Re: Project demystification - make openinverter.org more accessible
Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2023 3:55 am
I prefer the second one, it conveys more information simpler. Somehow I got more lost on the first one.
Actually what I think is best - and I feel this way about most schematics - Is to not unveil the whole schematic at once. Everyone who looks at a finished schematic is overwhelmed. It's okay as a reference, but it's hard to learn from. It's what someone who already understands it would use, but not someone learning.
The schematic should tell a story. Either step by step, or as a video/animation. And, wires should be thick to represent their size.
You start off with Battery - Motor. Everyone understand that.
Then you explain that, for a DC motor that would just make it spin top speed, and for an AC motor, it wouldn't spin at all. So we need to insert a speed controller, or an inverter.
Battery - Inverter - Motor.
And then you say, the inverter can make the motor spin faster or slower, but it doesn't know when to do that, so we have to wire it to an accelerator pedal. So you add that to the circuit.
Then you talk about how all the normal electrical stuff that's in a normal car, all runs on a 12v battery, and in an electric car we keep it the same, we still run it on a 12v battery. So you can check off lights and horn and all that stuff, and show it as a second circuit connected to a 12v battery.
Then you say that on a normal car, the battery is charged by the alternator that is spun by the engine, which is always spinning if the car is on, even if it's not moving. Since we don't have an engine, and our motor only spins when we drive, we probably won't even use an alternator. We use a DC-DC converter to take the 400v down to 12v. And you connect the two circuits.
Etc etc.
It is so much less intimidating to see the circuit evolve, than to just post the final result.
All that stuff needs explaining anyways, so it might as well be explained as the schematic evolves.
Actually what I think is best - and I feel this way about most schematics - Is to not unveil the whole schematic at once. Everyone who looks at a finished schematic is overwhelmed. It's okay as a reference, but it's hard to learn from. It's what someone who already understands it would use, but not someone learning.
The schematic should tell a story. Either step by step, or as a video/animation. And, wires should be thick to represent their size.
You start off with Battery - Motor. Everyone understand that.
Then you explain that, for a DC motor that would just make it spin top speed, and for an AC motor, it wouldn't spin at all. So we need to insert a speed controller, or an inverter.
Battery - Inverter - Motor.
And then you say, the inverter can make the motor spin faster or slower, but it doesn't know when to do that, so we have to wire it to an accelerator pedal. So you add that to the circuit.
Then you talk about how all the normal electrical stuff that's in a normal car, all runs on a 12v battery, and in an electric car we keep it the same, we still run it on a 12v battery. So you can check off lights and horn and all that stuff, and show it as a second circuit connected to a 12v battery.
Then you say that on a normal car, the battery is charged by the alternator that is spun by the engine, which is always spinning if the car is on, even if it's not moving. Since we don't have an engine, and our motor only spins when we drive, we probably won't even use an alternator. We use a DC-DC converter to take the 400v down to 12v. And you connect the two circuits.
Etc etc.
It is so much less intimidating to see the circuit evolve, than to just post the final result.
All that stuff needs explaining anyways, so it might as well be explained as the schematic evolves.