Build Solar Engine

The solar engine is commonly used as an onboard power plant for BEAM-type robots. Sometime called living robots. The inspiration for this solar engine originated from Mr. Mark W.Tilden who originally designed a solar engine.

Another innovator was Dave Hrynkiw from Canada. He modified the solar engine design to power a solar ball robot. Below figure is schematic for the solar engine. This design are take from book with title Robot, Android, and Animatron by Jhon Iovine.




Figure Schematic Solar Engine

Here is how it works. The solar cell charges the main 4700uF Capacitor as a power banks. As the capacitor charges the voltage level of the circuit increase.The UJT ( Uni Junction Transistor ) begin oscillating and sending a trigger pulse to the SCR ( Silicon Controlled Rectifier ). When the circuit voltage has risen to about 3 Volt from the main capacitor, the trigger pulse is sufficient to turn on the SCR. When SCR turn on , all the stored power in the main capacitor is dumped trough the high efficiency motor ( HE-motor ).

The motor spins momentarily as the capacitor discharges and then stops. The cycle repeat.