Looking for materials for a home project

folan

Hi.

I'm looking for some materials for a wee project I'm starting (not a school or college project, but actually kinda a bet!) and I'm not sure what some of the items would be called, or if they even exist or I just had a dream about them.

Mainly, I'm looking for a preasure pad that I can use to convert kenetic energy to electrical energy, something I could stitch into a glove and use to light an LED by clapping. I've tried to google, but I've gotten nothing that really resemlbes what I'm thinking of. Does this exist will I have to design one myself (not the worst idea but why reinvent the wheel)?

Also, can someone suggest a low cost, low power LED with a high intensity? I've used a couple in the past and they have turned out to be pretty poor.

I'll work on that for the time being, let me know if anyone has seen anything like it to save me some time.

BTW, I am a qualified engineer, but I'm not great in electronics, so this is my way of trying to add to my knowledge in a fun kinda way.

DublinDilbert

folan wrote: »

Hi.

I'm looking for some materials for a wee project I'm starting (not a school or college project, but actually kinda a bet!) and I'm not sure what some of the items would be called, or if they even exist or I just had a dream about them.

Mainly, I'm looking for a preasure pad that I can use to convert kenetic energy to electrical energy, something I could stitch into a glove and use to light an LED by clapping. I've tried to google, but I've gotten nothing that really resemlbes what I'm thinking of. Does this exist will I have to design one myself (not the worst idea but why reinvent the wheel)?

Also, can someone suggest a low cost, low power LED with a high intensity? I've used a couple in the past and they have turned out to be pretty poor.

I'll work on that for the time being, let me know if anyone has seen anything like it to save me some time.

BTW, I am a qualified engineer, but I'm not great in electronics, so this is my way of trying to add to my knowledge in a fun kinda way.

You need some piezo electric material, which will generate electrical energy from kinetic energy. The only problem is the impulses will be very very small, you'll probably need an amplifier to amplify them. It would not really be possible to power anything off this type of material.

There's alot of LEDs out there, and they are getting better and better all the time... how much light were you looking for? what form factor?

folan

Cool, i'll look into the piezo material, cheers for the suggestion. amplification may present a problem, but hey itll be interesting.

Actually, a guy i work with had some left over from a bit of work he had done last year, I'm fairly confident theyll be ok for starting.

Cheers for the response.

mawk

as opposed to using a pressure system to power it why not put a copper coil in one glove and some neodynum magnets in the other and let the copper cut the emf of the magnets when you clap? more like a traditional generator

probably a terribly flawed plan but then im not an electrical engineer.

folan

actually, the copper coil was an idea but i got rid of it because of the size and additional circuitry necessary, became too complex and unfeasable after a bit of study.

Cheers for the idea, and it might work in something else that im working on, cheers for reminding me of it!

sharkDawg

Piezoelectric material is definitely the way to go, heres a video, it probalbly won't help you but its pretty cool.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOhMsmUXQI8