Thursday, October 13, 2011

Schematic - First Revision

Ive come up with a first draft of the schematic. It uses mostly left over parts from other projects, so shouldn't cost that much to finally build. Unless i find a better way to build the first two stages of this generator, ill probably lay this out and get a PCB fabricated. Not all parts are defined (ill post a full parts list before i send out the PCB)  but some of the more important ones include

  • Boost Converter - NCP1402. sort of a random choice, this was the first reasonable boost IC that i found. If i decide to place the boost before the batteries again, ill design my own with the correct input impedance to get maximum power, based off of the plots i posted earlier.
  • Timer - ICM7555. This is an improved version of the regular 555 timer that people have been using for years. It has lower power draw, and most importantly i have some sitting around the lab.
  • Schottky Diodes - MBR0520L. Just a fast, low on voltage diode. One of the recommendations i got from the energy harvesting people.
  • Current Source - PSSI2021. A really simple chip that provides a constant current source. It implements one of the usual PNP current source circuits.
  • LED on/off switches - PDTC124XU. These are simple NPN switches, with some built in resistors. A recommended part from the current source datasheet. Eventually i may redo the LED drive circuitry to be a bit better, but for now this is OK. Eventually ill remove this and the previous part, and just design my own stage here. But for now these two IC's are easier to use.
Hopefully ill be able to get the layout done this weekend, and have a full working prototype by the end of next week. Then i can refine the power stage, find some better LED drive solutions if i need, and get a bike ready design within a few weeks.

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