producing the required low battery indications.

The main advantage of the proposed two transistor low battery indicator circuit is its very low current consumption compared to the IC counterparts which consume relatively higher currents. A IC 555 would consume around 5mA, a IC741 around 3 mA, while the present circuit would just consume around 1.5mA current.

Thus the present circuit becomes more efficient especially in cases where

CRAZY HOMEMADE LIGHTSABER BURNS THROUGH OBJECTS

A teenager specializing in DIY lasers has apparently made his own version of a functional Star Wars lightsaber. In a video demonstration, he uses the device to light things on fire — paper, a match, even a ping-pong ball.

DIY laser enthusiast Drake Anthony describes himself as a teenager in Eureka, Illinois, who has been building lasers and electronics since he was 12. Online he goes by the name Styropyro and recently showed off his homemade lightsaber. Anthony described the parts as a 9 mm 450 nm laser diode from a DLP projector — the digital light processing kind you see in classrooms — and two 18650 lithium ion batteries usually found in laptops.

He measures the output as an “insane 3W”

PET DRONE FOLLOWS YOU AROUND LIKE A SHADOW

Quadrotor drones are doing a lot these days: they’re helping to save the elephants, rescue drowning victims. While these important duties naturally suggest a certain level of independence, the drones aren’t entirely autonomous because they still require human pilots to control their maneuvers.

They have proposed a quadrotor drone that uses artificially intelligent algorithms and depth motion-tracking cameras to follow a person from a safe distance and/or film the encounter. One method for doing so would involve the drone tracking a specific graphic on a user’s t-shirt.

One of Pet Drone’s main applications could be for BASE jumpers and other extreme athletes who want to film stunts that are out of range of human controlled drones. But that’s not all.

UNDERSTANDING IC 4017 PIN CONFIGURATION

Most of us are more comfortable with 1, 2, 3, 4… rather than 001, 010, 011, 100. We mean to say that we will need a decimal coded output in many cases rather than a raw binary output. We have many counter ICs available but most of them produce binary data as an output. We will again need to process that output by using decoders or any other circuitry to make it usable for our application in most of the cases.

Let us now introduce you a new IC named IC 4017. It is a CMOS decade counter cum decoder circuit which can work out of the box for most of our low range counting applications. It can count from zero to ten and its outputs are decoded. This saves a lot of board space and time required to build our circuits when our application demands using a counter followed by a decoder IC. This IC also simplifies the design and makes debugging easy.

CIRCLING LED EFFECT

 

Here is an art project for you to try out. In this article we shall learn the design and working of the circuit Circling LEDs. In this, we have eight LEDs which glow one after the other to form a circling effect. My intention in publishing this circuit is not just to make some art work with electronics but also to illustrate the working principle and circuit design using IC 555 in astable mode, 4017 counter and to explain the related concepts.

IC4017 Circuit Schematic:

PASSIVE INFRARED [PIR] SENSOR

A passive infrared sensor (PIR sensor) is an electronic sensor that measures infrared (IR) light radiating from objects in its field of view. They are most often used in PIR-based motion detectors.

Different Types Of PIR Sensors :

• Multi-Fresnel lens type of PIR
• 

  PIR motion detector housing with cylindrical faceted window. The animation highlights individual facets, each of which is a Fresnel lens, focusing light on the sensor element underneath.

• 

  PIR front cover only (electronics removed), with point light source behind, to show individual lenses.

• 

  PIR with front cover removed, showing location of pyroelectric sensor (green arrow).

Operating principles

All objects with a temperature above absolute zero emit heat energy in the form of optical radiation (light). Usually this light is invisible to the human eye because body temperature radiates at infrared wavelengths, but it can be detected by electronic devices designed for such a purpose.

IR SENSORS

The sensors could be utilized as a part of measuring the radiation temperature without any contact. For different radiation temperature ranges various filters are available. An infrared (IR) sensor is an electronic device that radiates or locates infrared radiation to sense some part of its surroundings. They are undetectable to human eyes.

An infrared sensor could be considered a Polaroid that briefly recalls how an area’s infrared radiation shows up. It is very regular for an infrared sensor to be coordinated into movement indicators like those utilized as a feature of private or business security systems. An IR sensor is shown in figure; basically it has two terminals positive and negative. These sensors are undetectable to human eyes.

