I want to put a small solar panel on the front of a welding helmet to power a small fan (like processor fan small) inside it. This is not meant to provide constant support. Only when the welder is operating. Welders provide intense light that should be more than sufficient. I’m just playing with this idea to provide a little more ventilation. If any of you could toss out a place i can find some small solar cells and a small enough fan 2×2 is biggest i could use, I would appreciate it.
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The light from a welder is strong but it’s more UV which is why welders get tans, solar cells work off infrared. You’re also talking about a pretty small solar panel. You would be better off with a battery with a solar extender. They make plenty of muffin fans for computers and laptops which would work well. The easiest would be to buy a solar mobile charger and plug a USB fan into it. You get a big lithium ion battery, a battery charger and a small trickle charging solar panel with the solar charger. You probably don’t use the welder enough so the batter can probably trickle charge off the natural light when you’re not using the helmet as well as pick up a little from the welder. It might be a good idea to have some kind of filter to prevent blowing sparks into your face, maybe just stick the hose of a vacuum cleaner set to blow on top of your helmet with suitable filters.
You do realize they make air fed welding masks…
It very likely will not work from just welding light. But, perhaps welding light with ambient light will charge up batteries that make the fan work for a short while.
But, if you want to experiment (I love to experiment- and who knows? You might find a way to make your idea work! Which would be awesome.) Go to Jameco for your parts- they have every kind of solar panel and motor and even cooling fans that work on very low voltage.
Mouser is also a great resource.
For microcontrollers and small parts, etc, including solar panels, a great place to look is Parallax-
Also, for surplus electronic and mech parts, fairly inexpensive, go to Allelectronics and/or Herbach and Rademan. Another for huge selection of hardware and everything else, McMaster-Carr out of LA is the best resource ever.
Just put those names in your search and they will pop up. Good luck, I really hope this eventually works. It’s a great idea!
Source(s): I do a lot of inventing.
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Source(s): Build Home Solar Power – http://solar.eudko.com/?egR