Technology · Item
Sensors and meters
Powered, they put a measure on a signal cable: a tank's level, temperature, humidity, wind, a shaft's speed or torque, a voltage or a current.
In the game
How to get it
The sensor: glass over 2 iron sheets and a coil, a glowing dial; choose level, temperature, humidity or wind on its sheet. A meter: its head (a cogwheel, copper wire, a small power cable or a spring) over 2 signal cables and a coil, a glowing dial.
What it is for
Stop a pump when a tank is full, heat a room under a temperature, brake a turbine in a storm, show a battery's charge on a panel.
Why it exists
To control something you must measure it; each measure is a number from 0 to 255 any circuit can use.
The same text the game shows in its progress tree and on the item's sheet (I).
The sensor (one item, four measures)
At the grid: 16 voxels of glass (top middle), 2 iron sheets round a coil, a glowing part. Its sheet sets what it reads:
| Mode | Reads |
|---|---|
| Level | stuck on a tank, its fill (0 to 255) |
| Thermometer | the air's temperature (°C and °F on its sheet) |
| Hygrometer | the humidity |
| Anemometer | the wind (m/s) |
Climate readings are smoothed over 60 s; indoors they read the room's air.
The meters
Each is a head over 2 signal cables and a coil, a glowing part under them:
| Meter | Head | Reads |
|---|---|---|
| Tachometer | a cogwheel | a shaft's speed |
| Voltmeter | copper wire | the voltage through it |
| Ammeter | a small power cable | the current |
| Torque meter | a coil spring | the torque on its shaft |
Their sheets show an average, a frequency and a 3 s trace.
Ideas
Show a value on a Wall panel, chart it with a Signal writer, compare it with an Op-amp.
On the progress path
EL3Simple electronicsMain path
One of the items of the step Sensors and buttons.
- BeforeEL2 · Circuit board
- This stepEL3 · Sensors and buttons
- NextEL4 · Antenna and dish