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&pd_rd_w=ue8He&pd_rd_wg=k2TxQ&psc=1&refRID=YGVT6H6Z25CACQ304ZJA 

After the first item was purchased we began to search for the proper solar panels to satisfy our design. The main issue with this is that the phone we are using ideally wants around 5.0V and 1.0A, but with the size solar panels we are working with that is a difficult goal to achieve. The problem still hasn't been completely solved, but we may have found a way to get us a little closer to our goal. On the site Sundance Solar there are two different types of solar panels that fit our desired sizes, which are around 9.1 cm X 6.1 cm and 7.5 cm X 6.0 cm. The first solar panel is 3.0V 200mA panel, while the second panel is a 1.0V 500mA panel. The hope is that in a combination of series and parallel circuits we can create a system to achieve our 5.0V 1.0A goal. We are still running some of the calculations to see if this is the case, but we are confident that we can reach one if not both of these charging goals. Here are the links for both solar panels that we plan on utilizing in our design: 

1.0V 500mA

http://store.sundancesolar.com/1-0v-500ma-solar-cell/ 

3.0V 200mA

http://store.sundancesolar.com/3-0v-200ma-solar-cell/ 

Plans for the future include finding and editing a CAD file for a Samsung Galaxy S6 phone case. We also are planning on working with various simulations to see how our circuit will work with this combination of solar panels. Other than that we are continuing to do more research on this topic and are looking forward to where our project will go from here!