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Research

First prototype

In the Computer Aided Design week I made a 3D model of a servo pan tilt head that can be used as a first prototype of my final project. Once I had the model I went ahead and built it. Here it can be seen in action:

Sun tracker

In the Computer Controlled Cutting week I designed a cross structure to upgrade the pan tilt head to be a sun tracker. Once I had the design I produced it using the laser cutter and I created a simple circuit on a stripboard.

In the Electronics Production week I learned new techniques to produce circuits and I decided to apply them straight away by redesigning my sun tracker circuit from the previous week.

This image shows both versions of the sun tracker:

04_EP/sun_tracker_comparison.jpg

And this is the second version in action:

Half a bike heliostat

In the Networking and Communications week I made a full-sized heliostat prototype. In this video I’m making some test moves by controlling the steppers with an arduino CNC shield.


Last update: June 19, 2022