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Showing posts from April, 2017

In the Name of Greatness

Our Product Emerges This week there was a lot of housework done in regards to the product design and components. First, the parts that were ordered(the 1V 500mA and 3V 200mA solar panels), then they arrived and were found to be in working condition. However, after further discussion regarding the electrical aspects of our design, we decided that it would not be the best idea to attempt to create a combination circuit to result in a 3V 700mA circuit. If this circuit was created it would give an amount of power equal to 2.1 Watts at peak efficiency, and would use 4 solar panels. This is simply not enough to charge a phone which requires around 4-5V with 1.0-1.2A. We decided it would be more efficient and less difficult to simply created a 5 solar panel series circuit using only 1V 500mA solar panels. This would result in a 2.5 Watt power output, at peak efficiency, which is equivalent to the specifications of a computers USB charger. Due to this change more 1V 500mA solar panels...

The Price of Greatness

Acquiring Materials 4/17/2017 This week we finally purchased our parts! We have done a significant amount of research into the parts and materials we may need for this project. These materials have varied in price and spec, and we have narrowed down the list to just a few items. The first item we purchased is a Step-Up Converter. This device is used to regulate the voltage output. This allows a steady output of voltage which is great for charging a cell phone. The device also prevents the input from producing too many amps. It has an indicator that warns against over-current. Additionally, this device will not work with a voltage less than 3V. The threshold for the device is 3-5V which is what we will achieve with our combination of solar panels. Here is the link for the product that was purchased:  https://www.amazon.com/DROK-Module-Battery-Converter-Samsung/dp/B00C93Z8JY/ref=pd_bxgy_328_2?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B00C93Z8JY&pd_rd_r=YGVT6H6Z25CACQ304ZJA...

The Beginnings of Greatness

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The First Steps Towards Our Goal 04/07/2017 The open-ended project "build a phone charger" has just begun. In our current group we have 4 members all of whom worked on researching and creating these blogs and the information contained in them. These members are Sameer Parihar, Wenhan Tan, Eno Shira, and Jonathan Palko. Currently the project is just in the developmental phase. Ideas have been thrown around in a casual manner, discussing the various intricacies in this project. Some preliminary design ideas included a tri-fold design of solar panels, a cell phone backing of just solar panels, and other various designs. However, after a few minutes of debate it was decided that the project would consist of one to three solar panels all of which would slide out of the phone case when desired. These solar panels would be hooked up to a Micro USB Type-B port, which is the type of charger many Android phones and other appliances use, and would be tested using a cheap batter...