GMU:Devices of Perception/Francis and Paul: Difference between revisions

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===ASSIGNMENTS===




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MONOSTABLE 555 - MOMENTARY SWITCH<br>
MONOSTABLE 555 - MOMENTARY SWITCH<br>
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The "Loudness Kill Switch" reacts to the loudness of music emmited from a speaker.  
The first assignment was to build a "super conceptual switch" of any sort.
The mechanical construction consists of an aluminium ball applied to a loudspeaker,
 
moving towards a copper rod when music is played. The circuit will be closed if the  
The "Loudness Kill Switch" reacts to the loudness of music emitted from a speaker.  
aluminium ball gets in contact with the copper rod.
If the music reaches a certain volume it will switch its self off for a set period of time.
That happening a LED will light up and the loudspeaker (connected to an amplifier
 
again connected to a solid state relay)  will turn off for ca. 30 seconds.
The mechanical construction consists of an aluminum foil wrapped ball hanging freely on a cable in front of a loudspeaker. Positioned in front of the speaker there is a copper rod.
This time passed the loudspeaker will turn on as the LED will turn off again.  
The bass reflex of the music lets the ball swing towards the copper rod and therefore eventually closes the circuit.
The circuit consists of a "555 Timer" in Monostable Mode with it's high and low being inverted.
With the ball and rod acting as a momentary switch triggering the 555 timer.
The 555 timer controls a solid state relay, which powers the amplifier serving as a music output to the speaker.
The sensitivity of this conceptual switch can be adjusted by simply moving the copper rod closer or further from the speaker. The time the music shall stay mute can be adjusted through the resistor used on the 555 timer (we usually had it set to 30 sec.).
 
This contraption can be on one hand viewed as a practical device, which in some form could come in handy for living with noisy flatmates...
for us the circuit its self is the interesting part. Converting electric power to mechanical,
and in the end the system feedbacking on itself, or rather limiting itself as soon as life starts being fun