Date: 4.4.19
Time: 5:15-7:15 PM
Location: Logan HS
Goal: Complete further testing on the charging system and begin to write the patent.
Student: Alex, Thomas, Austin, Paige, Seth, Avery, Caitlin, Tanner and Paige.
We broke another gear on one of the generators on Monday so we repaired it and tested it again and it seemed to work. We have isolated the problem and need to support the gear housing better from the heel strike impact force. We are working with stock motors and plastic gears. Some of this is to be expected. A production model would incorporate metal gears and a larger diameter motor shaft. Our current one is 22 mm.
We also did some testing with a new 10 lbs spring attached to gear which resulted in about ⅓ of the voltage of previous spring so out output was lower. We will need to go back to our 20 lbs spring to increase our voltage output. We also had something go wrong with the charging circuit and our positive cap doesn’t charge properly and doesn’t discharge properly. We double checked labeling and connections on system diagrams and checked connectivity and solder joints
Tanner, Caitlin, Avery, and Austin worked on the patent. They are working on defining our abstract definition and also added more information about the software to the summary of our patent application.
Caitlin also worked on making some additions to the layout of the app (added more clear and visible constraints to the text).
Friday- 4.5.19 Update: In testing the charging circuit we found that some solder joints needed to be corrected, but most importantly one of the super capacitors appears to be damaged. Otherwise circuit works perfectly! This was a risk area as we are operating outside the specs for surge voltage, and it is unclear if the technology will support the high currents. We can modify the circuit to reduce stress but retain the full capacity. As an alternate, we could have a full electrolytic cap bank, but it would be physically larger.
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| Alex and Thomas troubleshooting some electronics. |
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| Students working on the patent application. |
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| 20 lbs spring on the left and 10 lbs spring on right. |
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| Seth adding support structure for the generator mount. |
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