fred_on_fire

Whilst in Vancouver on a family holiday, I was lucky enough to see China's entry for the 2011 Celebration of Light fired from 2 barges in English Bay
I took some photos and videos and thought I would share them...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FGyOdCQ6_k

Some information about the show:

• Two sand-covered barges anchored 300 metres from the shore at English Bay provide the stage
• Length of the barge: 150 metres
• Number of anchors positioning the barge: Six 4-ton anchors
• Total amount of sand on the barge: 1000 tons
• The sand is spread evenly 20 cm deep from one end of the barge to the other
• Mortars planted into the sand.

See http://www.vancouverfireworks.ca for more information

Hi,

I thought I would start a thread about my GCSE electronics project and how I went about creating a wireless electronic firing system. I am also open to questions if anyone wants advice or help on a project of their own.

I have had a passion for electronics for a few years now (I originally started with wanting to know why computers work and what is inside them) and I am now taking Electronics as one of my GCSEs.

When the time came for me to decide what I was going to do for my coursework project, I thought about doing something that would potentially have a practical use outside school and that I will enjoy making, so the idea of making a firing system came into mind. Just a firing system on its own would probably not make up much of a project so I threw wireless into the equation and a couple of months down the line that is what I have submitted as my coursework – a wireless firing system.

I will now go about explaining how the circuit works. Sorry if you do not understand it but some electronics knowledge is probably required for understanding the circuitry.

The project consists of two parts, the transmitter and receiver. First of all, the transmitter entails a wireless transmission unit (I did not make that but got it online), an oscillator (produces pulses at a set frequency) and a voltage regulator (for the power supply of the transmitter). The oscillator starts sending pulses to the transmitter when the button is held down. The pulses (at 38KHz) will be transmitted over a carrier signal of 433MHz. I have tested this to work over a range or nearly 400m!

The second half of the circuit includes a receiver unit, a PIC microcontroller (to check the pulses being received) and a MOSFET (an electronic switch to supply enough current for the nichrome wire to heat up and ignite the fuse). The PIC checks that the pulses are of the correct frequency and then turns on the MOSFET when all is verified. The power supply I am using to heat up the nichrome wire consists of just 4 AA batteries and that can supply enough current to make the nichrome wire glow yellow/white hot!

The circuit does have a few flaws though and I would not use this system as an actual firing system due to a few safety issues I could imagine, like an accidental firing, but the principle is there! I am currently designing a new system with the two sections communicating to one and other to make sure that that fire signal is validated and that only one transmitter can talk to a receiver unit (with a specific code needed to initiate firing); but GCSE revision is currently taking priority.

You can view photos and schematics of the circuits from the following link 'Pictures and Diagrams'

If anyone has any questions feel free to ask them!


Thanks,
Fred