HOCKEY PUCK SHAPED DIY ROBOT MAKES DEBUT

Famous among the DIY electronics community for their single-board microcontroller, Arduino recently launched a new wheeled robot at the 2013 Bay Area Maker Faire.

Designed with Complubot, a four-time Robocup Junior champion in robotic soccer, the Arduino Robot, with its self-contained platform, will allow tinkerers of all stripes to explore their robotic whims with endless hours of interactive play and experimentation.

As the first official Arduino on wheels, the hockey puck-shaped robot includes two processors, one on each of its two boards: the motor board, which obviously controls the wheel motors, and a control board, which reads sensors and makes decisions on operations.

Essentially, the top and bottom surfaces of the robot are full Arduino boards that are programmable with the Aduino IDE software.

“Programming the robot is similar to the process with the Arduino Leonardo” microcontroller. “Both processors have built-in USB communication, eliminating the need for a secondary processor. This allows the Robot to appear to a connected computer as a virtual (CDC) serial / COM port.”

Every element of the platform — the hardware, software and documentation — is open-source and available like all other Arduino products. This allows users to modify the software and build unique hardware on top of it, making the platform perfect for novices and more seasoned roboticists to build interactive machines of their own design.

Credit: Arduino

SMART USE LED LAMPS

LED are known to have a very wide range of applications in the lighting field and are also known to have very high efficiency and longer life when compared to CFL and incandescent bulbs, here we discuss a few interesting application of LED’s.

Here are two night lamp circuits using LEDs. One could be used as a night-vision clock and the other as a TV lamp. Both the circuits are AC operated and consume very little power. These are also protected against mains fluctuations. The night-vision lamp uses twelve LEDs arranged in the circular pattern of a wall clock, while the TV lamp uses 24 LEDs in prism format.

Fig. 1: Night-vision clock circuit

Source : Electronics For You
Fig.1 shows the circuit of night-vision clock. Capacitor C1 (0.22µF) reduces the

SOLAR TRACKING SYSTEM

This is a really innovative way to increase the efficiency in harnessing the Solar energy. Research suggests that if we are able to harness solar energy to a 90-100%  then using the energy harnessed in one day, we can run about one million cars powered by solar, but theoretically we are harnessing less than 10%.

Generally, solar panels are stationary and do not follow the movement of the sun. Here is a solar tracker system that tracks the sun’s movement across the sky and tries to maintain the solar panel perpendicular to the sun’s rays, ensuring that the maximum amount of sunlight is incident on the panel throughout the day. The solar tracker starts following the sun right from dawn, throughout the day till evening, and starts all over again from the dawn next day.

Fig. 1: Circuit of solar tracking system

Fig. 1 shows the circuit of the solar tracking system. The solar tracker comprises comparator IC LM339, H-bridge motor driver IC L293D (IC2) and a few discrete components. Light-dependent resistors LDR1 through LDR4 are used as sensors to detect the panel’s position relative to the sun. These provide the signal to motor driver IC2 to move the solar panel in the sun’s direction. LDR1 and LDR2 are fixed at the edges of the solar panel along the X axis, and connected to comparators A1 and A2, respectively. Presets VR1 and VR2 are set to get low comparator output at pins 2 and 1 of comparators A1 and A2, respectively, so as to stop motor M1 when the sun’s rays are perpendicular to the solar panel. 

When LDR2 receives more light than LDR1, it offers lower resistance than LDR1, providing a high input to comparators A1 and A2 at pins 4 and 7, respectively. As a result, output pin 1 of comparator A2 goes high to rotate motor M1 in one direction (say, anti-clockwise) and turn the solar panel.

When LDR1 receives more light than LDR2, it offers lower resistance than LDR2, giving a low input to comparators A1 and A2 at pins 4 and 7, respectively. As the voltage at pin 5 of comparator A1 is now higher than the voltage at its pin 4, its output pin 2 goes high. As a result, motor M1 rotates in the opposite direction (say, clock-wise) and the solar panel turns.

Fig. 2 Proposed assembly for the solar tracking system

Similarly, LDR3 and LDR4 track the sun along Y axis. Fig. 2 shows the proposed assembly for the solar tracking system.

