System Design
Sensors and Sensor Placement
The sensors chosen for this project are the Barcus Berry microphone sensor (left), the cantilever sensor (middle), and the ICP microphone sensor (right).
The sensor placements for a few orchestral instruments are pictured below:
The three energy harvesters were wired in series in order for the voltage to be additive. Shown below is the completed circuitry for the project:
Sount Level Meter
An adaptable device for measuring sound pressure in acoustic environments - loud or soft, high or low pitched, and intermittent or continuous.
Strain in this cantilever-type vibration sensor results in a voltage across the electrodes of the sensor; can detect continuous and impulsive vibration
Minsense 100 Sensor
Captures, accumulates, and conserves energy from an external source
EH301
Energy Harvesting Device
Materials
Proof of Concept
To prove the concept of the group's design, a small scale proof of concept was created that would be able to apply to a larger scale upon further testing. For the proof of concept, the group chose to use two snare drums and two trumpets. As can be viewed in the diagram below, each drum had a cantilever sensor attached, while the two trumpets played into one sound level meter. The sensors were wired into the energy harvesting devices (EHD) whose outputs were connected in series, allowing the voltage captured to be additive.