Engineering

Electric Cars

Last year, Joel introduced me to the concept of an electric car, and since I have become very interested in them, and the role they are likely to play in moving us forward towards a sustainable energy future. A long term goal is to design and convert a car to electric, and hopefully we can get things rolling in 2009. You can check out our Electric Sports Car site if interested in seeing what we hope to do. A long term goal is to research the potential implementation of V2G (Vehicle to Grid) systems in Australia, a technology that promises to be a major player in reducing carbon emissions and sustaining our transport industry into the future as the world's oil supply diminishes.

Eventually I want to convert my sports car pictured here, when I have the funds. The Mazda MX5 is perfect for converting to electric as it light weight and a relatively inexpensive vehicle to play around with. The engine is sitting around 120,000kms so I would like to rack up some more km's before converting it however. This is a long term project which is definitely on the books for the future... just when the price of fuel sky rockets once again =)

Sustainable Energy

I am also very interested in sustainable energy and seeing its implementation in Australia. Here is a sustainable energy site that I have set up which looks more closely at the technologies and how they can be used. It is my opinion that government couldn't really ever do too much to support the growth of renewable energy infrastructure and research in these areas, as our world faces some dire times. Of course there are always counter arguments and the odd stick in the mud when it comes to change, however the overwhelming support for clean renewable decentralised power generation by professors, academics, climate scientists and many economists leaves one final hurdle. The policy change that is required to nurture movement to these cleaner, more environmentally, long term economically viable more sensible options.

One point that I have heard on the subject of decentralising power supplies is that it does however take the power in many ways away from the government. Without the threat of a society losing power or water at large, some bills and policies will be hard to push through. It is however imperative that the focus remains on long term survival of not only Australia but the world at large, and this is clearly not going to happen unless every country takes a stand on climate change and moves away from our diminishing fossil fuel supply. Even if the government rejects targets at this point for whatever reason, at least the options should be in place for potentially urgent situations requiring a rapid shift to renewable energy. Whilst it is true that Australia is only a small part of the total global emission pool, it does set an example and does have a very high emission base per person.

Whilst I bring up the topic of climate change, it needn't be there in order to lay out the long term economic viability of a massive shift to a variety of renewable energies. So many people think that climate change is the only reason communities are waving their hands about clean energy production, but it could simply be a debate on economics at the end of the day.

I also have played a small part in the Sustainable Energy Now organisation which looks at ways sustainable energy can be incorporated into the south west interconnected system. SEN are working towards a simulation which would give a feel for the potential for renewable energy in Australia. I will add that these guys really know their stuff. A variety of academics, and industry professionals. These guys are one of the few groups who consider the facts very carefully and put forward strong arguments both in the environmental context and an economic context supporting the shift to renewable energy. Definitely worth checking them out if you are interested in this area.

Projects

Here are some of the various engineering/electronics projects I have worked on through the years. Whilst it is an expensive hobby I enjoy working on new designs and ideas, and every now and then one of them ends up being quite neat.

100W Stereo Ultra Low Distortion Amp

Why low distortion? Well when you turn up the stereo to listen to your favourite Shostakovich symphony, you will hear very little noise in the soft bits unlike most commercially available amplifiers. Further more this thing cranks! 100W RMS per channel is enough for just about any party, and with low impedance speakers attached you will get very high fidelity sound.

The best thing however is that I built it! Every resistor, diode and capacitor was pain stakingly soldered in place, the inductors wound, and the entire kit wired up. This is by far the hardest and most tedious kit I have ever put together, but two days after purchasing the kit I had myself a pretty sweet amplifier which has stood up well during our many gigs and parties over the years.

I know a few other people who have built the same kit, and all are thrilled with the sound. If you are interested in getting yourself one, you can buy them at Altronics. You will definitely need significant experience in kit building before you attempt such a kit however. Especially as some of the pieces are invariably the wrong ones, and holes are sometimes drilled in the wrong places as was the case with mine. So you will usually need to work around some bumps along the way. If you do get into it though, good luck and hope you get a cranking amp at the end of it!