HOW 3-D PRINTERS WORK

Imagine that you’ve decided to organize your closet, but instead of measuring containers at a store to make sure they will work, you just go to your office, enter the measurements you want your containers to be, and print them out right there. Now imagine that you have to build a diorama of a famous Civil War battle for a project at school, and you use that same printer to construct all the soldiers, cannons and trees in perfect detail.

This technology may be closer than you think thanks to 3-D printing. 3-D printing is making it easier and faster to produce complex objects with multiple moving parts and intricate design, and soon it will be affordable enough to have at home.

Source : How Stuff Works

POWER SAVING LED LAMP FROM SCRAP

Are you confused on how to give a fresh new life to a broken CFL bulb, read on you’ll get the answer to this question here.

In this post i’m sharing a LED lamp circuit which can be mounted in a broken CFL bulb and can be  converted into a LED based power saving light. This is just a LED lamp circuit that can be operated from the mains voltage. A string of five LED is driven using a capacitive transformerless power supply. In the circuit 0.47uF/400V Polyester capacitor C1 reduces the mains voltage. R3 is a bleeder resistor which drains the stored charge from C1 when the AC input is switched OFF. Resistors R1 and R2 limits the inrush of current when the circuit is switched ON. Diodes D1 to D4 forms a bridge rectifier that rectifies the reduced AC voltage and C2 acts as a filter capacitor. Finally Zener diode D5 provides regulation and the LEDs are driven.

Here are some of the pictures of the LED lamp.

Components used :

• 120 Ohm 1/2 Watt resistors [2]
• 470k Ohm 1/4 Watt resistor [1]
• 0.47uF, 400 V Polyster capacitor
• IN4007 Diodes [4]
• 47uF, 25V electrolytic capacitor
• 16-18V 1W Zener diode [1]
• Hi power LED’s. [ Here i have used 1W circular LED’s ]

The circuit board arrangement which i have built.

After assembling the Circuit board in the CFL bulb casing.

The LED arrangement on a laminate sheet.

The completely assembled, finished LED light.

My smart LED lamp in action.

Another close view of the illuminating LED’s.

Procedure

1. Carefully remove the broken glass pieces of the CFL bulb.

2. Open the assembly carefully

3. Remove electronics and discard

4. Assemble the circuit in dot matrix PC or on a 1mm laminate sheet.

5. Cut a round laminate sheet with (scissor)

6. Mark the position of the 5 round holes on the sheet

7. Drill the holes to suit the LEDs to flush fit in the six holes

8. Use a dab of adhesive to keep the LED assembly in position

9. Close the assembly

10. Ensure the internal wiring does not touch each other

11. Now test on 230Volt AC Your nice compact table lamp / puja room lamp / passage lamp is ready for use.

For any queries related to this post, ask your questions in the comments section below.

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It seems like everyone and their uncle is working on a better way to get more energy out of photovoltaic solar cells, from using quantum dots to fiber optics. Now a Swiss company has decided on a brute-force method: hit a photovoltaic cell with the equivalent of 2,000 suns.

Airlight Energy, partnering with IBM Research, ETH Zurich, and Switzerland’s Interstate University of Applied Sciences, is developing a way to use parabolic reflectors to concentrate sunlight onto a set of solar cells, each only a half inch on a side.

It’s called a High Concentration PhotoVoltaic Thermal (HCPVT) system and so far, the test plant is capable of generating 25 kiloWatts of electricity.

The parabolic dish tracks the sun as it moves across the sky, so it always gets the maximum amount of light. As a result, the solar cell chips receive 2,000 times as much light energy as they normally would. Even though they’re small, each cell pumps out up to 250 Watts, and there are hundreds of them.

Photovoltaic panels, though, start losing their efficiency if they get too hot — to say nothing of melting. To keep the chips cool, a network of tiny tubes carries water between and around them. The water reaches temperatures of about 194 degrees, which can be used to heat water in a building or to heat salty water, which is passed through a membrane that removes the salt to make the water drinkable.

The photovoltaic plant operates at 30 percent efficiency, much higher than the less than 20 percent one might expect from a typical roof-mounted setup. And a parabolic dish of about one square yard would be able to generate about two kilowatt-hours per day and purify seven to nine gallons of salt water.

