In this article, I would like to present Apollo, a prototype solar powered computer based on Raspberry Pi and parts found from online stores and e-bay! For those who do not know what a Raspberry Pi is: it is a full functional credit sized computer board with an ARM CPU, HDMI, USB ports and Ethernet. For more details please view:
Motivation
Making computers or other kinds of devices energy independent may be really useful on some open field applications like for farmers: to monitor humidity, temperature and to provide video stream from remote areas. As a weather station analysing the weather, in urban areas as a routing point and in many more cases.
This project’s goal was from the one hand to create a solar-powered and low-consumption computer which can sustain itself without the need to be charged from the power network and from the other, to operate outdoors, use either wifi or 3g for remote communication and solve demanding tasks.
Architecture
The parts which were used for this project were:
- a raspberry pi A, as it maintains a good balance of CPU performance and energy consumption
- a Li-ion battery of 30.000 mAh with a built-in solar panel
- a 7″ display with HDMI input
- a WiFi USB adapter
- an SD card of 8gb for the OS which is Linux Raspbian
- a small USB keyboard
- the external skeleton which was made up from Lego Technic parts.
- a USB to dc cable to conect the battery and the monitor
- a USB to micro usb cable to connect the battery and the pi
How it works
The battery has two USB outputs one for 2A and 1A where the monitor and the pi are connected accordingly. In order for the computer to be powered on/off there is a button on the side of the battery. After power, the pi loads the OS from the sd card and the wifi adaptor connects to a local predefined wifi. The device is designed in a compact way in order to capture less space and save energy from the monitor when left alone to collect data or do a process, however, if a user decides to use the computer he may take out the keyboard from the back of the device, open the monitor and type in a command shell. If it is operating in a sunny place its battery life is postponed whereas, if it runs out of energy it simply needs to be left in the sun to charge. The external skeleton keeps smart locks that let the parts be easily inserted, removed, replaced so that new sensors may be inserted regarding the task or broken parts to be easily replaced. Finally, the skeleton with small modifications, allows the computer to be easily pinned on the ground.
Making the skeleton
When prototyping computers or robotics I discovered that Lego Technic parts are a very good solution as they can be reordered while a project evolves. There are pages like brickowl where you may specifically choose the parts that your project may require (bars and joints make a good start) in order to start forming your project’s shape.
Energy consumption
In general, making technology devices work independendly by using renewable energy sources is a way to reduce the need for electricity demand which results in less co2 emissions and in a cleaner environment! Furthermore, when a person decides to invest into being energy independent he is liberated from a legal cotract towards a power company. Finally, my hope is that in the future, more technological solutions should invest into similar technologies in order to not only help the environment but to also keep our lives with open and free technology!
kostiskag 