Gustaf Danielsson
Officer
 United States
Troll Hunter and Arctic Explorer
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« on: February 02, 2012, 02:22:20 am » |
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Abslomrob
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« Reply #1 on: February 03, 2012, 05:17:33 pm » |
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I'm assuming the "solar fan" charges a capacitor? Ironic that the site has an "environmentally friendly" theme...guess they don't understand how capacitors and electronics are made.
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Narsil
Rogue Ætherlord
 United Kingdom
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« Reply #2 on: February 03, 2012, 05:22:32 pm » |
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Hang on....first it says you wind it and then it says it has a quartz movement...?
and 'spin in the sunlight' ?...eh ?
It looks a lot like a quartz movement in a fairly naff case to me I strongly suspect that the 'turbines' do absolutely nothing.
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A man of eighty has outlived probably three new schools of painting, two of architecture and poetry and a hundred in dress. Lord Byron |
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Capt. Dirigible
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« Reply #3 on: February 03, 2012, 05:35:40 pm » |
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On the topic of 'solar powered steampunk time pieces'..check out this beauty! |
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I say, Joe it's jolly frightening out here.
Nonsense dear boy, you should be more like me.
But look at you! You're shaking all over!
Shaking? You silly goose! I'm just doing the Watusi
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Peacemaker
Guest
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« Reply #4 on: February 05, 2012, 11:23:52 pm » |
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HAHA nice one Capt. I loled
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Siliconous Skumins
Board Moderator
Rogue Ætherlord
United Kingdom
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« Reply #5 on: February 09, 2012, 10:23:24 pm » |
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I took a closer look at a larger picture of the watch - safe to say it's a standard quartz watch, nothing solar powered in the slightest. It's just a bit of steampunky background blurb.  Anyhow, while the sunlight is capable of making little vanes spin around (Crookes radiometer...), it can only do so in a partial / near VACUUM, not in open air. But it has got me thinking, I'm pretty sure I could knock up a solar (photovoltaic) powered watch without too much hassle. A working one I mean. Pretty sure I can get it steampunk too. Don't know how practical it would be though.  I shall see what I can dig up. HMMMM....Need to find a set of small enough solar cells.... I know where to look, just got to find a suitable size to work with. SS |
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Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum sonatur.
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Abslomrob
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« Reply #6 on: February 10, 2012, 02:54:18 pm » |
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<shrug> Start with a Seiko Kenetic or similar, and jimmy up the rotor.  |
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Siliconous Skumins
Board Moderator
Rogue Ætherlord
United Kingdom
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« Reply #7 on: February 11, 2012, 05:52:08 am » |
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Yup, pretty much what I was thinking. Only with a self-winding mechanical watch. I was toying with the idea of turning the rotor into a small electric motor powered by the solar cells (probably pulsed via a charging / discharging capacitor, rather than a continuous running motor). Keeping the magnetic field away from sensitive parts of the watch would be the tricky part... Then again, there is always the quartz watch movement powered via a decent sized capacitor charged directly by the solar cells. Cheap and easy. Just a bit 'yuck' though... SS |
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Abslomrob
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« Reply #8 on: February 12, 2012, 09:32:04 pm » |
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Not sure how well that would work for a mechanical; you need a fair amount of torque, which would be hard to generate off a solar cell. I have to imagine that to get a solar cell to wind a self-winding movement, you'd need such a high gear differential that you'd have trouble overcoming the resistance of the gearing.
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Siliconous Skumins
Board Moderator
Rogue Ætherlord
United Kingdom
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« Reply #9 on: February 12, 2012, 10:26:46 pm » |
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Nah, just take a leaf out of the BEAM robotics book of thought. Basically the solar cells generate a small charge, it accumulates in a large capacitor, once the charge reaches a threshold voltage a trigger circuit will dump the stored charge to the motor directly, thus turning the rotor. Then the process begins again. It's a little 'lossy' but nowhere near as bad as batteries for storage. Even weak light will be useable as it will pass through a simple voltage doubler circuit (the trigger is voltage controlled, so the cap will never overcharge). For a pocket watch, I would say the only practical way to get it functional is to have the solar cells on the chain / fob where they will be exposed to light in normal use. I will have to scour fleabay for a suitable (read cheap & working) donor watch for the guts, but I do have a perfect silver pocket watch case to use allready. SS |
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Cubinoid
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« Reply #10 on: February 12, 2012, 10:30:18 pm » |
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How it can possibly work by solar power when it spends most of its time in a waistcoat pocket is beyond me.
