Collaborator: Jingyao Shao
draft of a circular sculpture
draft of a horizontal sculpture
hand wrapped coils, tried with and without iron nail
The first idea attempted to make a moving sculpture that drives copper coils across magnets to generate electricity for LEDs attached to the sculpture.
However, we wrapped coils with a small led and tried to move as soon as possible with hands through magnets, it didn’t light up, and the voltage measurement was too small to consider. Some Youtube videos also misled us that they did not follow Faraday's law of electromagnetic induction but for entertainment.
Screenshot from Youtube
Screenshot from Youtube
A motor with 5 rpm and large torque
The movement by hand is not fast enough to generate enough electricity, so we need large leverage and a better agency - a slow rpm and high torque motor. So we want to build a swing that utilizes human weight to drive an industrial motor.
During our test and design, we didn’t figure out a good mechanical structure to drive the motor.
Dutch windmills and paper windmills inspire this idea. We brought a small motor used for RC aircraft with high RPM and easy to rotate with human running speed. However, after Jeff’s guide and the calculation from the wind energy is too low to power a LED.
The rotating lantern is one kind of traditional Chinese lantern for festivals. It uses the heat convention from the candle inside at the bottom to drive the wheel's rotation and axle on the top.
We want to use a stepper motor instead of a candle to power the light. When people turn the handle, the light will turn on, and the paper animation will rotate.
