Solving your daily problems.To keep up with our ever-increasing quest for perfection, we have invested quite a bundle in research and development of electronic systems. Apart from our light controllers and stuff, we have dabbled into some interesting projects as outlined below.
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Enhanced doorbell
Here, we set out to solve the problem of having a guest constantly pressing your bell, whether you are in or
not. Imagine this scenario.
You have had a rough day and you could do with even an hour of undisturbed rest. You lie down, and just when you are passing
out, your very effective electric bell goes off. Brriiiiiiing Brriiiiiiing Brriiiiiiing. It turns out to be your friend with some trivial message
that could well have been left as a note. Your beauty sleep ? GONE.
Ok, ok, you could have put a do not disturb note on your gate, but face it, how many people respect such
things? We came up with a programmable device that cuts of the bell after some time and displays a
message for your guest. It worked quite well and is available on request.
TV Game Stand
Using components locally sourced, we were able to set up a complete TV game stand with in - built games and amplified sound. Research is still going on to improve the performance of this system. We have already developed a contact free joystick to increase the durability of the system. User response on the trial prototype has been very positive. Force feedback versions coming!
Paper dryer
Humidity in the atmosphere has been detected to be a major cause of most paper jams in photocopiers and laser printers. The sheets of paper absorb the moisture and become soft, curling and jamming the photocopiers or laser printers, because of the heat. What we developed is a desktop dryer, capable of removing the excessive moisture from a ream of 500 sheets in a matter of minutes, and keeping them that way, just before use.
LED motion pictures
Light Emitting Diodes or LEDs have been in use for a long time in places like Japan and Las Vegas for colorful motion displays. We dabbled into this field, with interesting results. Limited by available raw materials, we were forced to evolve our own approach to the design. We have been achieving some interesting results. We have applied such animation features in a couple of clubhouse outdoor signs.
Laboratory Equipment
We have come to a number of obstacles in the course of our work. Some of these problems are centered on equipment availability. As engineers, we decided not to let this get in the way.We therefore found ourselves developing lab equipment, such as power supplies, a frequency waveform generator, tone generators and a bench amplifier, all of which are currently being used, in our laboratory.
Electronic Toll Gate Monitor
Nigeria is undoubtedly plagued with corruption and bribery, and this sad trend is killing credibility and ruining genuine businesses. Toll gates were designed to generate revenue for a particular cause. Fraudulent operators however pose a threat to this objective. CNE has come up with a tamper proof system that, via a radio link, transmits up to the minute information about the status of every single tollgate, for accurate processing at a remote computer terminal. Infrared and pressure sensors collect data on the number and types of vehicles that passed through the gate.
Motor Park Monitor
This device is used to automatically display the number of free parking spaces in a motor park, at the entrance, before a driver decides to enter the park. This is especially useful in large market places, where it is impossible to see through the crowd of people, if there is a free slot for parking.
Car head lamp add-on
Have you ever been on the road at night, driving properly, with your head lamps dipped, when some irate driver appears in front of you, blinding you with his full beam? This design was developed just to solve that problem. It is basically a light -controlled light! The system monitors the ambient and on coming light conditions. If it detects any on coming light above a preset threshold, it automatically switches on a pair of super bright halogen lamps, to balance out the situation.
Fountains
We have also extended our research to fountains. In a country home in Anambra State, we installed underwater-animated lights of varying colors in an outdoor fountain. We then went further to develop a controlled - jet water animation process. (What a mouthful!) This simply means a fountain with many jets of water that rise and fall to create interesting patterns. We even came up with a design that responds to ambient sound, and one that follows the frequencies of music!!
Other things
We've encountered a number of interesting jobs, that deviate from our normal routine. Take for instance, these window blinds which had previously been done by some local craftsmen. The finish of the job was less than satisfactory, and the client decided to let us have a go. Against all odds, we were able to come up with a close representation of the desired effect.
Large window blinds, Bee Vee interiors, Abuja.
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