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We made a little music video, for your pleasure:  |
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Abslomrob
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« Reply #11 on: February 14, 2012, 01:49:49 am » |
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Interesting idea on the capacitor. At that point, you'd be getting rid of the rotor itself, and attaching the motor directly to the center gear of the winding gear. Only concern I'd have left is dampening the motor; too much torque too quick will shear off the leaves of the gear, so it has to start slow and then speed up. Might be easier to just use a manual wind movement, and tack the winding motor directly to the crown gear. That'll give you more room in the case too.
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Nathaniel Flood Harwick
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« Reply #12 on: February 14, 2012, 02:00:56 am » |
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Not sure how well that would work for a mechanical; you need a fair amount of torque, which would be hard to generate off a solar cell. I have to imagine that to get a solar cell to wind a self-winding movement, you'd need such a high gear differential that you'd have trouble overcoming the resistance of the gearing.
That sounds like a job for my good friend... the worm screw! A huge gear reduction in a small package and they don't allow ANY slip. |
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Too many ideas, not enough time.
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Siliconous Skumins
Board Moderator
Rogue Ætherlord
United Kingdom
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« Reply #13 on: February 14, 2012, 04:34:34 am » |
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Not sure how well that would work for a mechanical; you need a fair amount of torque, which would be hard to generate off a solar cell. I have to imagine that to get a solar cell to wind a self-winding movement, you'd need such a high gear differential that you'd have trouble overcoming the resistance of the gearing.
That sounds like a job for my good friend... the worm screw! A huge gear reduction in a small package and they don't allow ANY slip. Indeed, and the worm screw shaft would also facilitate the positioning of the motor away from magnetic sensitive areas of the watch. I'm still tempted to find a way to *incorporate* the rotor as part of the motor. General idea would be to provide the rotor with the same sort of movement it was designed for to wind in normal operation. Also handy as a backup should solar power not be available for any reason (cold weather + thick coat, etc). I'm thinking of something along the lines of that used to drive the pendulum in a battery powered quartz clock (simplest form is a coil of wire repelling a magnet). But this could still pose a problem from the magnetic field from the coil - although it may be small enough that it would not be a problem (and could be shielded with a steel cover)... Fiddly, but I think it's doable! SS |
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von Corax
Immortal
 Canada
Leverkusen Institute of Paleocybernetics
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« Reply #14 on: February 14, 2012, 11:39:32 am » |
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Interesting idea on the capacitor. At that point, you'd be getting rid of the rotor itself, and attaching the motor directly to the center gear of the winding gear. Only concern I'd have left is dampening the motor; too much torque too quick will shear off the leaves of the gear, so it has to start slow and then speed up. Might be easier to just use a manual wind movement, and tack the winding motor directly to the crown gear. That'll give you more room in the case too.
If you left the rotor in place, would it have enough mass to act as a flywheel and damp the motor's torque? |
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By the power of caffeine do I set my mind in motion
By the Beans of Life do my thoughts acquire speed
My hands acquire a shaking
The shaking becomes a warning
By the power of caffeine do I set my mind in motion
The Leverkusen Institute of Paleocybernetics is 5838 km from Reading
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jemamus
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« Reply #16 on: May 13, 2012, 10:52:19 pm » |
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On the topic of 'solar powered steampunk time pieces'..check out this beauty! Wow good one, I actually choked on my hookah I was drawing from. |
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Letter writing is the only device for combining solitude with good company - Lord Byron
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