Electronics
This project uses a Raspberry Pi as a central computer with added electronics designed to process the generated voltage input and output the PWM signal.
The input generated voltage from the DC Motor is really small (in the mV range). Therefore, an op-amp (Operational Amplifier) is added to amplify the signal. The Raspberry Pi does not read analog input signals, thus a 12-bit ADC (Analogue-to-Digital Converter) with 4 channels (ADS1015) is used to read the input voltage signal using the I2C communication bus. Depending on the input voltage readings obtained from the generator, a Pulse-Width-Modulation (PWM) control signal is sent to the servo motor which controls the blade pitch. This is done to keep the generator within proper operating limits.
