I Can Haz Rezonance! [Caution: May contain grandiosity]
I spent far more time than may have been prudent playing with electronics last night.
I now have a square wave generator in the form of an astable 555 timer circuit (I've wanted one of those for years!) If I remember right, I could also use that in combination with the proper op-amp arrangement to make a triangle-wave generator (square wave + integrator = triangle wave).
This is, however, merely the means to a larger end. I then went on to try to get that to drive a resonant LC circuit. This consumed the majority of the time, and while I am not sure I have come out all that much wiser for the experience, I think I finally got to the point where I understand enough about what it's doing to actually attempt to create a receiver for it. Yes my friends, I have taken up my electronic lance and am heading full tilt at the windmills of wireless power transfer.
The irony of all of this is that it, in turn, is merely a cog in my greater scheme for an advanced human-computer interface device, which would be much more convenient if it were entirely wireless and did not need a battery (or could run off rechargeable battery and run or charge off of wireless power).
I was actually inspired to look into this by adularia's ongoing project, as I am hoping to do an implementation of that concept, but wireless and probably with a different sensing mechanism.
It was a good night ^_^
~does rough time estimates in head~ Yeah, at least 5 hours, pretty much straight. It wouldn't have been too bad, but there are other things around the house that also need doing. I was reasonably good about most of them; I mowed the lawn until it got too dark to do so, and I did cat and dog maintenance, but I really probably should have had more for dinner than a few handfuls of corn chips and a bunch of water kefir. Then again, I had a pretty big lunch, so it probably balanced out reasonably well. Still, the kitchen is a frightful mess, and it's more the principle of the thing. I told myself that I'd stop and work on the kitchen at 10. And then I moved it back to 11. I revised that to be that I'd get the dishwasher emptied before I went to sleep. The dishwasher finally got emptied this morning. I'm not sure whether to be annoyed or concerned about my apparent lack of willpower, or pleased with how absorbed I got in the tinkering and how much progress it feels like I've made. Unfortunately it seems to require more mental dexterity than I possess in order to do both.
I now have a square wave generator in the form of an astable 555 timer circuit (I've wanted one of those for years!) If I remember right, I could also use that in combination with the proper op-amp arrangement to make a triangle-wave generator (square wave + integrator = triangle wave).
This is, however, merely the means to a larger end. I then went on to try to get that to drive a resonant LC circuit. This consumed the majority of the time, and while I am not sure I have come out all that much wiser for the experience, I think I finally got to the point where I understand enough about what it's doing to actually attempt to create a receiver for it. Yes my friends, I have taken up my electronic lance and am heading full tilt at the windmills of wireless power transfer.
The irony of all of this is that it, in turn, is merely a cog in my greater scheme for an advanced human-computer interface device, which would be much more convenient if it were entirely wireless and did not need a battery (or could run off rechargeable battery and run or charge off of wireless power).
I was actually inspired to look into this by adularia's ongoing project, as I am hoping to do an implementation of that concept, but wireless and probably with a different sensing mechanism.
It was a good night ^_^
~does rough time estimates in head~ Yeah, at least 5 hours, pretty much straight. It wouldn't have been too bad, but there are other things around the house that also need doing. I was reasonably good about most of them; I mowed the lawn until it got too dark to do so, and I did cat and dog maintenance, but I really probably should have had more for dinner than a few handfuls of corn chips and a bunch of water kefir. Then again, I had a pretty big lunch, so it probably balanced out reasonably well. Still, the kitchen is a frightful mess, and it's more the principle of the thing. I told myself that I'd stop and work on the kitchen at 10. And then I moved it back to 11. I revised that to be that I'd get the dishwasher emptied before I went to sleep. The dishwasher finally got emptied this morning. I'm not sure whether to be annoyed or concerned about my apparent lack of willpower, or pleased with how absorbed I got in the tinkering and how much progress it feels like I've made. Unfortunately it seems to require more mental dexterity than I possess in order to do both.