Introduction: Robotic Solar Powered Sunflower
Our sunflower is a tiny robot flower which has no mobility. It can only and continuously turns its face towards the sun like the sunflowers do.
Step 1: Parts
The robot sunflower is made from plastic parts taken from old CD drivers and junk home equipment; a small dc motor and reduction gear from the CD-R sawed together with some plastic parts, a tiny solar panel, some other plastic parts taken from an old aquarium filter and a simple, 4 transistor circuit made by me.
Our flowers uses the energy that comes from the sun to find more sunlight. So it continuously turns its face (the solar panel) towards the sun. As the same way sunflowers do. You can put it at balcony or window ledge. I've glued a magnetiesed CD holder disk taken from the old CD-ROM driver to the base of the robot. So when it is put on to a mettallic surface, it holds the surface firmly by the use of magnetic force.
Step 2: Where Can You Use?
anywhere it sees light. it will turn towards the sun with no need of external power.
if you use it inside your car, then every turn will affect its direction though it will simply follow the sun turning around the car.
The best way of making the mechanical assembly is as follows. The motor is mounted upside-down, the axle is connected to a magnet which will be used as the base of the flower, enabling it to firmly stick to any magnetic metal surface. Though the circuitry and the power supply (the solar panel) will be mounted on top of the motor, there will be no cables which are connected to the outside world, disabling the 360° turn of the flower.
74 Comments
9 years ago
Can someone give me a list of the materials, I am doing this project for science fair
10 years ago on Introduction
This circuit is a very bad design. The transistors produce a short-circuit across the power rail.
12 years ago on Introduction
Your site is still down. Google said your site contains harmful and/or malware software.
12 years ago on Step 2
My computer says that to.
Reply 12 years ago on Step 2
checked it out and didnt see any problems.
13 years ago on Introduction
Is there away this can track the sun and charge a battery or power a device.
Reply 12 years ago on Introduction
sure
13 years ago on Step 1
Hi, This is brilliant! Thanks...
Am looking to build one myself but am having trouble with the motor from the cd drive, any chance would you have more details for me to work with? Or would there be a similar low voltage motor I could buy that could work on the cheap?
Reply 12 years ago on Introduction
any low current, miniature DC motor should work.
13 years ago on Introduction
I would like to use it in a project, with a bigger motor to drive a bigger solar panel.
Witch power transitors can i use ?
Gtrz Aenhya
Reply 12 years ago on Introduction
any complementary power transistors or darlingtons which are powerful enough to drive your DC motor can be used. Consult to the datasheets of the motor and choose transistors accordingly.
15 years ago on Introduction
I Made one of these, but all it does is spin continuously in one direction. HELP!!!!
Reply 13 years ago on Introduction
I know this is very late, I only recently joined this site.
This is one of the things I have been looking for.
Added this comment in case someone else has the same problem.
You probably have the wires from the motor connected the wrong way round.
Just swap them over.
13 years ago on Introduction
The transistors need to be able to supply the current the motor needs.
The spec for the BC550 Hobbyman used is here :
http://uk.farnell.com/jsp/displayProduct.jsp?sku=1017675&CMP=KNC-GUK-FUK-GEN-SKU-G30&s_kwcid=TC|13123|bc550||S|e|3858133029
and the BC557 is here :
http://uk.farnell.com/jsp/search/browse.jsp?N=0+5046813+373631+5046834+5046852+5046872+5046875+5114720+5145354+597283+5190716+5190683+567819+5116577+5116582+5116605+5116595+5116624+5116391+576562+8411+8795+6701+8841&Ntk=gensearch_001&Ntt=BC557&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&suggestions=false&ref=globalsearch&_requestid=424233&No=0&getResults=true&appliedparametrics=true&locale=en_UK&catalogId=&prevNValues=0&filtersHidden=false&appliedHidden=false&originalQueryURL=%2Fjsp%2Fsearch%2Fbrowse.jsp%3FN%3D0%26Ntk%3Dgensearch_001%26Ntt%3DBC557%26Ntx%3Dmode%2Bmatchallpartial%26suggestions%3Dfalse%26ref%3Dglobalsearch%26_requestid%3D424233%26No%3D0%26getResults%3Dtrue%26appliedparametrics%3Dtrue%26locale%3Den_UK%26catalogId%3D%26prevNValues%3D0
Sorry the links are so long.
You can choose almost any transistor which can handle the same or higher collector/emitter voltage ( Vce ) and the same or higher collector current ( Ic ).
13 years ago on Step 1
u can see thm in the circuit schematic. actually I dont remember now :)
14 years ago on Step 1
You know the symbol (image): What does this mean? Is it just connected to the LO current (0v)? Can you please explain this symbol, I see it everywhere but I don't know what it is? Thanks in advance, Dan
Reply 14 years ago on Introduction
Dan, This means "Ground" or "Earth". In a small robot like this that is not hooked up to a wall socket it means the negative side of the Battery. Although this is technically not the correct use of the symbol, thats what most people take it to be. Sometimes just to confuse things people will also use "0v". The correct usage of this symbol should only be used when tied to a chassis that is earthed either through a mains or directly into the ground.
Reply 13 years ago on Introduction
the whole idea of a "ground" is a reference voltage. So if you want a 5V difference across a given set of terminals, you can hook one end to +5V and the other to a real ground, 0V. You can also create a "virtual ground" by hooking the terminals to opposite ends of a 5V battery of some kind. The negative terminal may not necessarily be 0V, but it's 5V less than the positive terminal, and that's all that counts. I, below, is the first case, where A is at a definite +5V and B is a true ground. II shows the presence of the same 5V difference, but no "reference voltage", no connection to ground. Thus, nobody can say for sure what voltage A or B is at relative to ground. However, A is 5V above B, regardless. Many times, people will just set B to a "virtual ground" and treat it as if it is at 0V, just to make life easier, (and because it's correct in most applications) even though it's not technically (or always) correct. Just trying to be textbook in the definition and use of "ground".
Reply 14 years ago on Introduction
Thanks
14 years ago on Introduction
Hi, It is amazing and looks good in your provided movie, for small panels it is ok but can we make it for large panels i.e. 300W systems? I think we have to build system by large components but can you tell me what are the possibilities and have any idea regarding substitute materials?