My Final Project

Solar Powered Radio

NOTE: I am developing a new project idea and will be updating this page over the next couple weeks to flesh out the idea and make progress with the skills I've learned so far. More soon!

(insert visual)

The Idea + Spiral Development

Solar Powered Radio ..

How it works: ...

Additional features could include:

• ...

Spiral Development
...

Progress Log

New Project Idea Alert! After starting to get more of a sense of what is possible in Fab Lab, I am changing my project idea! I am now working on building a solar-powered handheld radio! If I can, I'd like to add other components like a compass, music, and USB charging.

2D and 3D Design

...

Additive Manufacturing

...

Subtractive Manufacturing

...

Embedded Programming

...

Electronics Design and Production

...

Research

Here I'll take note of sources I'm using to learn more of what I'll need to complete the project.

SOLAR

• This beginner's video on how to connect a solar panel to a battery. Can't just hook up solar panel directly into battery b/c it could overload it. Equipment that makes everything work safely: the charge controller which regulates voltages for battery. Always connect batter first to charge contorller BEFORE connecting to solar. Add fuse as a safety device between battery and controller.
• This video on solar cells and panels with Arduino. Solar cells made up of layers of semiconductive materials with + and - charge. Connecting solar cells in series increases overall output voltage. Connecting in parallel has lower voltage but higher current. Can be used with rechargeable batteries - the combined voltage of the combined solar power circuit must be greater than or equal to voltage capacity of battery in order to charge it and a circuit with higher current charges the batter quicker

Components

• Solar Power Manager Series. Arduino's link
• Adafruit's USB / DC / Solar Lithium Ion/Polymer charger. We have this version in the lab and they also have an updated versioned linked on the page

RADIO

• Circuit Basics website page on AM and FM radio projects

Notes on Old Project Idea

During Week 1, I came up with my project idea and initial sketches.

For Week 2, I further developed the idea and used Computer-Aided Design software to begin to visualize what the board and user blocks could look like. I created a slightly more streamlined sketch before I got started:

An early sketch of the board

An early sketch of the user blocks. Simplifying the design a bit here.

Here's a clip of my timeline for early stages of my design on Fusion:

Here are the direct files for my designs in Inkscape, Fusion, FreeCAD, and OnShape as of Week 2.

Quick Week 3 update: my first item I cut on the laser cutter was a simple cardboard prototype for my final project's sensor board:

In Week 5, I updated my project idea and created the sketch for spiral development.