Stirling Blue - Power Measurement - Blog 7 (updated)

11 Jun 2018

In this blog I am trying to figure out if the Stirling engine generates enough power to run the electronic data acquisition system based on a PSoC6.

First I am going to measure how much current and voltage the PSoC6 requires. Then I am going to measure how much current and voltage the Stirling engine generates.

Finally, I am going to measure the engine speed:

The motor-generator set puts out about a quarter Watt, which is easily enough to run a low power microcontroller, but for now I will keep it simple and power the electronics separately.

Update - Temperature Measurement:

I added a temperature measurement adventure with the Stirling engine...

Upcoming blogs:

how Stirling engines work
start connecting some sensors to the PSoC6
designing the sensor interface PCB
the micro:bit keyboard

Top Comments

snidhi over 6 years ago

The machine goes really fast ..
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dougw over 6 years ago in reply to BigG

Thanks for the info. I will look at low power modes after I get everything working.
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BigG over 6 years ago

Hi Doug,

Very nice demo on the power (open voltage & load).

Regarding PSoC 6. There is a switch (SW5), which gives you 3 power options. Top - 1.8V, Middle - 3.3V and Bottom is variable between 1.8 & 3.3V. So the MCU should be quite happy with the variable setting. The EPD shield requires a 3V input (vin & 5V are NC). So you would need some sort of power regulation for that. Also, the USB-C charge controller (CYPD3125-40LQXIT) min-max voltage range is 2.7V to 5.5V. So, you are just reaching min voltage under load.

G://
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jw0752 over 6 years ago in reply to dougw

The strobe effect can be very useful for seeing what is happening at high speeds. I didn't even think of the frame rate of the camera and I should have. Perhaps we need to strobe me and see what is wrong with my old gears.
John
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dougw over 6 years ago in reply to jw0752

The flood lights are fluorescent which may be a factor because the frame rate and the lights are at about the same 60 Hz frequency, but mcb1 is correct - for sure there is a wagon-wheel effect from the frame rate of the camera. At 2300 RPM it is rotating at 38 Hz and the holes in the flywheel are flying by at 230 Hz. It is really strange when the cranks appear to be going in one direction and the flywheel appears to be going in the opposite direction.
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