Brain Cortex Experiences First Earthquake Part 11

Amidst the forest of backup batteries and "almost Edison owned" antique Leiden jars in the background, "I'm ok!" yelped out the newly born Cortex Brain in its machine-like thick accented voice, after the earthquake subsided. At least that's what we thought we heard... Checking its wishful internal vibration seismometer, future built from a single accelerometer, it showed the worst of the quake had passed and it was time to pick up the pieces, look for damage, run diagnostics, tighten some nuts and bolts, and hope for the best! In this view, buddy friend Apple SIRI is world wide web connected and on standby for corroboration and moral support. Now the goal is to further earthquake-proof the cortex in a jar.

BRAIN CORTEX EXPERIENCES FIRST BIG EARTHQUAKE! Part 11

— a very strong 6.3 earthquake frightened people on Halloween night as the quake continued to increase in strength within its duration —

REPORTED FRIDAY NOVEMBER 1ST 2013
As some may have expected, a big spooky magnitude 6.3 earthquake shook and rattled the Taipei lab on Halloween October 31st at 8:02 pm. Some people were reported trapped in elevators though firemen successfully extracted their bodies. The quake continued to increase in strength during its powerful shaking duration and this caused many people to panic.

At the Lab, pre-warnings were evident throughout the day prior to the big earthquake as smaller almost undetectable quake motions were felt causing motion sickness.

Suspended spherical lighting ball pendulums made of pure glass, used as scientific detection instruments and sensors, to detect skyscraper motion in the Lab, were swinging about indicating lots of motion and displacements.

The up/down and left/right motion of the quake put several objects in motion in the lab, including some shelves that moved across the ledge and books that vibrated from one place to another. Suspended lights were heard jostling and swinging about wildly as the quake-shaking lasted about a minute.

At one point, its seemed as if the building would topple over as it was swaying many feet from side to side. The top of these skyscrapers can sway 6-feet or more from side to side, depending on the height of the skyscraper and the power of the quake.

The Brain Cortex along with its jar and parts were residing on top of the lab bench. There are three lab benches with two mounted one on top of the other. Things did slide around, however the lucky brain remained on the lab bench without mishap.

The brain cortex is somewhat anticipatory earthquake proofed with its flexible and durable poly see-through transparent jar. It could potential fall and survive though we expect the batteries would become jarred from their mounts and the plastic could literally rip open the jar. As some batteries are in series and some in parallel, potentially the cortex may electrically survive such a big jolt.

Parts for interior mounting are now considered for shock absorption remounting, possibly with cushioning phenolic plates lining the spacer mount contact points. These plates are on the purchase list for the next trip to the electronic parts store plaza.

Another anti-quake idea is to strap each battery to its respective mount using a plastic tie to prevent its popping out due to a sudden inertial jolt. Safety retainer clips to provide additional module structural support are now designed and will be installed.

The earthquake shows how much more work the brain cortex in a jar project requires to make it more survivable during a catastrophic event.

It was the third inland earthquake of magnitude 6 or higher this year. The previous ones occurred in Nantou County — a magnitude 6.2 quake on March 27 and a magnitude 6.5 quake on June 2.

Brain Cortex Index Part 16

Machine Antivibration Device

BUILD A MACHINE EARTHQUAKE AND VIBRATORY PROTECTION DEVICE
NO BUMP ALLOWED!

Protect your machine and increase its functioning, reliability and longevity with a simple Machine Antivibration Device

MAD PAD sandwiches under machine

During earthquakes and other physical situations, such as sliding, moving, placing, setting, dropping, shaking, bumping, tilting, and inertial inflections from picking up, holding and inherent vibratory transmissions, a machine is attacked and can undergo harsh oscillations and vibratory motions. The micro effects of these physical strains are also important considerations.

These physical conditions attack the mechanics of the machine and its electronic components and can cause a certain amount of degradation. With PCB based machines, components can degrade their silicon based structures and trace micro cracks can happen within the components sub structures and board trace elements. 

