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 Electrical Generators for Electric Eel Instruments

 

 

Slider - the quickest way to get going building an Electric Eel

 

 

Electrical Generators on Wikipedia

Electrical Generators on Wikipedia

 

 

Suggested Parts for Making a Slider from Scratch

Part	Description	Part Number	Price	Catalog Page at http://SDP-SI.com
Timing Belt 1MM	705 Groove, 6mm width, polyurethan + fiberglass, pitch length=705mm	A 6G18M705060	$6.23	http://sdp-si.com/ss/pdf/80502020.pdf
Timing Pulley 1MM	60 Grooves, aluminum alloy, 6mm width, 5mm bore size, 2 flanges and hub, 19.1 mm pitch diameter, 13mm hub diameter, set screw: M2.5	A 6A18M060DF6005	$12.41	http://sdp-si.com/ss/pdf/80502025.pdf

 

Dual Nema 17 with Belt

Dual Nema 17 with Belt

 

 

Stepper Motors Used in Making Electric Eels

 

• Stepper motor drawing http://reprap.org/wiki/NEMA_17_Stepper_motor
• Thread diameters
• NEMA Motor Dimensions
• Lin Engineering Motor Specifications
• Lin Engineering Forum
• LM4218 Specs (hard to find)

 

Places to buy Surplus Stepper Motors

• http://www.electronicsurplus.com/motors/stepper
• http://www.candhsurplus.com/product/steppermotors/page1.htm
• http://www.surplustraders.net/motors/stepper-motors
• http://www.youngssurplus.com/electrical_servo_stepper.htm
• http://www.probotix.com/stepper_motors
• http://www.alltronics.com/cgi-bin/category/154

 

 

 

 

 

Belt-Driven, e.g. "Slider" generators

 

General belt info:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belt_%28mechanical%29

 

Good formula for calculating belt size:

http://www.electricneutron.com/electric-motor/belt-drive

 

Polyurethane vs. neoprene belts:

http://www.gatesmectrol.com/mectrol/brochure.cfm?brochure=5210&location_id=5341#faq7

http://www.ehow.com/facts_6020141_urethane-vs_-polyurethane.html

 

 

Places to buy belts:

 

https://sdp-si.com/eStore/Direct.asp?GroupID=213

http://www.apexindustrialautomation.com/products/belts/

http://www.beltcorp.com/products.html

http://www.fnsheppard.com/tb_ure_neo.htm

http://us.misumi-ec.com/vona2/detail/110300413030/

 

 

Belt Information

 

https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20060713165744AAGjXy5

http://www.bbman.com/catalog/belt-length-calculator.html

http://us.misumi-ec.com/pdf/fa/2010/p1177.pdf

http://us.misumi-ec.com/vona2/detail/110300413030/

http://www.beltcorp.com/timing.html

 

 

Stick-Bowed Generator by Noah Vawter and Jeffrey Warren

 

Pros:

• This generator has the highest power output!  Not only is the stick-rubber tire interface very efficient, but there are two motors for double the power. 

 

Cons:

• The Lego wheels are hard to come by and expensive.
• Two motors makes it heavier.  You might want to use two smaller, lighter motors if you go this route.

 

 

       

 

 

Motor and Lazy Susan for Cello-Style "Bowed-Stick" Generator

 

• Lazy Susan  http://www.vxb.com/page/bearings/PROD/Kit12880 
• Stepper motor drawing http://reprap.org/wiki/NEMA_17_Stepper_motor
• Thread diameters
• NEMA Motor Dimensions

 

 

 

 

 String-Bowed Generator, inspired by Jeffrey Warren

 

 

            

 

 

For Exertion Instruments, the best motors to use as generators are stepper motors, or synchronous motors.  DC motors need to turn too fast.   The company with one of the best reputations for making stepper motors is Lin Engineering.  Unfortunately, they tend to be expensive, but fortunately, you can get them surplus.  My favorite source so far for surplus steppers is Alltronics.  So far, I have been concentrating on steppers using the NEMA 17 frame.  Alltronics sells them for about $6-9$.  This is a terrific value.    In all cases, the best generator motors are the ones with the smallest internal impedance.  Especially, if it is below 2 Ohms.  Also, low inductance is useful.  It is believed that motors with higher torque are also capabile of putting out more power as generators.

 

CAD Models of Stepper Motors and other parts:

 

• nema17.stl
• nema17.igs
• a_6z_9-016225h.dxf  - timing pulley, 1.1" diameter
• timingPulley2d.dxf 

 

 

 

Generator Test Reports

 

1. Generator Test Report

2. Generator Test Report 02 - Cogging Friction

3. Generator Test Report 03

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unproven Generator Concepts

 

 

"Bobble" Pendulum Generator

This is a weird, experimental generator that hasn't been proven to work....yet!

 

           

 

 

 

Joystick-Style Generator

 

This is a 2-Dimensional Generator Design which is based on an analog joystick, such as this one below.  Where the joystick uses two potentiometers, mounted along the X and Y axes to sense position, the Joystick Generator will utilize a generator motor on each axis to produce electrical power for synthesizing music.  Attempts have been made to build this generator, but it requires lots of mechanical design acumen.  Any volunteers?

 

                            

 

 

 

Two Dimensional Gantry Style Electrical Generator

 

The device below is an X-Y table for drawing with magnetic filings.  It, like many other gantry robots, utilizes stepper motors for its positioning. Therefore, it can be backdriven to generate electricity for musical instruments.  This structure is especially interesting because it allows players to make electricity-generating gestures in multiple dimensions.  When cleverly coupled to the synthesizer, this should inspire new types of gestures and timbres.

 

         

 

 

Delta Robot Generator

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

possible sources on inverse equations:

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6V46-4M33VTM-1&_user=10&_coverDate=07%2F31%2F2007&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=1226696888&_rerunOrigin=google&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=1f5191bc81df3c97e7c6d83f07046c1f

 

http://d.wanfangdata.com.cn/Periodical_tianjdxxb-e200504007.aspx

 

http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/Xplore/login.jsp?url=http%3A%2F%2Fieeexplore.ieee.org%2Fiel3%2F3951%2F11429%2F00525338.pdf%3Farnumber%3D525338&authDecision=-203

 

More beautiful videos of delta robots:

http://www.iheartrobotics.com/2010/01/delta-robots.html

 

 

Generators on Google Docs

 

 

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