Sunday, October 5, 2008

Slight problem with my Power Meter!

Hi Robbie and class,

 

I’ve done a bit of research over the weeks break about my power meter and have had a few issues. Firstly the small AC motor that I was planning of using in the unit isn’t that small and would make the unit fairly large. (2.75’ or 7 cm diameter) This is only the size of the motor with nothing else around it and that AC motors can not be varied in speed. The second problem is, the small motors are DC motors which inturn would require a transformer with heat sink, etc; again making the unit fairly large. The other option is to use a solenoid setup that the Japanese ‘MagLev’ trains use except this is only new technology and nothing has been build on such a small scale. If I used this technology it would only be made from assumptions and may not work in the real world.

 

If you could please give me some suggestions about the plan forward or any suggestions it would be extremely helpful because I am at a crossroad?

 

Regards

Andy Wilde

1 comment:

Robbie said...

Andy, it's a shame that you only came across this knowledge now, rather than a few weeks ago...

As it is, you'll have to look at a different way for the interface to work - lights are something that come to mind - while still communicating with motion.

-Robbie