Right now there are several prototypes being built, with one being tested in Switzerland. Airlight said in a press release that they envision this kind of solar power in countries where there’s lots of sun but little fresh water.

HOW THE NE-555 TIMER IC WORKS

The 555 is a single-chip version of a commonly used circuit called a multivibrator, which is useful in a wide variety of electronic circuits. The 555 timer chipis probably the most popular integrated circuit ever made.

You can use the 555 chips for basic timing functions, such as turning a light on for a certain length of time, or you can use it to create a warning light that flashes on and off. You can use it to produce musical notes of a particular frequency, or you can use it to control positioning of a servo device.

Here is the arrangement of the eight pins in a standard 555 IC. The 555 comes in an 8-pin DIP package.

 

 

ROBONAUT2, THE NEXT GENERATION DEXTEROUS ROBOT

Robonaut2 surpasses previous dexterous humanoid robots in strength, yet it is safe enough to work side-by-side with humans. It is able to lift, not just hold, this 20-pound weight (about four times heavier than what other dexterous robots can handle) both near and away from its body.

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What Is Robonaut?

Two Robonaut models hold tools

Robonaut can use tools designed to be used by astronauts on the space station. Image Credit: NASA

Robonaut is a NASA robot. Engineers designed Robonaut to be humanoid, which means it is built to look like a person. This makes it easier for Robonaut to do the same jobs as a person. Robonaut could help with anything from working on the International Space Station to exploring other worlds. A Robonaut is currently aboard the International Space Station.

SPYING FM BUG

This video explains another FM Bug, with a higher range of operation.

This FM bug transmitter circuit will let you spy on people. The transmitter can be placed in the desired room and the conversation heard from a place far away just using a regular FM radio set.

The circuit is designed around a single transistor 2N3904 (T1), a custom-made coil (L1), three capacitors (C1 through C3), a trimmer (VC1), two resistors (R1 and R2) and, of course, a condenser microphone (MIC1). The circuit transmits in the frequency range of 88-105 MHz. Transmission range is 100 metres.

‘TOUCH MAGIX’ BRINGS ALIVE ANY SURFACE !

 

TouchMagix is a combination of hardware and software that makes any projection surface, be it a wall or floor, or even an LCD screen, react to your touch and body gestures

A car game is projected on a wall remote-controlled by human movement. The car runs faster and smoother on collecting ‘Castrol’ fuel packs. Whether you are a gaming freak or not, nearly every passerby would give the game a shot, with many even taking multiple attempts to collect more oil packs to finish first.

At the launch of their new product range, Castrol used this fun and interactive medium, called TouchMagix, to draw and engage crowds of all ages with their brand. TouchMagix, developed by Pune-based startup TouchMagix, makes any projection surface, be it a wall or floor, or even an LCD screen, react to your body gestures or touch.

TouchMagix hardware comprises a high-end PC, a projector and its proprietary TouchMagix sensor.

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Making electronic implants for the body is hard to do: tissue is delicate and stiff components can irritate it. Then there’s getting those implants into the relevant organ without invasive surgery.

To help solve these problems, John A. Rogers, a materials science professor at the University of Illinois, and Michael Bruchas, an anesthesiologist at Washington University in St. Louis, built an electronic LED device so tiny it can be injected into delicate tissue, such as in the brain, without harming it. The experiment appears in this week’s issue of the journal Science.

Rogers told Discovery News that brain tissue is not only fragile, it also tends to move around because brains are suspended in fluid, and that creates problems when one tries to put relatively stiff, rigid electronics or fiber optics in place.

To get around this the researchers put together an extremely small circuit board with

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“Joel, this is Marty Cooper, I’d like you to know that I’m calling you from a cellular phone.” Exactly 40 years ago, on April 3, 1973, Motorola engineer Martin Cooper placed this call — the first ever on a cell phone — to Joel Engel, his rival at AT&T’s Bell Labs.

Cooper, now 85, made history in downtown Manhattan using the bulky prototype he had developed.

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Click on the Picture to view the video

Cool levitation and heating effects can be done at home — if you happen to have a little specialized electrical equipment and a few tools.

