Lengthy earlier than the digital clocks and ultra-precise atomic clocks of immediately, time was stored primarily by the solar or the falling of sand in an hourglass. Whereas these previous strategies of timekeeping have been crude and inaccurate, there’s something mesmerizing about watching a shadow slowly creep throughout the face of a sundial or the move of sand regularly filling the underside of a glass vessel. Whereas our clocks have improved tremendously by way of accuracy and effectivity, they’ve suffered by way of aesthetics.
Inventive engineer Alvaro Gomez Gimenez got here up with a really attention-grabbing, if not solely sensible, strategy to mix new and previous know-how. Utilizing Gimenez’s novel strategy, time could be precisely stored with a contemporary digital clock, however in an aesthetically pleasing method with a hypnotic falling sand show (English translation). The clock depends on precision timing of bursts of falling sand and coordinated bursts of illumination to create a persistence of imaginative and prescient impact that makes sand seem to face nonetheless in mid-air. By way of cautious design of the system, Gimenez’s clock kinds that seemingly gravity-defying sand into digits paying homage to a seven-segment LED show that present the present time.
Machining the gates (📷: Alvaro Gomez Gimenez)
To show the idea, Gimenez first constructed a 3D-printed hopper with a gate that was opened and closed by a high-speed solenoid. High-quality sand within the hopper could be launched in brief bursts lasting only a fraction of a second. By illuminating the falling sand for a short while with a strip of LED lights, it might turn out to be seen. Moreover, a number of stripes of sand might be made to look seen concurrently, via persistence of imaginative and prescient, by quickly turning the lights on and off at a number of factors through the sand’s fall.
Understanding that the approach would work, Gimenez subsequent constructed a {custom} PCB to function a module that will management a set of 4 side-by-side gates. By controlling the discharge of sand via a set of 4 gates (this time machined from aluminum for precision), there was ample horizontal decision to create the shape any digit, zero via 9, underneath management of an Arduino board. These checks have been profitable, with the flexibility to show any quantity being demonstrated.
With all the preliminary checks out of the way in which, the subsequent step was to construct a ultimate, polished clock that was primarily based on the identical rules. A set of 4 modules (every with 4 sand-dropping gates) was created, one for every digit within the clock’s four-digit hour and minute show. A PCB was then designed to regulate the gates and lighting, together with arrays of LEDs that might be triggered at completely different occasions to make the sand seem to hold within the air at a exact location. These parts have been all fitted onto a custom-built stand.
The ultimate result’s completely fascinating. Time is represented as digits manufactured from sand that genuinely seems to be floating in skinny air. Gimenez didn’t point out how lengthy the clock can preserve time — it should finally run out of sand and must be refilled, and primarily based on the hopper measurement it doesn’t look like it might take too lengthy for that to occur. However it might be an important present whereas it lasted. Remember to take a look at the video; this venture is one which must be seen to be believed.
