Description
For this homework assignment I tried a bunch of ideas before settling on a purely mechanical project, the centrifugal governor. First I wanted to make a ping pong ball float in a tube and column of air but couldn't find the parts necessary. Then I wanted to do a POV (Persistence of Vision) display but didn't have time to do the complex electrical routing.
Ok so I ended up building a very traditional mechanical device called a centrifugal governor. It's an analogy mechanical control system where the faster the motor spins, the farther two weights expand due to centrifugal force. Normally a cable is attached to a throttle on an engine and it can be adjusted so that the motor maintains a constand speed. In this example I simple demonstrate the concept with several popsicle sticks, some screws as shafts and a rubber band. The two most annoying parts of assembly were making the sliding linkage to keep the mechanism aligned and then attaching the governor to the motor (hot glue helped).
In the video attached you can see it spinning but not necessarily expanding. There is enough resistance in my design that it only opens and closes a little bit as the motor spins faster or slower. Nonetheless, it's a working governor! I didn't modify the given code from the lab.
Oh and then near the end of testing the copper lead on the motor broke off so the motor needs replacing.
Materials
- Arduino & Computer
- DC Motor
- Potentiometer
- 5-6 Wooden or Plastic popsicle sticks
- 5-6 nuts and bolts
- Screwdriver to make holes at the joints
- small weights for the ends
- rubberband
- hot glue
Code
no changes from the lab assignment
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