X-Authentication-Warning: delorie.com: mail set sender to geda-user-bounces using -f X-Recipient: geda-user AT delorie DOT com Subject: Re: [geda-user] Net length info question To: geda-user AT delorie DOT com References: <0a59af1c-d27e-2b2f-f649-fd5f84ae7fc5 AT linetec DOT nl> From: "Richard Rasker (rasker AT linetec DOT nl) [via geda-user AT delorie DOT com]" Message-ID: Date: Thu, 8 Feb 2018 20:54:18 +0100 User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:52.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/52.6.0 MIME-Version: 1.0 In-Reply-To: Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="------------F45078F00AD05DC6EC7294FA" Content-Language: en-US Reply-To: geda-user AT delorie DOT com Errors-To: nobody AT delorie DOT com X-Mailing-List: geda-user AT delorie DOT com X-Unsubscribes-To: listserv AT delorie DOT com Precedence: bulk This is a multi-part message in MIME format. --------------F45078F00AD05DC6EC7294FA Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hello Erich, Op 06-02-18 om 23:29 schreef Erich Heinzle (a1039181 AT gmail DOT com) [via geda-user AT delorie DOT com]: > Not sure if it helps but you can generate spiral inductor footprints > with the following utility > > https://github.com/erichVK5/SpiralInductorFootprintGenerator > > Which reports the overall length of the spiral. The normal R(eport Net Length) action already does this. > Maybe if you fill the pipes with saltwater and figure out the > permitivity of the ground you can make a tuned circuit too... The > utility will also calculate the inductance and capacitance! Hehe, yeah, let's turn or new home's foundation in one ginormous tuned circuit. And hey, maybe if we choose the right frequency, we might even catch extra energy from whatever is transmitting at that frequency! This reminds me of a project I once designed and built for an artist in my university days, some 30 years ago: the man wanted to realize a functional electronic device with as many 'strange' and natural elements as possible. So I thought of the good 'ole toilet roll AM receiver -- but scaled up to ludicrous proportions: the receiver coil was made from coax-6 'bamboo' ground cable, with windings 3 meters in diameter; the tuning capacitor was made from two plates of steel (dimensions: 2 x 4 meters, weight: 300 kilograms each) we got from a shipyard, with the top one running on wooden wheels over the bottom one; and we got a bucket full of high-impedance (300 ohms IIRC) obsolete telephone loudspeakers, some two dozen we mounted in a large piece of PVC sewage pipe. I was unable to come up with a large equivalent for the actual semiconductor part (3 transistors for amplifying and rectifying the signal), so that was housed in a big glass jar on a pedestal -- but the resistors needed for the transistor circuit were individual, partly charred tree trunks. Unfortunately, the charring didn't really result in a low enough resistance, so we cheated a bit there, creating a sort of carbon and resin slurry, that produced a fairly reliable resistance track when painted over the charred areas -- the exact (OK OK, 50% tolerance ...) resistance of which was chosen by hammering in big nails at the right spot. And oh, the power supply was of course lemon with bits of zinc and copper wire. 144 of the suckers, each in its individual jar, 12 in series, and 12 rows in parallel -- just about enough to produce a few volts at ~10mA for an extended period of time. We christened this unholy contraption (covering about 1/10 of an acre in all) 'The Brontoceiver' -- and the thing actually worked (OK, sometimes, especially at night, with no traffic noise, and you still had to listen carefully). One hilarious comment from another nerd deserves mentioning: "Ah, it's a radio! Cool! So next year, you'll build a TV, right?" > If you are just running air through the pipes, you'll need to sort out > drainage of condensation. Nah, there's just plain water in the pipes, with propylene glycol as an antifreeze. And no salt allowed at all, because that destroys the (aluminum) heat exchangers. Best regards, Richard --------------F45078F00AD05DC6EC7294FA Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

Hello Erich,


Op 06-02-18 om 23:29 schreef Erich Heinzle (a1039181 AT gmail DOT com) [via geda-user AT delorie DOT com]:
Not sure if it helps but you can generate spiral inductor footprints with the following utility

https://github.com/erichVK5/SpiralInductorFootprintGenerator

Which reports the overall length of the spiral.

The normal R(eport Net Length) action already does this.

Maybe if you fill the pipes with saltwater and figure out the permitivity of the ground you can make a tuned circuit too... The utility will also calculate the inductance and capacitance!

Hehe, yeah, let's turn or new home's foundation in one ginormous tuned circuit. And hey, maybe if we choose the right frequency, we might even catch extra energy from whatever is transmitting at that frequency!


This reminds me of a project I once designed and built for an artist in my university days, some 30 years ago: the man wanted to realize a functional electronic device with as many 'strange' and natural elements as possible.
So I thought of the good 'ole toilet roll AM receiver -- but scaled up to ludicrous proportions: the receiver coil was made from coax-6 'bamboo' ground cable, with windings 3 meters in diameter; the tuning capacitor was made from two plates of steel (dimensions: 2 x 4 meters, weight: 300 kilograms each) we got from a shipyard, with the top one running on wooden wheels over the bottom one; and we got a bucket full of high-impedance (300 ohms IIRC) obsolete telephone loudspeakers, some two dozen we mounted in a large piece of PVC sewage pipe.

I was unable to come up with a large equivalent for the actual semiconductor part (3 transistors for amplifying and rectifying the signal), so that was housed in a big glass jar on a pedestal -- but the resistors needed for the transistor circuit were individual, partly charred tree trunks. Unfortunately, the charring didn't really result in a low enough resistance, so we cheated a bit there, creating a sort of carbon and resin slurry, that produced a fairly reliable resistance track when painted over the charred areas -- the exact (OK OK, 50% tolerance ...) resistance of which was chosen by hammering in big nails at the right spot.

And oh, the power supply was of course lemon with bits of zinc and copper wire. 144 of the suckers, each in its individual jar, 12 in series, and 12 rows in parallel -- just about enough to produce a few volts at ~10mA for an extended period of time.

We christened this unholy contraption (covering about 1/10 of an acre in all) 'The Brontoceiver' -- and the thing actually worked (OK, sometimes, especially at night, with no traffic noise, and you still had to listen carefully).

One hilarious comment from another nerd deserves mentioning: "Ah, it's a radio! Cool! So next year, you'll build a TV, right?"


If you are just running air through the pipes, you'll need to sort out drainage of condensation.

Nah, there's just plain water in the pipes, with propylene glycol as an antifreeze. And no salt allowed at all, because that destroys the (aluminum) heat exchangers.

Best regards,

Richard --------------F45078F00AD05DC6EC7294FA--