With solderless breadboards, the connector spring constants are attacked and weakened, and structures may lose their ability to strongly hold wiring. Wires can also shift, putting strain not only at connection points but stresses within the wire routing. The entire machine can lose its longevity functioning and prematurely fail.

Components have shifting mass and may pull out their connections in one or more places. To the unsuspecting person, merely switching on the machine can wreck havoc and blow out circuits when the effects add up, connections are lost, and components and wiring end up modified from the original machine.

What's the solution? Meet the Machine Antivibration Device. The MAD is designed to minimize vibrations. Mad dimensions are dependent on the machines structure, size, weight, and construction. MADs are created from a homogenized layer of flexible rubber that can flex in all directions. MAD layers are placed within the machine at stress points and allowed to flex when attacked. MAD layers are created to further increase anti vibratory effects. Island isolation points are advantageous to prevent further traveling vibrations throughout the machine.

In its simplest form for a typical Propeller based machine and breadboards, the MAD is created from a quarter inch thick continuously molded rubber platform on which the machine rides and is free to move. Microscopically, this isolates the machine in some degree from the base vibrations. The degree of isolation depends on many factors including the type of vibrations and their nature. The MAD can reduce and even eliminate vibrations from being transmitted to a machine. This increases the life and reliability of the machine.

In a typical test at the lab, small sections of MAD were created using discarded rubber inner tubes from tires. These are found at tractor supply centers, surplus trade centers, automotive repair centers and bike shops. Mads are created and place along a triangular three point geometric configuration. In physics, a plane will come to rest at three points. This config isolates the points of rest and lines of vibratory transmission.

The direction of MAD layers are set in multiple orthogonal directions for best functioning. Rotate each layer when putting together multiple layers in constructing a platform for the machine to best capture vibrations occurring in all directions.

Earthquake

BIG BRAIN EARTHQUAKE SURVIVAL

Thurs. Mar. 7, 2013, Noon
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — A strong earthquake has been felt throughout Taiwan. The Central Weather Bureau says the quake Thursday registered at magnitude 5.6. The tremor struck about 23 miles north of Hualien city and it shook buildings in the capital city of Taipei. Hualien is located 110 miles southeast of Taipei.

The Big Brain Lab in Taiwan has survived increasingly larger and larger earthquakes. Moving from a 3 and a 3.5 previously, the current 5.6 was considerably larger, violently shaking the building for a full minute, with numerous aftershocks. As the position increases in altitude, i.e. a higher skyscraper floor, so do the effects and intensity of quake appear to increase proportionally. The Big Brain was only one step away from the roof, creating the greatest oscillatory effects. The anchoring of the Big Brain to solid wood fixtures help save the brain from disaster. Paint was removed from the ceilings by the quake vibrations and fell to the floor. However, all parts of the Big Brain Supercomputer survived. A full day of testing was completed following the quake to confirm full functioning of all Big Brain and Lab aspects. Running Big Brain experiments are currently being checked.

Earthquake Protection with the Coddler

Big Brain's Propeller Array Coddler

PROTECTING THE BIG BRAIN AGAINST EARTHQUAKES WITH THE CODDLER

After experiencing its first earthquake, steps were taken to protect the Big Brain against future quakes.

1) Lower Center of Gravity

2) Initiate the Coddler

The primary change is in the Big Brain's "Tower," a structure that holds the Propeller Arrays in the Left Brain config and initiates the new Coddling. The Brain Coddler is a perforated adapted shelf which is nearly weightless. Coddlers handle displacements during an earthquake along the XY and Z axes. Each Coddler cups one High Density (HDB) breadboard containing up to 216 Cog processors. The HDBs are free to do minimal sliding around during an earthquake and absorb some kinetic forces of vibrating and shaking. The structure was lowered to create a center of gravity closer to the the floor and multiple bases coddle each Propeller Array (Propeller Arrays are made up of more than one HDB). Large solderless breadboards are notoriously difficult to handle and mount, remain heavy, and take up considerable lateral space. The solution treats each large size board with an individual mounting solution. The Propeller arrays are now coddled inside a series of "towering bases." The mounting cup is 6 cm deep, a good mounting depth for large boards. Currently, the Left Brain is 194 cm (6.4-feet high) with a 66 cm removable tall peak. The combined Big Brain structure is only 4 cm from the Lab ceiling. The Large Tower and Peak does not include the EXOskeleton. The Right Brain, with 726 processors, has no earthquake modification as it's base mounting is a steel platform. These changes have now enabled the Big Brain to survive a quake of 6.1 magnitude.

