The Hygrogen Fuel Cell Robot Project
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Posts: 46,084
Hi All,
I have been working on a small hydrogen fuel cell powered robot with the
students at the Mendocino High School. You can see our progress so far at:
http://madlabs.info/index.php?x=H2_FCRobot_Chron.asp
The project is really taking shape. We are at the stage of figuring out what
sensors and so on to use. The basic goals are to seek light and obstacle
detection. You can see details about what we are doing in the pages linked
above.
Any and all comments and ideas are welcome! The pages were just put up, so
let me know if you find anything wrong.
Jonathan
www.madlabs.info
I have been working on a small hydrogen fuel cell powered robot with the
students at the Mendocino High School. You can see our progress so far at:
http://madlabs.info/index.php?x=H2_FCRobot_Chron.asp
The project is really taking shape. We are at the stage of figuring out what
sensors and so on to use. The basic goals are to seek light and obstacle
detection. You can see details about what we are doing in the pages linked
above.
Any and all comments and ideas are welcome! The pages were just put up, so
let me know if you find anything wrong.
Jonathan
www.madlabs.info
Comments
few things you need to look at with any type of chip like this:
1. Be sure to decouple the chip very close to the IC with a .1 and even
a .01uF cap. Yes, capacitance in parallel adds, but with RF, you are
providing alternate paths to ground which is a good thing.
2. Running the motors and the logic off different supplies is a really
good idea.
3. Any of the PAK's lines that can be left open should be tied high for
best noise immunity.
4. If any CMOS chip sees voltages much above or much below its rails it
is subject to go into latch up where it draws a lot of power and
eventually burns up. Google for CMOS latchup and you'll find a lot of
information. If you are occasionally getting a very high current draw
from the regulator, this is probably the problem. You could be getting
noise or voltage spikes coupled in from your motors?
Hope some of that helps.
Al Williams
AWC
* 8 channels of PWM
http://www.al-williams.com/awce/pak5.htm
>
Original Message
> From: Jonathan Peakall [noparse]/noparse]mailto:[url=http://forums.parallaxinc.com/group/basicstamps/post?postID=r_QynYeoYuTjRmvAPBJsAKBTSooEt8FHlonpVLkFHm8_iOZ5IU-TARiZtcetF58oqgN_1Y5YwNYAG90Np08]jpeakall@m...[/url
> Sent: Saturday, June 28, 2003 5:54 PM
> To: basicstamps@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: [noparse][[/noparse]basicstamps] The Hygrogen Fuel Cell Robot Project
>
>
> Hi All,
>
> I have been working on a small hydrogen fuel cell powered
> robot with the students at the Mendocino High School. You can
> see our progress so far at:
> http://madlabs.info/index.php?x=H2_FCRobot_Chron.asp
>
> The project is really taking shape. We are at the stage of
> figuring out what sensors and so on to use. The basic goals
> are to seek light and obstacle detection. You can see details
> about what we are doing in the pages linked above.
>
> Any and all comments and ideas are welcome! The pages were
> just put up, so let me know if you find anything wrong.
>
> Jonathan
>
> www.madlabs.info
>
>
>
> To UNSUBSCRIBE, just send mail to:
> basicstamps-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
> from the same email address that you subscribed. Text in the
> Subject and Body of the message will be ignored.
>
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to
> http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
>
>
>
> 1. Be sure to decouple the chip very close to the IC with a .1 and even
> a .01uF cap. Yes, capacitance in parallel adds, but with RF, you are
> providing alternate paths to ground which is a good thing.
Done that, both values actually, ceramic caps right across the chips. I've
been meaning to scope the board and see how noisy it is.
> 2. Running the motors and the logic off different supplies is a really
> good idea.
We are right now, but may not be in the future. Hopefully a big cap will
suffice.
> 3. Any of the PAK's lines that can be left open should be tied high for
> best noise immunity.
Will do. With a 10k?
> 4. If any CMOS chip sees voltages much above or much below its rails it
> is subject to go into latch up where it draws a lot of power and
> eventually burns up. Google for CMOS latchup and you'll find a lot of
> information. If you are occasionally getting a very high current draw
> from the regulator, this is probably the problem. You could be getting
> noise or voltage spikes coupled in from your motors?
