1.5V, 9.6A power source

[dsesmg]

Hi, I am trying to power below IR emitter.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/34955071@N02/3855946584/sizes/o/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/34955071@N02/3855946586/sizes/o/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/34955071@N02/3855946588/sizes/o/
It rated that the maximum current is 60mA and the operating voltage is max 1.5V.
I am planning to power 160pcs of this IR emitter.
The current will be 9.6A in this case.
A very high current at a very low voltage.
of course I will be needing a power supply which can power all the emitters.
But, it is quite difficult to get a power supply of such kind around me which is 1.5V.
It can be done with AA batteries but I need a stable power source.
I hope I could find some way which can be an alternative solution.

[Finnik]

You can make combinations of series and parallel arrangements to increase the voltage you need to supply and to decrease the amount of current used.

Say you've got a 12V power supply. Then to give each emitter 1.5V you'd have to place 8 in series, this serie will only draw 60 mA as the current in series stays equal. Then you could place 20 of these series of 8 in parallel, resulting in a total current use of 20 * 60 = 1200 mA = 1.2 A. Finding a power supply to suit these requirements will be a breeze.

Hope this helps

Just one question though; what do you need 160 IR emitters for?

[dsesmg]

Then, all I need to do is just hooking up those ir sensors like this http://www.flickr.com/photos/34955071@N02/3856119456/sizes/l/ and get a 12V, 1.2A power supply~!
That's very helpful. Thanks a lot.
oh.. I am trying to make a type of rail that goes underneath a photo transistor and trigger this photo transistor to turn on/off a motor.
I will have the motor on as long as the photo transistor is passing over the ir sensors. It's kind of long...

[Finnik]

Yep, that's the way to do it.

Something else, maybe you need something to limit the current to the emitters, the way you use a resistor before and LED.

[dsesmg]

yes, i was about to ask you this part.
Then, do I need to use 20ohm, 5W resistor for the IR sensors?
I have only 1/2W available around here locally.

Also, I am trying to power below photo transistors using 9VDC.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/34955071@N02/3848158536/sizes/o/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/34955071@N02/3847368037/sizes/o/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/34955071@N02/3847368107/sizes/o/
This photo transistor is the one I described at the previous post.
I was wondering whether I also need to limite the current for those photo transistors If I power this photo transistor at 9VDC.
If it is the case, how much ohm, wattage does it require?

[Soeren]

Hi,

oh.. I am trying to make a type of rail that goes underneath a photo transistor and trigger this photo transistor to turn on/off a motor.
I will have the motor on as long as the photo transistor is passing over the ir sensors. It's kind of long...

Easy now...
2 IR emitters (not sensors I assume) will be quite enough.
Just let the phototransistor trigger a flip-flop (can be done in more ways than one).

Such a simple circuit should be worth building, thereby saving you 158 IR LEDs

[dsesmg]

Hi, Soeren.
I am not quite familiar with the expression flip-flop
But, anyway, originally, yes, I was trying to use only 2 IR emitters(first emitter to trigger transistor, making the motor turned on, and second emitter to turn off the motor).
I was desperately trying to find the way to use only 2 IR emitters to do this But I couldn't find out how I could make the motor kept on without triggering the photo transistor.
I've learned to make a circuit for the photo transistor like this.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/34955071@N02/3843611141/sizes/l/
And a circuit for the emitter is like this.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/34955071@N02/3845028272/sizes/l/
Although the circuit shows the 1N4004 diode, I'v taken it out from that circuit as it doesn't need to be there.
How can I achieve the mechanism like this.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/34955071@N02/3807132855/sizes/l/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/34955071@N02/3807132921/sizes/o/
Please help me.

[SmAsH]

for the mech you need, have you considered using two different emitters running at different wavelengths?
so, when it reaches the end, the end transistor can make another transistor "break" the motor to stop the circuit?
does it need to return?

[dsesmg]

Hi, James,
No, it doesn't need to return. It is a one way path.
I am very sorry. Could you explain in a little bit more detail please?
I haven't think of using two different emitter running at different wavelenths.
This idea is giving me a very good brain storming.
160pcs is too much. I must reduce the number of those emitters as I have a very limited budget.

[SmAsH]

well, when the belt thing is at the start the "500nm" detector is aligned with the "500nm" emitter so the motor circuit starts, when it gets to the other end, the "900nm" emitter is aligned with the "900nm" detector so it cuts the circuit thus stopping the motor... you following me?

[Soeren]

Hi,

Different IR wavelengths will not be enough for a good differentiation! (And 500nm is close to the most visible wavelength under daylight conditions) - besides, there's absolutely no reason to go that way, as two of the same wavelength will be quite enough - don't "over-think" a solution, then these strange ideas start appearing, if one nail will do the job, don't use 3 screws.

I'll draw you a schematic later (when I get home from work - right now I'm just waiting for a patient that has been delayed).

• What is the distance between the TX'ing and RX'ing parts?
• Have you considered a reed switch and 2 magnets (+ an extra magnet to make the reed switch bistable)?
• What about plain old microswitches?
• A LASER pointer and 2 skewed mirrors?

There's so many ways to skin that cat, finding the best solution takes a bit of info on the project.

What are the approx. measures of the "sled" (the moving part)?
Does that part contain the motor and a power source?
How does it get to the first position?
Anything else that crosses your mind as useable info?

[dsesmg]

Hi, Soeren,

What is the distance between the TX'ing and RX'ing parts?

I am sorry. you mean the distance between the emitters of one station position?
It is 130mm. Please correct me if i am not understanding your point.