This video shows a piece of metal floating in a coil and then melting. How does this happen? It isn’t magic, just physics.

First the levitation. If you run an alternating current (like the one from the outlets in your house) through coils you generate a magnetic field that changes with time. House current would make it change 50 times per second. (That’s the “50 Hz” you see printed on the power adaptors and appliances when it says what kind of power source you can hook them up to). So the field in that case will oscillate at 50 hertz.

Put something in a magnetic field — like a chunk of aluminum — and the atoms in the object will generate small currents, called eddy currents that generate small magnetic fields of their own. If the material is diamagnetic, which basically means it doesn’t stick to magnets, then the tiny magnetic fields will be opposite to the one in the coil, and generate a force that repels.

This is largely the same principle used in

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Side walks, Foot paths, Dance Clubs, Floors and many other places where more Humans move around a lot. We walk, jump and dance. So why not use all that kinetic energy? Via piezoelectric devices, that’s now possible.

SELF BUILT TEMPERATURE SENSOR USING LM 35 TEMPERATURE SENSOR

Formally announcing the success of my latest project ‘A DIGITAL THERMOMETER using the famous temperature sensor from National Semiconductor LM35. This is actually a small circuit in which the temperature sensor senses the temperature and the circuit converts the temperature into an equivalent voltage which can be read by connecting the circuit to a Digital Multimeter [DMM].This can sense the room temperature and can be connected to a DMM for the output. This circuit converts temperature into a corresponding voltage i.e., for every degree of the temperature increase the output increases by 1 mV VDC. It uses a 3 lead LM 35 Temperature Sensor.

Working of MAGLEV Trains

From the time i had heard of Magnetic Levitation i was very much fascinated by them and wanted to learn more about the working of these trains. This fascination towards something so awesome in technology using just the concept of magnets has led to one of the most revolutionary mode of transport changing the way we commute, hats of to the person who conceived this idea.

We have always thought of aeroplanes as the fastest mode of transportation. As it travels thousands of miles in an hour we do not mind

LIGHT DEPENDENT RESISTOR, LDR

One common and interesting application of LDR will be discussed in my next post.

Light dependent resistors or LDRs are often used in circuits where it is necessary to detect the presence or the level of light. They can be described by a variety of names from light dependent resistor, LDR, photoresistor, or even photo cell (photocell) or photoconductor.

A photoresistor or light dependent resistor (LDR) is a resistor whose resistance decreases with

THE ‘ILLUMINATOR’ SURGE PROTECTION LED LIGHT – BUILT AND TESTED

LEDs are being Incorporated in vast magnitudes today for everything that may involve lights and illuminations. White LEDs have especially become very popular due to their mini size, dramatic illuminating capabilities and high efficiency with power consumptions. Here we are discussing the making of a simple LED bulb CIRCUIT DIAGRAM, Which i have built and tested.

• CIRCUIT DESCRIPTION

The circuit of a LED bulb explained here is very easy to build and the circuit is very reliable and long lasting. The exclusive surge protection feature included in the circuit ensures an ideal shielding of the unit from all electrical power ON surges. Looking at the figure we see that basically LEDs have been used which are connected in series. The diagram shows a single long series of LEDs connected one behind the other to form a long LED chain. The power supply circuit used for powering these arrays is derived from a high voltage capacitor, whose low reactance is exploited for stepping down the high voltage input to a lower voltage suitable for the circuit. The two resistors and a capacitor at the positive supply are positioned for suppressing the initial power ON surge and surges during voltage fluctuations. In fact the real surge correction is done by C1 introduced after the bridge (in between R1 and R2), this modification has been incorporated in this circuit after a long research process by me to protect the circuit from voltage surges.

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Click the photo to view the actual photograph

In the last Post, I showed you an interactive, high-res image taken from the top of the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. That image was huge — 2.5 gigapixels. Now there’s an even bigger gigapixel image, a 360-degree panoramic photo of London that comes in at a record 320-gigapixel resolution.

The panorama was created by installing four cameras around the outside platform of the 29th floor of the British Telecommunications tower. The cameras were then attached to robotic mounts timed to take four frames a second. It took three days to snap the images and three months for a computer program to stitch together all 48,640 individual shots.

