One Hour Design Challenge - Discussion Group

Let’s try and keep this group for discussion so we don’t clutter up the images group.

Sweet! We have our first entry. Thanks to bert2001 for kicking things off.

For anyone that might be new to posting images on the Core77 boards, here’s a quick refresher:

First post your image online to an image hosting account (i.e. Flickr).

Use the image’s web address from the above site (can be obtained by right clicking and on the image).

In your post, click on the Img button at the top of your entry window.

paste your image’s web address

click the Img* button to close out the tag.

If you simply can’t get it to work, send me a PM and we’ll get it to work.

ip,
Any thoughts on battery placement for your street light design? Possibly a series of cylindrical batteries hooked up in series, running through the main arm?

A series of cylindrical batteries within the housing is what I envisioned. But you could absolutely rig it so that the batteries could be housed in the armature.

Being that you would probably need something along the lines of 20 - 30 1 W LEDs to make this work, capacity is definitely an issue.

One of my thoughts was that the solar charged up the batteries during the day, but they would be trickle charged by the main power (cloudy day? etc.)

I haven’t sat down with our Elec guys to flush it out, but I envision this as something that reduces consumption, not eliminate consumption…with the hope that it could end up fully eliminating

Well a quick back of the envlope shows that with the surface area your showing and the amount of lumens you would need to project over a 10 hour evening your solar cells would need to be over 60% efficent, and we are just getting 22% so your panel would need to be about 48" by 42 " pretty design though.
http://www.affordable-solar.com/isofoton.150.watt.24.volt.solar.panel.htm

ip,

are we allowed to submit designs that were completed in under one hour, but were done before the contest was announced?

thanks

-Ben

Sure, as long as all work is done within one hour.

What about the idea of running the solar panels along the armature? I am assuming it is a matter of surface area as opposed to needing to be 48" x 42".

i.e. 10" x 201"?

I like the idea of having a spine of solar panels running down the back of the armature. If incorporated properly into the design, the lamp could not only definitely benefit aesthetically; but also in terms of public interaction/interest with the lamp. Solar panels still have an aura of fascination that surrounds them, people get excited with the thought of “free” energy; so for the public to see a spine of solar panels running down the back of the armature, would create a much more emotional response than, say being told that on top of the lamp shade there was a solar panel.

You would only get that fraction that was at sunup and sun down. Solar pannels like direct sun, the more angle the lower the output. Many solar cell systems are duplex in that they are twice the needed size to be angled to get direct sunlight for 1/3 of the dayfor one pannel the other pannel getting getting good light for the other 1/3 of the day. The early morning and late after noon light is already lower intensity due to its passage through the atmosphere so is considerd not to be useful. In this duplex system, one that is more realistic and reflects good pratice your requirement is for a pannel 98x48. Another consideration is that you must remove all dirt, dust, snow, and bird crap daily or your power output from the cells drops like a stone.

Something to consider, solar cells are pretty fragile, and if you damage one (easy to do) you get a open circut fault and a failure of the system (christmas tree lights of old) or a reduction in power output from loss of the cell. Come on now, dont you folks do any reseach on this stuff first or do they still teach the “unobtainium/pixie dust” school of design?

Orville and Wilbur were both told they couldn’t do what they wanted to do.

That said, no, I haven’t done any significant research. As a One Hour concept, I expect a LOT of holes…there are several that have already been brought up, and several that I have thought of that haven’t been mentioned.

I also believe that this is one of those things that a solution could be found, albeit it might not be ideal. But it would also have a full process to flush out.

Your concept is only workable when 2 events take place

  1. a improvement in solar cells approcing 100% and if that takes place heck even at 50% eff then the whole world changes.
  2. A valid solution is found for cleaning the pannels with out the use of plumbing (instaltion cost, enegery required to prevent freezing)

The wright brothers knew that flight was possiable yes, and through expeimentation they found that the basic formulas for lift to drag were wrong so set about ground up test the data and develop their own airfoils. They found that they could get the needed lift/drag to make powerd flight workable if controll could be delt with. Contol at that time was viewed in the “ship” model where the vessle is dynamicly stable only needing direction as to course. The brothers from their bicycle background used active stablity model where the driver must be in active control. This system allowed for a bit higher eff helping their over all weight to lift budget.

Commericaly available gas motors of the time were to heavy, the key is commericaly available as some racing motors would have done the job but they could not buy them but did use many of the design elements in there custom built unit. In no case did the wrights need a 50%improvement for the machine to work. These improvements did happen but this all took place at the dawn of material science, not as with the solar cells near the end.

Why do I prattle on, its not to put you down but to show that even a quick notion needs to have some knowlage of the techs involved and the question you should ask yourself is “why has this not been done before”. I am not putting your design down, just pointing out that it would need to be highly modified to function.

Actually I’ve never had any formal training in design, took a couple of art classes in highschool and in college (about to finish up my bachelor’s in Political Science), so I guess I’m just naturally full of pixie dust. Anyways, you make a good point, I saw the DAPP Works I.D. exhibit at UC a couple of weeks ago and was pretty disappointed by the lack of credible research in many of the projects. That being said, within the context of an hour design challenge, I think a dash of unobtanium is acceptable. I’ll try to conjure up a design of my own tonight, good stuff so far.

If there are any questions concerning, the technical function behind my actual post simply ask. A hobby of mine are smart materials, especially smart clothing, i think thats absolutely the market of the future. Did you know that phillips developed flexible displays? I think in the next ten years our clothing will be mich more smarter than now. This development is just a small part of the great puzzle.

On the cebit 2007 i saw about 37 wearable concepts for future. there were lots of interesting things: Gloves to make a phone call (no mobile needed) or eletromagnetic absorbing t-shirts. Just think about the possibilities of smart clothing for firefighters or medics.

Going to sleep now in germany its deep at night.have a nice day bye bye

If I’m in central time what time does the contest end?


I know stupid question…but I’m about to post up my one hour design :slight_smile:

1PM PST is 3PM Central.

As of this post there are 4 hours 19 mins left.

Well I posted up my very hurried design…what do guys think?..Is it clear enough…any questions??

what about the name?..The koh-MAHL

As a photographer, the Pocket Framer is my favorite.

I want one!

agreed…that pocket framer is brilliant.