Definitions

Coddler - a perforated shelf structure with depth designed to cup and coddle high density breadboards HDBs thereby increasing the protection level during an earthquake
Coddling - the process of holding and protecting an electronic circuit board, such as a solderless breadboard, during an earthquake

Peak - A top extension consisting of a number of connected Coddlers

HDB - High density breadboard, a breadboard consisting of up to 27 Propeller chips

Config - Configuration, the design and setup of HW and SW

First Earthquake

http://humanoidolabs.blogspot.com/2012/01/big-brain-survives-earthquake.html

Second Earthquake

http://humanoidolabs.blogspot.com/2012/02/strong-second-earthquake.html

Earthquake Protection

http://humanoidolabs.blogspot.com/2012/02/earthquake-protection.html

Strong Second Earthquake

Taiwan Seismology Station
Helicorder Output

BIG BRAIN SURVIVES POWERFUL 6.1 EARTHQUAKE!

TODAY - Sunday February 26th, 2012 at 10:36 am, the Big Brain experienced a large earthquake. The rooms shook wildly, the chandelier flew precariously about, furniture threatened to topple, the Left and Right Brain sections took in the punishing vibrations and luckily no Brain or Laboratory damage resulted.

According to news reports, Taiwan’s Central Weather Bureau said the quake struck at 10:35 a.m. (0235 GMT) in a mountainous area just inland from the coastal city of Pingtung, with a magnitude of 6.1. TV reported some damage and said high-speed rail service had been temporarily suspended out of the southern city of Kaohsiung, north of Pingtung. Estimates of strength on the R scale will vary based on the distance from the Epicenter. In Taipei it hit near Taiwan's second city of Kaohsiung on Sunday, US seismologists said. The quake struck 57 kilometres (35 miles) east of the city at 10:34 a.m. (0234 GMT) at a depth of just four kilometres, the US Geological Survey said. The Hong Kong observatory measured the quake at magnitude 6.0. Earthquakes are frequent to Taiwan, but most are minor and cause little or no damage. However, a magnitude 7.6 earthquake in central Taiwan in 1999 killed more than 2,300 people.

This is the second earthquake experience by the Big Brain. The first occurred on Thursday, January 19, 2012 and was a force estimated at 4.6 near the epicenter.

Links

Broadband Array in Taiwan for Seismology (BATS)

    Real Time Earthquake Database Server

Taiwan Seismology Source

Recent Helicorder Displays

Index of Heli Gifs

Parallax Forum

Big Brain Experiences First Earthquake

BIG BRAIN EXPERIENCES 1ST EARTHQUAKE!

At 6:14 am, the building shook from a substantial earthquake. About a minute before the earthquake struck, a very loud multi toned alarm appear to come from every direction. This was undoubtedly the advanced quake warning system. But what happened to the Big Brain? Did it fall from its perched loft and crash into 1,000 pieces?

The building shook and vibrated for about a half minute. The Big Brain arrays were splayed with vertical stacking upon the round table at the Lab's lower level and swayed back and forth but did not fall. The Right side brain was already set next to the arrays and likewise did not topple. The Brain remained stable.

The stability of the Brain is now proven and "earthquake proof" up to a range between 3 and 5. More intense earthquakes may require special brain measures to be taken. The survivability of the Big Brain during an earthquake was topic discussed in the past. It was accurately predicted to survive a number three.

The USGS has a record of the last earthquake, though it takes time to update. Other locations are recorded as well.

Links
http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?137361-Big-Brain-Experiences-1st-Earthquake