Carl has taken "breakfast in bed" to the ultimate with his remote-controlled coffee pot activation system. By disassembling his coffee maker, an alarm clock, and remote control car (and a tad bit of rewiring), he was able to employ the alarm signal as the on/off power supply to the car's handheld controller. He stuffed the car's RC 5V dc receiving unit into his coffee maker and created a circuit that would turn on and off 115V ac in response to the 5V dc signal. Now at 6 a.m., his coffee pot kicks in.
For Carl Stoesz's complete instructions on how to build your own Bedside Barista, click here.
Bedside Barista Parts List
Amt
Part Description
Allied Part #
1
Triac
568-1118
1
NTE Optoisolator
935-6356
1
SCR
568-1040
2
1N4006, 200V, 2A diodes
266-0006
2
Diodes
935-0765
1
9, 1V Zener, 2A
568-7264
3
SPDT-MOM switch
870-8750
1
SPST switch
870-9118
1
SODT switch (not on diagram)
870-0184
Additional parts required: Assorted capacitors, resistors, red LED, green LED; radio alarm clock (Wal-Mart $5); Sunbeam coffee maker ($10), and a 27 MHz toy RC car ($20)
Almost every automaker has had to 'pick a side' when it comes to alternative fuel options and ways to divest from a reliance on gasoline. Fiat is looking to back compressed natural gas or liquid propane as an interim solution.
Plastic may not be the most beloved of materials to the more environmentally minded, but Plasti 2012 aimed to mold a different opinion of the material in people's minds.
The rare earth element market has become steadily more rational, and new sources coming online will continue to reduce costs. Still, it is unlikely that prices will drop to their former lows.
Against a backdrop of mounting product complexity and a need to keep a lid on development costs, companies are recognizing a need to make simulation a more integral part of the design process. In response, vendors in the CAD world are building out CAE functionality as part of their CAD suites while simulation vendors are building tighter integrations to leading CAD tools. Keith Meintjes, Ph.D., Practice Manager, Simulation and Analysis at CIMdata, Inc., joins Design News CAD Editor Beth Stackpole in this radio program to explore the new face of integrated CAD and CAE, how companies are benefitting from this tighter partnership between platforms, and how integrating CAE earlier in the development cycle pays off in optimized product designs.
To save this item to your list of favorite Design News content so you can find it later in your Profile page, click the "Save It" button next to the item.
If you found this interesting or useful, please use the links to the services below to share it with other readers. You will need a free account with each service to share an item via that service.
Tweet This
7 