Aha! And duh! I don't have diodes across the servos, just the valves, and
I'm guessing I need them. Also, would a zener diode for the PAK be a good
idea?
Jonathan
www.madlabs.info
Original Message
From: "Al Williams" <alw@a...>
To: <basicstamps@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Saturday, June 28, 2003 4:06 PM
Subject: RE: [noparse][[/noparse]basicstamps] The Hygrogen Fuel Cell Robot Project
> That's neat! You mention the motors occasionally go erratic. There are
> few things you need to look at with any type of chip like this:
>
>
>
>
>
> Hope some of that helps.
>
> Al Williams
> AWC
> * 8 channels of PWM
> http://www.al-williams.com/awce/pak5.htm
>
>
>
> >
Original Message
> > From: Jonathan Peakall [noparse]/noparse]mailto:[url=http://forums.parallaxinc.com/group/basicstamps/post?postID=CuFybUp9b4HXUKcMGSZBHD3jBPn2AB-Wy_-C-UphVW2-crjqUJy5gt7ioK3rdhsrXuDNJCfow8CvcSA]jpeakall@m...[/url
> > Sent: Saturday, June 28, 2003 5:54 PM
> > To: basicstamps@yahoogroups.com
> > Subject: [noparse][[/noparse]basicstamps] The Hygrogen Fuel Cell Robot Project
> >
> >
> > Hi All,
> >
> > I have been working on a small hydrogen fuel cell powered
> > robot with the students at the Mendocino High School. You can
> > see our progress so far at:
> > http://madlabs.info/index.php?x=H2_FCRobot_Chron.asp
> >
> > The project is really taking shape. We are at the stage of
> > figuring out what sensors and so on to use. The basic goals
> > are to seek light and obstacle detection. You can see details
> > about what we are doing in the pages linked above.
> >
> > Any and all comments and ideas are welcome! The pages were
> > just put up, so let me know if you find anything wrong.
> >
> > Jonathan
> >
> > www.madlabs.info
> >
> >
> >
> > To UNSUBSCRIBE, just send mail to:
> > basicstamps-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
> > from the same email address that you subscribed. Text in the
> > Subject and Body of the message will be ignored.
> >
> >
> > Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to
> > http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
> >
> >
> >
>
>
> To UNSUBSCRIBE, just send mail to:
> basicstamps-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
> from the same email address that you subscribed. Text in the Subject and
Body of the message will be ignored.
>
>
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>
>
>
>
>
http://www.analog.com/library/analogDialogue/archives/35-05/latchup/
Al Williams
AWC
* Easy RS-232 Prototyping
http://www.al-williams.com/awce/rs1.htm
>
Original Message
> From: Jonathan Peakall [noparse]/noparse]mailto:[url=http://forums.parallaxinc.com/group/basicstamps/post?postID=mGdbFyNUJd6Win-KXRrEvCUgjlK1mXnUJcztkXaSOjCGhz-Eirez9G1HCM0sHWo2xAbDvsVes667GQiHvI8E]jpeakall@m...[/url
> Sent: Saturday, June 28, 2003 10:31 PM
> To: basicstamps@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: Re: [noparse][[/noparse]basicstamps] The Hygrogen Fuel Cell Robot Project
>
>
> Al,
>
> > 1. Be sure to decouple the chip very close to the IC with a .1 and
> > even a .01uF cap. Yes, capacitance in parallel adds, but
> with RF, you
> > are providing alternate paths to ground which is a good thing.
>
> Done that, both values actually, ceramic caps right across
> the chips. I've been meaning to scope the board and see how
> noisy it is.
>
'contact us' link does not work. I would like to donate a couple of pc
boards to your project if you would like. Check out the link below and rely
there if you think the boards may help your students with their project.
