Re-Inventing The Wheel-Part1-Clemente_Figuera-THE INFINITE ENERGY MACHINE

[JohnMiller]

@Randy: Please regard that standard CMOS can drive 3mA only. That might not be enough for 8A. Transistors tend to reduce their amplification factor considerably if collector current increases. You shall calculate not more than factor 250. That is 4mA for 8A.
If you use darlington drive they eat up about 1.2V of the 5 V driving voltage. So you shall calculate 3.8V only for the base resistors.

Conversely Arduino can drive up to 20mA per port.

1. You replace the CMOS electronic with Arduino.

2.  Use the circuit below at Arduino twice. It is just principle. You might decide for darlingtons or FETs. Program: Write a table with values for PWM corresponding to sine values e.g. for every 10 degree. Change values on a regular timer base.

[RandyFL]

Interesting...

The PN2222A will handle 1 amp?
And lets calculate the BDX53C at 2 amps.......
Give me the calculations and when I come back this evening I'll set up to test.

All the Best


PS did you email Patrick and tell Him His circuit won't work....
I am very interested to see what his response is going to be...

btw the schematic could also have a relay in it to open a path to let Larger current usage ...

[JohnMiller]

Well, Patricks circuit is OK. But it cannot scaled deliberately. This circuit envisions very clearly on how to control the device with non mechanic means. With the upcoming Arduino technology being available for everybody things change and can be done more easily. Patrick's book can't care for all refinements possible and necessarily leaves the responsibility in the hands of replicators..

Some primer for transistors:

First of all please understand that absolute maximum ratings are not recommended operation conditions. Manufacturers state that components will not degrade or be destroyed if suffering these conditions for short time (sometimes only once!). And please regard that only one parameter is accepted to be in absolute maximum stat at same time. e.g. 1A and 150 °C is a no go .....

Additionally: There are plenty of other parameters manufacturers do not mention in their data sheets. I high school electronics some guys might compose some strange circuits that seemingly violate all data. But that is high school. All others shall obey data sheets.

Current amplification of a transistor is severely dependent on collector current and it depends on temperature as well.. E.g.: 2N2222:
IC [mA] -> hFE
10 -> 180
40 -> 200
100 -> 170
200 -> 150
300 -> 125
1000 -> 20

Collector losses increase with collector current in a non linear way. E.g. 2N2222: Up to 200mA we will measure below 0.2V. It increases to 0.4V at 400mA and 2V1 at 1A. Weak base current causes the voltage between collector and emitter to increase considerably even at low collector currents.

Darlington Circuit: When composing darlington circuits the parameters from both transistors interact and need to be treated as set. So every operation outside the tested one needs to be checked. Please understand that teh twin 2N2222 and 2N3055 were very early components and were readily used as very convenient combination.  With the advent of commercially available power darlingtons things went better.
BDX53C will survive below 100V emitter voltage and will support a current amplification of max. 6000 at 2A. But it will decrease down to 1000 at 8A. Other manufacturers might offer even less amplification.


Reliability of data: Manufacturers state that their data is the minimum they guarantee for series. So most components are better - much better. But if you have one setup a build a different one it might fail if you have other electronic individuals. Therefore it is not recommended to rely on uncomputed experimentals of one single setup.


Your setup:
If you decide to go with Arduino you might replace CMOS logic with Arduino and use BDX54C. Then you can calculate a conservative design.
Calculate with amplification of about 800 @ 8A in order to be safe in case of absolut maximum collector current.
You need  then 10mA of base current. At darlingtons and 5V logic you have a net diriving voltage of 3.8V available.
Base resistor: 3.8/10mA = 0.38 KOhm so use 390 Ohm
Still staying conservative please do not load  the transistor with more than 5A or 6A. This conservative approach is like driving your car at adequate speed and not at maximum ratings.
If you are more keen then you can calculate at 2A collector current with factor of 6000. That gives 0.33 mA of base current -> corresponds to about 10K.
IF you want to use those 3 mA from CMOS logic then you use a base resistor of 1.3K (OK: 1.5K -> 2.53 mA -> will give about 3A (non conservative))

Hint: I inventively gave not on answer in order to get you ponder and understand your design. And please come back and ask if you need more to know.


State of the art circuit s along Arduino can be seen here: https://arduinodiy.wordpress.com/2012/05/02/using-mosfets-with-ttl-levels/
And please do not expect his knowledge from Patrick's book. It is out of scope. That's why we discuss in this forum.


Sorry - no simple answers available but plenty to learn for life time.
John

[RandyFL]

After thinking about what you stated...
I think I would like to try the Arduino on this project...
How do I get started... send me anything you like...PM or other wise.

But to my question before... why couldn't the pn2222a or any transistor not trigger a relay ( to let any configuration of voltage and amperage )... wouldn't take work?

All the best and I thank you for your future help
Randy

[JohnMiller]

Randy:
Honestly I do not understand what the relay should do and how it should be connected. If you expect the relay to switch the primary coils - NO! It is too slow and would wear out vey fast. And of course it produces a lot of noise as well (acoustically and radio).

What help do you need for Arduino? Are you a complete newby? Have you ever programmed a microprocessor.
If you are newby please search internet for a primer . This forum is not dedicated to extend to details of Arduino. But its use at Figuera we can discuss.
I myself am a very louse programmer and currently have no time to dive into. Maybe others can support you in order to get a short and fast program along variable frequency being controlled via pot.

Solution 1:
Use restors and transistors but connect Arduino I/Os instead CMOS control logic.
Connect a Pot to Arduino analog port.
The program shall read the analog value of the pot and convert that value (0 ...255) to a timer value defining the time delay between stepping of transitors.

Solution 2: Will perform similarly but do the performance of resitors by pulse width modulation (PWM). Please vote the schematic below as example only. Components need to be selected as to have the correct rating.

Are there others in the formum who want to perform Arduino? Then we should start a common discussion.