LCD display overhead movie projector

This was an interesting and challenging project, but surprisingly effective at displaying a larger than life high res image onto my wall. Have you seen those flash little movie projectors about the size of a shoe box? Well this the grand daddy of them all at about 20 times the size. Although a little darker than the commercial overhead projectors, this one certainly did the job, and the bulb lasted well over 100 movies before it needing replacing, and guess how much the globe replacement cost... not $250 but $12. Now that I have your attention, let me explain how it works. Basically it is a stripped apart LCD monitor combined with an overhead projector and some fans for cooling. I placed all these components inside a box to block out as much light as possible and of course hold the thing together. If I did the project again I would change a few things, however for the designated purpose, this projector did the job.

Now we watched all sorts of movies on this thing for several years, and I loved it, however alas, moving out of my house meant I had to give it away :-( Before I did however, I tried something I have always wanted to, but would involve kind of wrecking the projector at the same time. I took the 45 degree mirror off the top so that the image now shone directly upwards. This was all good except that the image was now inverted on the ceiling. I then inverted the LCD panel and reconnected all the bits, and wallah... I could now lie in bed and watch a movie projected onto my roof. Now if you have never tried this, I recommend it. One of those things in life that you discover and then wonder why everyone else doesn't do it. There is nothing quite like browsing the web, playing Quake 3 or watching your favourite show while lying in bed. Yes I know, you could turn into the worlds biggest couch potato, but it could just be worth it!

If I end up building another one of these things, I would first have to come across a cheap second hand LCD - as mine are all used up! I would also try and acquire a custom sized Frenzel lens as the one in the overhead projector was about 2cm too narrow for my 17 inch LCD screen. This would mean you could almost do away with the overhead projector all together, and just buy the lamp and transformer. There are lots of step by step instructions out there on the net on how to build one of these things, so I won't repeat what someone else has already done, but definitely a great project if you are careful with the 240V and try not to damage the ribbon cables connecting the LCD panel to the driver circuit.

50W RMS stereo amp mounted inside a PC

One of my less practical projects, but still fun. Basically I was sick of having to connect up my amplifier every time I wanted to use my computer. I wanted to just be able to plug the speakers straight into the back of the PC. There also seemed like a lot of wasted space inside the main computer compartment so I thought why not build an amp into my computer? Well it worked a treat, and apart from having to be very careful drilling holes about 2 inches from the motherboard, it was fairly straight forward. I ran the power source from the input terminals inside the power supply and added a fuse for short circuit protection. I also of course made sure that the amp was earthed inside the computer power supply.

On the front I added a power switch, a neat UV LED and a volume control. Now this amp was 50W RMS per channel, which is pretty much enough power for a decent sized party. I could now rock up to a LAN, or easily move my computer around without the arduous task of reconnecting all the wires and carrying two separate pieces of equipment. The only problem with this design is the heating issue. With another heat source inside the box, it can get very hot, and at one stage on a hot day when I was absolutely cranking the tunes, the thermal overload in the amp kit kicked in and I had to let it cool down. The computer was ok temperature wise though so it is certainly a feasible design. It is a little risky routing 240v wires outside the power supply too, however these go directly to the transformer, so if they are well insulated there is not much chance of a zap. I added a switch of course which meant the 240V was routed to the front panel and back down to the transformer leaving semi exposed wires at the back of the switch.

Well this amp stayed inside the box until I upgraded my PC, and I have not bothered redoing the project. Kind of a neat idea, however you have to know what you are doing and make sure it ends up being safe! Also I would recommend having a slightly smaller amp inside, say 18W RMS per channel would be fine for most applications.

Mindstorms LEGO car

I have always had a fascination with LEGO ever since I was a child. The latest range of programmable kits is something I really wish was around when I was growing up, as the sky is pretty much the limit with these things. One of the latest projects I made was the car pictured here. I programmed the little lego vehicle to do a variety of manoeuvres which included 3 point turns, and it had the ability to explore a room. The touch sensors on the front would enable it to get around objects and turn around when it hit a wall. I also at one point placed two light sensors on the top of the vehicle separated by a vertical strip of paper. I then programmed the car to drive to the lightest point in the room. This meant you could make the car follow a torch spot, or place a candle on the other side of the room and it would find it and run it down. Quite a fun little kit to play with and lots of potential designs giving any potential engineer a great feel for mechanics, electronics and programming.