I have put my registration in for PiWars 2024 – Disaster Zone. PiWars is “The Raspberry Pi Robotics Competition”. PiWars is a Non-Destructive robotics competition run by members of the Cambridge Raspberry Jam. It will be held on Saturday 20th and Sunday 21st April 2024, in Cambridge UK. Full details […]
Philip McGaw
In my previous two posts, Pressure Vessel and the Viewport, I talked about using the software “Under Pressure” by Deepsea to work out the performance of the Pressure Vessel tube, and the Viewport for my ROV. it’s now time to work out the performance of the end cap which holds […]
Further to my last post, where I was using “Under Pressure” by Deepsea to work out the performance of materials for the main pressure vessel of my ROV. I am going to look at the performance of the Viewport Dome. Since the viewport needs to be optically clear this discounts […]
Since the electronics on my Remote Control ROV will be underwater, they need to be isolated from the water, and the subsequent water pressure, for this I am going to use a pressure vessel. There is a commercial product the “SEAWOLF Ocean Master” that looks like it has a transparent […]
I can’t quite remember how long I have been interested in seeing what is under the water, I have been writing my thoughts about building an ROV on my old site for a while. I picked up a copy of the book, “The ROV Manual – A user guide for […]
My preferred ECAD software is KiCad. It is now at version seven, and over recent years has been developed to be more and more powerful. I used to use CadSoft Eagle CAD until it was taken over by Autodesk and became part of Fusion 360. I use KiCad for both […]
Contactors are more than just a large relay, their internal construction is designed to be capable of carrying far higher currents and “making and breaking” on large loads. Rather than moving the common contact back and forth on a pivoting armature, contactors move a large bar towards or away from […]
Similar to the KL15, KL30 etc. wiring codes in Automotive Wiring, Automotive relays have their own nomenclature. Automotive OEMs (manufacturers) such as Citroen, Jaguar Land Rover, Ford and others (I don’t know if Tesla does as well, but I suspect not) use automotive relays. The labelling of which utilises the […]
Relays are a kind of electrically operated switch that opens and closes the circuits by receiving electrical signals from outside sources. In this post, we are going to look at mechanical relays. Relays receive an electrical signal and send the signal to other equipment by turning the switch on and […]
The IPC 2221 voltage and spacing standards have two general voltage levels for creepage and clearance, which it defines as “Low Voltage” and “High Voltage”, Some of the “High Voltage” would be considered SELV (Safety Extra Low Voltage), the IPC 2221 Low Voltage is <15 V DC or AC RMS, […]
Using IPC 2221 to work out creepage and clearance track widths for use in KiCad for both Low and High Voltages.
I have recently had reason to try out Rapid Harness to draw harnesses for assemblies, I found Rapid Harness to be a bit clunky; A fair while ago I came across WireViz via Hackaday and decided to give that a go for CADing up the loom drawings. WireViz is Free […]