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Click the Image to view the actual photograph.

You may never get to Dubai and stand atop of the world’s tallest building, the 2,717-foot-tall Burj Khalifa. But this interactive photograph may be the next best thing. It was created to celebrate the annual Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Photography Award (HIPA), which awards prizes totaling $389,000. The grand prize awarded is $120,000.

The interactive image was taken by Dubai-based photographer Gerald Donovan, who not only went to the top floor,

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Click the Photo to view the working video of the 3D Pen.

A pen that uses plastic for ink allows you to draw in three dimensions. The 3Doodler, invented by Peter Dilworth and Maxwell Bogue, gives people a freer hand in creating sculptures and brings computer-aided design software front and center.

You hold it just like a regular pen, but instead of building a shape layer by layer, as a 3-D printer does, this pen it extrudes the plastic into the air.

The plastic is soft when it is extruded, but it hardens quickly enough that it can form a stable structure. It’s the same kind of plastic (called ABS) that is used in 3-D printers. The pen is hooked up to the supply of plastic, which comes in the form of long, thin strings, so it has a kind of tether on it. It doesn’t need a computer or any software to work.

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As our communications devices migrate from being things that we carry to things that we wear, the U.S. military seems poised to embrace this change with technology that could be integrated into the uniforms of soldiers of the future.

Although the fiber optic-like threads could eventually transmit information, the fibers do not have any transistors, processors or circuitry.

“These are new kinds of fibers that are themselves devices,”

Joannopoulos says the millimeter-thick fibers are too thick for a uniform and that he wants to scale them down to 100 microns, which he and his team at the Army’s Soldier Systems Center hope to achieve over the next 10 years as they refine and design the concept further.

“Your uniform would transit that information. You wouldn’t be talking, it would transmit information: who you are, what time you went down, where the wounds are, what is the estimated severity of the wound, et cetera,”. “The idea with these fibers is that eventually, we’d like to enable full-body sensing for the soldier.”

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Electronic devices are getting smaller, thinner and more flexible — taking them into areas other electronics can’t go. One place is the mind. Electrical engineer Todd Coleman at the University of California at San Diego, for example, is using super-thin flexible electronic “tattoos” to read brain wave activity in a non-invasive way and use that data to control machines.

Devices, which about the width of a human hair, stick to a person’s forehead and detect electrical signals from the brain. In previous studies, his team found that study participants could remotely fly airplanes around a room using their mind. These people were not wearing the thin tattoo-like stickers but wearing electrode caps that pick up brain wave activity. But if such control can come from the cap, it could be possible to shrink it down to the stick-on tattoo level.

The small, flexible devices could also be put on the throat and behave as subvocal microphones through which people could communicate silently and wirelessly and perhaps improve speech recognition in smartphones.

“We’ve demonstrated our sensors can pick up the electrical signals of muscle movements in the throat so that people can communicate just with thought,”

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Apple is already seeking patents to develop smart shoes and apps that could turn strangers into walking ATMs, so news that the company may be developing a smart watch should come as no surprise.

Citing sources inside Apple’s Cupertino headquarters, a recent story in the New York Times confirmed Apple is working on a wristwatch made of curved glass.

Two sources said that the watch would operate on Apple’s iOS platform and would distinguish itself from the competition due to the company’s knowledge about the curved glass that will be used.

“You can certainly make it wrap around a cylindrical object and that could be someone’s wrist,”. “Right now, if I tried to make something that looked like a watch, that could be done using this flexible glass.”

 

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Lithium batteries, which are used for everything from electronics to vehicles, take time to recharge, usually in the realm of hours. But researchers at University of Southern California have developed a new lithium-ion battery that can recharge within 10 minutes and hold three times the amount of energy as other batteries.

Experimented with porous silicon nano-wires that helped improve the performance of lithium-ion batteries.

And although the batteries functioned well, the nano-wires were difficult to manufacture in mass quantities.

To solve the problem, Zhou’s team took commercially available nano-particles of silicon spheres and etched them with the same pores as the nano-wires. The particles improved battery performance — allowing a battery to be charged in 10 minutes — and what’s more, can be mass produced. Future electronics and electric vehicles could have such batteries in just two or three years.