3 Phase Makes the Motor Go Round

I did a little reading today about the Tesla Motors sports car that is coming out next year. The Tesla car makes use of a 3 phase AC motor with regenerative braking. I also did some reading on frequency drives today. The frequency drive is how you can control the speed and torque of an AC motor, and reduce power draw during startup.

I don't know how easy it would be to do, but the question I am asking at the moment is can I make a computer control the frequency drive? If not full control it would be fun at least to be able to have three profiles that we can use. I'd like to be able to adjust from max battery/econo mode to performance/max acceleration mode with just a click or knob adjustment.

Well off to more research.

Dominic's First Christmas

Today was Dominic's first Christmas. While he is kinda young to understand what is going on, I think he had a wonderful Christmas. Dominic got a lot of stuff, but I thought I would take a moment to share one gift we got for him that I really liked. We got him the Sakar Crayola Keyboard. This is a keyboard designed for younger kids with easy to use large buttons. Dominic is only 9 months, so he has a long way to go, but its never to early to start. More details on the keyboard here.

Dominic likes playing on the computer while we are trying to use it, so I want to set him up with a computer and software designed for infants and toddlers. I hope to start him out right from the start with a linux computer.

Fond du Lac Technology Conference

I had an idea a few weeks ago to have a Fond du Lac Technology Conference. My idea is to help help boost technology and linux/open source on a local scale. Details are scarce at the moment, but I am looking for anybody who might be willing to help. My goal is to make something happen by 2009/2010. One of my goals in this idea is to promote the Fond du Lac Linux Users Group (FDLLUG) and promote people and businesses that make a living of open source. If your interested or have suggestions, please email me at t i m f d l l u g . o r g

Blog Change

I'm giving the blogging thing a try again. In the past this blog was mostly planned to be computer related, but I'm changing it up a little. I hope to keep it a little more up to date with what I'm doing. Why I need to write a blog post to say this, I don't know.

Stay tunned for more stuff.

Steam power and Turbines

I know I posted the other day about want to convert a car to electric, and while telling somebody about it today, I was reminded of a past idea. I want to teach my son how everything works, one thing I always wanted to do what to build some sort of steam engine. I think it would be an interesting shop project for the two of us to work on. I justed wanted to write this down someplace while I was thinking about it. I wanted to follow up the steam project with a homebuilt turbine, but thats a different days project.

On a side rant, maybe it would be could to be able to recharge my future electric car with a steam powered generator.

Electric Car

I have been tossing around the idea of late of building an electric car. I know I can't afford it at the moment, but its always fun to dream and plan. I want something I can use for my daily commute to work. Most days I put on less than 30 miles, but I would like to be able to safely make a 150 mile trip. I'm working on some research, and things are in the early phase right now, I just started looking up things today.

Being early in the research phases yet its hard to say where this goes. One vehicle I would like to convert is something like my wife's 2002 Ford Escape. I really like how it handles, and it is a handy vehicle to have, plus I like the idea of having a 4wd EV.

Hopefully I will do more planning and you will see more blog postings here.