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| Let's drop in
on Wily and look over his shoulder at his latest project.... |
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Medical Fluid Detector |
| Wily was at his
desk when he got a call from a California medical company. They needed a
simple fluid detector but could not figure out how to design it themselves.
Would Wily have time to help them?
The company made several kinds of fluid
delivery systems. Most were used to infuse chemotherapy drugs to a
patient. Instead of the usual IV drip method, where the fluid is held in
bags, their system drew fluid from half liter to full liter plastic
containers.
As illustrated below, they used a metal
syringe type needle, to draw the fluid from the container, through the open
container lip.... |
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con't page 7 |
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Wily Widget,
the Lone Inventor
with Gadget & Gizmo |
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WHAT THE WORLD NEEDS NOW is a....External USB linked HD UPS |
| Many people like to connect
an external hard drive to their laptop computer. These devices are
handy to backup the laptop’s own hard drive. Since 2TB drives are now
common, a lot of information can be stored. Usually, the hard drive is
connected to the portable computer through a USB port and comes with its own
12v DC wall adapter power supply. The peak power drawn from the supply
can sometimes push 25 watts, so it is much more power than the laptop could
ever supply through a USB port. So, if AC power is lost, information flowing
to and from the external hard drive will not be possible..... |
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con't on page 6 |
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Dave's Pet
Peeves
By: Dave Johnson
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| After some 40+
years in the electronics industry I have seen a lot of things. But, there
are a few things that bug me when it comes to some circuits. Below are some
of my peeves. I would love to hear about what things make your list. |
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story con't on page 8 |
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New Products 2009
New product announcements are made nearly every
day. I subscribe to many trade journals and each is filled with
hundreds of flashy advertisements. But, only a few of those product
ads catch my eye. Since I’m a circuit designer, I especially like
those components that trigger many new application ideas in my mind.
Sometimes it is the smallest products that are the most useful. I
often discovered new products in surplus electronic catalogs. The
surplus companies often buy up stock that came from companies that went out
of business. Bad marketing or bad management may have killed a
perfectly good product idea. Their loss can be your gain if you can
spot the bargain.
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Earth Signals
By: David Johnson
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| I have often
wondered if any interesting electrical signals could be observed with copper
probes driven into the ground. As illustrated below. Three copper rods would
be driven into the ground. The separation might be about 10 feet between
rods. The center rod is used as the reference for the other two.... |
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story con't on page 4 |
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Cracked Solder Joints
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| While out shopping the other
day, I noticed a fairly new LED type traffic light, where several of the green
LEDS were not working. I think I know the reason for this. Over the last
several years, traffic lights have been shifting from classic incandescent
lamps to LEDs. The objective was to make the light assembly weigh less.... |
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story
con't on page
3 |
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Bad Rubber Mulch |
| A few years ago, my wife decided
to try a new mulch product she saw at Home Depot. This stuff is made from
recycled car tires. I have seen granules of old rubber tires being used for
playgrounds and running tracks but this was the first time I saw it for use in
gardens. The product was made of pure rubber.... |
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story con't on page 5
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Lifted Weight
Energy Storage
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| Some
time ago I was reading about all the various ways that off-grid
power system owners have tried to store their excess energy. In
a typical off-grid system, a mixture of energy producing devices
might all be used at the same time. These may include
photovoltaic solar panels and water heating panels mounted on a
roof and a few wind generators here and there.... |
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story con't on page 2 |
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