Have you considered a reed switch and 2 magnets (+ an extra magnet to make the reed switch bistable)?

No. I haven't tried this method yet.

What about plain old microswitches?

Yes, I already tried microswitches. Using the microswitch was the original plan.
Installing a microswitch to the spot where I am trying to put photo transistor right now was not a problem. But, installing the trigger plate was the problem as the thing which is equiped with the motor will be moving.
I was planning to adjust the length of this trigger plate so that it triggers the microswitch as long as the desired motor activation time.
This plate was secured onto a solenoid which strockes(10mm) this trigger plate up when the microswitch is aligned with the solenoid.
The problem was, the trigger plate must had a very even horizontal balance.
Otherwise, the microswitch won't be switched. And also, the solenoid makes a very loud sound(it makes me to suprise).
That's why I am trying to replace the microswitch with the photo transistor.

A LASER pointer and 2 skewed mirrors?

This one is new to me, I haven't tried this before.

The horizontal length of the thing(moving part) is same as the distance between the emitters of one station position. It is 130mm and this part contains the motor and the connection to the 9V power supply .
This part will be driven by a AC motor which will spin the chains.
This moving part will be attached to this chain.
So, I want to put some object onto this moving part and I want to trigger this DC motor driven moving part by using those photo transistors and emitters when desired.

[Soeren]

Hi,

The distance I asked for is the free distance between the emitters and the photo transistor.

I still wonder...
How will it get to the position where it is trigge'd ON?
Do you push or place it there, or how do you imagine starting a "tour" from start to stop?
(Actually, I'm trying to get you to consider it, since if you just place it when it has to run, it don't need an optical start function).

A flip-flop (A.K.A. a bistable multivibrator) is a small circuit that can toggle between two stages (output on or off) with a short pulse in. Depending on the type of flip-flop, the pulses can be on the same line (clocked flip-flop) or on separate lines for on and off respectively (set/reset flip-flop) and there's a few other topologies as well.

The "flip" part would start it and the "flop" part would stop it - or each could be used to reverse direction, making the "sled" go back and forth.

Is this for a school project, you need to go for a solution where you can (get to) understand the theories involved of course.

If you allready made some of the mechaniccal bits, a few photos might be helpfull.

[dsesmg]

Hi, Soeren.
Oh.. I am sorry for the lack of explanation.
This is my own project for building a conveyor that has a sorting mechanism
I would like to sort out persimmons which I grow in the backyard.
The region where I live is very famous for this fruit. The most famous producer region in the country and most of the residents here grow their own persimmons.
I wanted to build a conveyor to automatically sort out the persimmons according to their weights. This has been done by a manual scaling equipment and I always have been wanted to do this automatically. But, not only the fruit, I wanted to sort out everything by weight using such conveyor system.
Anyway, the overall design of the conveyor has been established. Please check this drawing.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/34955071@N02/3811170942/sizes/l/
This is the drawing when I was trying to use solenoids instead of photo detector and emitters.
This conveyor is driven by a AC motor as you see in the drawing and chain links are rapped aroundt the sprockets on each side.
The solenoid position is the place where the emitters will be installed. As you can see, there are 15 solenoid stations which means the fruits or weight objects could be sorted out in 15 weight division.
I will arrange the distance between the photo transistor and the emitter to be adjustable so that it could keep the ideal distance for the transistors to be triggered by the emitters.
It's not a school project but I am as ambitious as the young students.
I will take some photos of the prototype moving parts(which I call "carrier") for your reference.
Those carriers are attached to the chain and will transfer the weight objects.
I will get back to you.

[Soeren]

Hi,


Here's two examples of flip-flops. I think you'd be best off with using the two input variety (4013 can be used for that as well btw.)

Full size: http://That.Homepage.dk/Img/Flip-Flop.png

It sounds like an interesting project, but I'm having a bit difficulty envisioning exactly how you are planning it to work. Is the moving part what "ejects" the persimmons to different bins?
Do you weigh them one by one, or how do you intend to sort which is which?

If you've got the photos, please post them, I'm sure it will help understanding how you want to do it.

Btw. what kind of fruits are persimmons and how large are they?

[dsesmg]

Hi. Thank you very much.
This is a very useful information.
I've built 60% of the conveyor. The remaining 40% would be mainly for working on the carriers.
Please check this video.
It shows how the carrier is moving in the conveyor.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/34955071@N02/3624796772/

The carrier is weighed by a weight sensor and then goes to the main frame of the conveyor where the sorting mechanism should take place.
You can see the array of the solenoids in that video. As I already explained, using the solenoids were not that good for this conveyor.
At the end of the video, you will hear the sound of one solenoid, it is loud when i hear.
And, please check this photo. This shows the overall look of the conveyor.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/34955071@N02/3736310225/#
I had a lot of difficulty to buid this thing all by myself. :'(
It took almost a year to build this thing so far because, I could spare my time only during the weekend.
Anyway, I am still struggling with the trigger mechanism.
The persimmon looks like this.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/34955071@N02/3873279292/#sizes/o/
This is called. Sweet persimmons and they are very famous here.  The size of those fruit is a little bit smaller then apples. Just a bit.
You will love it. If you like, I could send some for you. Seriously.
My plan for the trigger mechanizm was to emit the infrared using multiple IR emitters to the photo transistor(attached in the carrier) so that the motor installed in the carrier could be activated and I control the motor activation time by arranging the number of the emitters as the photo transistor will pass over those emitters.
The motor activation will result in spinning the belt installed in the carrier which will finally transfer the persimmon to a corresponding bin or basket.