Energy: Solar and Research Project proposals
March 30, 2021
Primary - Solar: Sun-flower
In NYC there are some people who live in rooms with no windows. It always sucks, but people have found ways to make them a lot easier to deal with. For example; sunrise lamps, grow lights, etc.
However, there are certain things you can’t replicate in those rooms, like unique behaviors of plants that do different things throughout the day. The sunflower, as an example, always follows the sun. If you somehow managed to grow one in your room, it would just face the grow light.
I want people to experience these unique behaviors, so I came up with this:
Basically, I want to use a small solar panel to build a box that can be mounted to your window. The solar panel will power a microcontroller that is connected to a light sensor. During the day, the microcontroller should be powered by the sun, but at night it will use a battery that is charged throughout the day.
The light sensor will send data to another Arduino that is in the “pot” of the flower. Depending on how much light there is, the flower will open/close, revealing that it is a hibiscus flower.
If the flower is fully open long enough in a day, then it will remain open at night and twinkle with the LEDs.
The aesthetic of the project would ideally be kind of like stained glass. I don’t know how I would achieve this exactly, but i’d love for that elegance to be achieved.
Secondary - Research: Deep Sea Energy
Something I am always very interested in is the ocean. I have always enjoyed fish, dolphins, coral, etc. I’ve also always particularly liked the deep sea.
Something about an unexplored frontier on our planet full of glowing fish is so cool.
I want to do some more research on energy flow among the deep sea. So much of our energy comes from the sun, but the deep ocean has no light from the surface. They rely on light emitted through Bioluminescence as well as thermal energy from the earth’s core.
How does energy flow throughout this unforgiving environment?
Written by Philip Cadoux, current ITP student and Creative Technologist. Follow me on Instagram