Polar Coordinate Colour Mechanical Television

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Polar Coordinate Colour Mechanical Television

Postby gary » Wed Sep 12, 2012 11:39 am

Some nice higher definition colour mechanical TV going on here:
http://roseace.telecom-paristech.fr/
gary
 

Postby Steve Anderson » Wed Sep 12, 2012 12:36 pm

Very impressive! As they mention it's very much based on the 'propeller' type of display just taken a whole level further. It's amazing what you can do if you throw enough fast logic at something.

Id be very interested how the data transfer was done from the stationary parts to the rotating bit...and power...I hope it wasn't slip-rings.

They do make a big point regarding persistence of vision. An ordinary CRT is a POV device although the persistence of the phosphor (depending on type) also helps.

Well done guys/gals.

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Postby gary » Wed Sep 12, 2012 12:59 pm

Steve Anderson wrote:Very impressive! As they mention it's very much based on the 'propeller' type of display just taken a whole level further.


Yes, someone commented that there would be less wind noise if they mounted the leds on a full disk which sounds reasonable.

Steve Anderson wrote:It's amazing what you can do if you throw enough fast logic at something.


If only Baird had taken the time to perfect Babbage's machine eh? ;-)
Or designed a very complex commutator? :shock:

Steve Anderson wrote:Id be very interested how the data transfer was done from the stationary parts to the rotating bit...and power...I hope it wasn't slip-rings.


They use wifi - there are tech details under one of the tabs on the home page.

Power is through the bearings.
gary
 

Postby Viewmaster » Wed Sep 12, 2012 8:42 pm

Steve Anderson wrote:Very
Id be very interested how the data transfer was done from the stationary parts to the rotating bit...and power...I hope it wasn't slip-rings.


Steve A.



On the write up it says.........
Quote.......
These LEDs are driven by a FPGA that computes the position of the blade thanks to an encoder wheel and lightens the right pixels. It receives the pictures to display from a Gumstix, a tiny computer on which Linux is running allowing us -connected in wifi to the Gumstix
End quote
...................

The ref to wi fi connection and a tiny PC suggests battery driven PC
so no slip rings at all required. (So the PC rotates at 1000 RPM in this case !!)........bet the bytes get giddy :-)

see the photo gallery......
http://roseace.telecom-paristech.fr/gallery/

and full tech details here........
http://roseace.telecom-paristech.fr/technical-details/
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Postby gary » Wed Sep 12, 2012 8:57 pm

Viewmaster wrote:The ref to wi fi connection and a tiny PC suggests battery driven PC
so no slip rings at all required.


No, it quite clearly (I think) states:

The power supply is quite simple : the ball bearings supporting the rotating ensemble is used to send a (not so regulated) 12V, which is the converted to 3.3V, 1.8V, 1.2V, 2.5V (FPGA / Gumstix) and 5V (LEDs).

It's not unusual for ball bearings to be used as a kind of "slip ring" in this manner, although I have read that it can reduce the life span of the bearing somewhat...

I should point out that the principle of this machine is fairly old, I posted elsewhere a video of the RoPod "whirling blades of death" machine which began life back in 1994... almost ancient!

EDIT: Of course, the use of a battery in similar POV machines has often been employed, as has induction.
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