A big thank you to all that helped my project. - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / beginners

author: gildasd
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 08, 2017, 01:18:12 am
content: I was going to give thanks in all the threads, but that would have polluted the forum somewhat.And getting a job (I now work on a dredger) and having my second child (Mattéo, born this 28th Feb) got in the way.Last year, a bunch of you helped me debug an analogue sensor amplificator, the supply circuit and the transfer of the data to an Arduino datalogger.Despite a few setbacks (live and learn), the project was worked in that it won the"Best Mémoire 2016"prize, aka "best project and write up".And as a collateral, my hi-marks in electricity, electronics and high tension also gave me the "best alumni 2016" prize!This could NOT have been done without the help of this forum,"virtual group hug".I had never won anything scholar before, so I'm still pinching myself!All this using a UT61B multimeter, a 15MHz oscilloscope that was at one time in a trash container and a shoe string budget!I could not reveal all the details as there had been some shenanigans of projects ideas getting stolen between academies/students previous years.So basically, I was trying to see if the aero deflectors on trucks could have a use on ships.This is complicated because wind is 360° on a ship, 30° on a truck, 1/4 wind speed, much larger air volumes etc...I did not want to do a pure maths exercise because of the low and turbulent air speeds I was working at - and building stuff is fun!(in a nutshell, this project landed smack in were "normal" non compressible fluid dynamics start to break down and the other methods were giving inconclusive results depending on assumptions.)So I made two large yet very light cubes mounted on 4 sensors, and a set of deflectors that I alternated between the cubes over a period of time datalogging pressures, wind speed and temps.End result, there is an effect, but I have no idea if it is significant enough to be commercially interesting.So, a big shout out to (in no particular order):rs20, igendel, michaeliv, sleemanj, retrolefty, SL4P, Ian.M, westfw, Rick Law, danadak, blueskull, wraper, macboy, Cerebus, munkeyman1985, T3sl4co1l, Kalvin, MarkS, EdoNork, Codemonkey, HackedFridgeMagnet, ve7xen, suicidaleggroll, langwadt, Godzil, tautech, Seekonk, alsetalokin4017, MK14, Mephitus, Simon, diyaudio, Andy Watson, daddylonglegs, rdl, Aodhan145, Hero999, Dave, Andreas, poorchava, Marco, Aodhan145, mk_, exe, retrolefty, Paul Moir, Dago, SeanB... And probably others I have missed!

author: tggzzz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 08, 2017, 09:51:11 am
content: Quote from: gildasd on March 08, 2017, 01:18:12 amAnd that is an excellent example of using skill, understanding and imagination. (See my .sig for an OT version of that!)Congratulations.

author: Dubbie
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: March 08, 2017, 09:58:20 am
content: Congratulations! Nice to hear a success story like this. I hope this is only the beginning of a long career of creating cool and useful stuff.

author: gildasd
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 08, 2017, 10:52:29 am
content: Quote from: Dubbie on March 08, 2017, 09:58:20 amDespite this only being at the Bachelor level, I'll be doing a follow up project with the uni to try to quantify the possible gain.This will done in a wind tunnel and CFD, so I won't be doing much electronics...For the CFD, I'm going to have to make a presentation and go beg PC parts from manufacturers, as my AMD 64x2 simply can't do this in a reasonable time frame.I am thinking of doing a 100% open source project for biological sensors... Not to change the World, but to give PhD students or researchers a very cheap way to deploy data logging over a significant sample size.It will be done here, of course!

author: gildasd
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 08, 2017, 11:09:27 am
content: Quote from: tggzzz on March 08, 2017, 09:51:11 amNow I have to find a way to configure a "mini lab" that I can take with me when at sea.Probably all USB based stuff...

author: CJay
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 08, 2017, 11:24:46 am
content: I'm pretty positive I didn't contribute to the original thread but I do want to congratulate you anyway for a great success story and hopefully the start of a long and fulfilling career

author: gildasd
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 08, 2017, 11:36:07 am
content: I broke down the problems into separate threads as someone who is good at analogue signal processing might not be interested in a conversation about Arduino programming...

author: tggzzz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 08, 2017, 06:45:51 pm
content: Quote from: gildasd on March 08, 2017, 11:09:27 amStart with the Digilent Analog Discovery, especially if you can get the student discount.

author: gildasd
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 08, 2017, 07:53:13 pm
content: Quote from: tggzzz on March 08, 2017, 06:45:51 pmI'd love it, but At 263 euros, it costs 13 euros more than my total budget!I just need two channels and 15Mhz. I'll probably build a kit signal generator etc...