Forward#

Hello and welcome to my blog for this years 2024-2025 ULB class “Fabzero Experiments”

About me#

My name is Sergio Villarosa, Im half Belgium, half Italian. I have a sister which lives in Canada right now and a dog which lives with me (and my parents). I have been getting into bouldering and climbing this last year and am loving it, especially on rock. A part from that my life resumes to studying physics and procrastinating to do so. Which is partially why I chose the option « FabZero-Experiments ». I saw the opportunity to do something a little more practical and fun. Also, I already knew of the Fablab-ULB as I participated to the Printemps des Sciences of ULB last year.

My background#

I was born in Bruxelles but I lived in Fidji from 5 to 10 where I went to an International School (ISS). Once back in Belgium I did most of my highschool at the European School of Ixelles (EEB3). I am now starting my fourth and hopefully last year of Physics at ULB.

Previous work#

As I said, I participated at ULB’s Printemps des Sciences in 2024. My groupe and I worked on Wireless Energy Transmission. We built a 3D model car that could be charged wirelessely thanks to the variation of magnetic fields.

1. 3D model#

We did the 3D printer training at Fablab-ULB and used there printers to build a 3D model car found in open-source.

I did some editing on Vectary to customize some parts of the initial model. For example, uniting the two parts making the tire as one, or reducing the diameter of gear.

We also tried to print threaded bar’s and screws to replace the metal ones we initially used in the attempt to lighten our car.Unfortunatly it didn’t work. We printed the threaded bar horizontally and the surface in contact with the printer created a discontinuity in the thread making it too difficult to screw.

2. The circuit#

Magnetic and electric fields are strongly related. The variation of one induces the existences of the other.

A coil carrying an alternative current emits a varying magnetic field. The associated electric field will cause the electrons of our second coil to move, creating an induced current. This new current is also alternative which is why we need a bridge-rectifier.