Re: Project Suggestions???

*** top-posting fixed ***
Thomas Magma wrote:
> "Spehro Pefhany" <speffSNIP@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote
>> "Thomas Magma" <somewhere@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>
>>> I always thought a good little project would be to send an
>>> accelerometer through different mail services to see how your
>>> package was being treated. Here is how I would design it:
>>>
>>> A PICF676 connected to two ADXL321, a NX25P16, a MAX232 and a
>>> switch (Energizer L91s and linear reg). The two accelerometers
>>> are to cover all three axis. The PIC reads the three axis of the
>>> ADXL321s at a rate of lets say 100Hz. Take the maximum value
>>> during a one second period and store it as a single byte in the
>>> SPIFLASH (NX25P16). This will give you data every second for a
>>> period of about two weeks with a .07 g's resolution. When thePIC
>>> senses the closure of the switch the data is read from the flash
>>> and dumped across RS232 to a PC, where you can plot and analyze
>>> the data.
>>>
>>> I would build a couple or so, so you could get a few tests
>>> running in parallel. I bet the data would be quite interesting.
>>
>> Cute. This might violate hazardous materials shipping regulations
>> IIRC, batteries have to be insulated so no current can flow, and
>> even then there are other issues. Ran into this with some
>> quantity shipments by airfreight, but I believe it applies to
>> mail as well. We ended up have to get chemistry reports on the
>> (insulated in plastic dry cell) batteries and so on.
>
> The transportation specification for the Energizer L91 states
> "Meets requirements of 49CFR 173.185(b) and IATA special
> provisions A45." Don't know what the hell that means....but I
> think they have internal fuses that prevent them from exploding.
> Electronic devices are shipped all the time that are running.

Even better, I think that is a cheap enough device to be valuable
as a tracking mechanism with shipments. If received damaged the
dump, together with the transportation history, should be enough to
closely establish the point and time of damage, and thus the flaws
origin.

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