Jim
http://www.geocities.com/jimforkin2003/
Original Message
From: Jonathan Peakall [noparse]/noparse]mailto:[url=http://forums.parallaxinc.com/group/basicstamps/post?postID=HMjTWZzCxstQfDO1KTq0s3lX2s0fs5ivlkI92U-F6ooBxuAYPm2qd9094Ri-yNHr8GhwXdgYhY6vOLOa]jpeakall@m...[/url
Sent: Saturday, June 28, 2003 6:54 PM
To: basicstamps@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [noparse][[/noparse]basicstamps] The Hygrogen Fuel Cell Robot Project
Hi All,
I have been working on a small hydrogen fuel cell powered robot with the
students at the Mendocino High School. You can see our progress so far at:
http://madlabs.info/index.php?x=H2_FCRobot_Chron.asp
The project is really taking shape. We are at the stage of figuring out what
sensors and so on to use. The basic goals are to seek light and obstacle
detection. You can see details about what we are doing in the pages linked
above.
Any and all comments and ideas are welcome! The pages were just put up, so
let me know if you find anything wrong.
Jonathan
www.madlabs.info
To UNSUBSCRIBE, just send mail to:
basicstamps-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
from the same email address that you subscribed. Text in the Subject and
Body of the message will be ignored.
Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
Thanks for the kind offer! I'll check the boards out. Thanks for pointing
out the contacts page, I'll fix that.
Jonathan
www.madlabs.info
Original Message
From: "Jim Forkin" <jjf@p...>
To: <basicstamps@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Monday, June 30, 2003 7:21 AM
Subject: RE: [noparse][[/noparse]basicstamps] The Hygrogen Fuel Cell Robot Project
> Jonathan, I checked the site and it looks like a worthwhile project. The
> 'contact us' link does not work. I would like to donate a couple of pc
> boards to your project if you would like. Check out the link below and
rely
> there if you think the boards may help your students with their project.
>
> Jim
> http://www.geocities.com/jimforkin2003/
>
>
>
Original Message
> From: Jonathan Peakall [noparse]/noparse]mailto:[url=http://forums.parallaxinc.com/group/basicstamps/post?postID=J_45LZcvDiDVdEkBUuBoWMQUbaHn7jyIPQ9YPOs_fiSsM9u5Mu13lm5B8IRhvy7cxCkcTLXWc40iNzyOiEQj]jpeakall@m...[/url
> Sent: Saturday, June 28, 2003 6:54 PM
> To: basicstamps@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: [noparse][[/noparse]basicstamps] The Hygrogen Fuel Cell Robot Project
>
>
> Hi All,
>
> I have been working on a small hydrogen fuel cell powered robot with the
> students at the Mendocino High School. You can see our progress so far at:
> http://madlabs.info/index.php?x=H2_FCRobot_Chron.asp
>
> The project is really taking shape. We are at the stage of figuring out
what
> sensors and so on to use. The basic goals are to seek light and obstacle
> detection. You can see details about what we are doing in the pages linked
> above.
>
> Any and all comments and ideas are welcome! The pages were just put up, so
> let me know if you find anything wrong.
>
> Jonathan
>
> www.madlabs.info
>
>
>
> To UNSUBSCRIBE, just send mail to:
> basicstamps-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
> from the same email address that you subscribed. Text in the Subject and
> Body of the message will be ignored.
>
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
>
>
>
> To UNSUBSCRIBE, just send mail to:
> basicstamps-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
> from the same email address that you subscribed. Text in the Subject and
Body of the message will be ignored.
>
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
>
>
>
>
>
Cool!
Do you see Bob Blick around any more? I know he use to teach
electronics at Mendecino High, and the last time I saw him he was
with some students at the Embedded Systems show in San Francisco.
His H-bridge circuit for the Stamp became famous around here. The
Gallery Bookstore has taken over the Mendecino web cam.
-- Tracy
>Hi All,
>
>I have been working on a small hydrogen fuel cell powered robot with the
>students at the Mendocino High School. You can see our progress so far at:
>http://madlabs.info/index.php?x=H2_FCRobot_Chron.asp
>
>The project is really taking shape. We are at the stage of figuring out what
>sensors and so on to use. The basic goals are to seek light and obstacle
>detection. You can see details about what we are doing in the pages linked
>above.
>
>Any and all comments and ideas are welcome! The pages were just put up, so
>let me know if you find anything wrong.
>
>Jonathan
>
>www.madlabs.info