Hi guys!!i m a student in technichal universty and study abouth mechanichal engineering!!this year ll my lastyear if i pass one lesson that its thesis!
but i fell i cant unable to work out this solution..i hope you can help me..i would like to introduce my topic:
My thesis to finish universty is “production of pyrotechnic digital ignition system”! The system I want to create will be a software program that I can adjust the time code, number and sequence and an ignition module that will start it. What do you suggest? Where should I start? Does anyone know anything about “Picaxe microcontroller”? Do you think it would be useful for me? Are there any ignition systems you can recommend?
[b][/b]

This business not easy

Hi Pyrodigi

The most commom digital systems are the Pyrodigital, FireOne, and PyroMate. Besides these there are other less known systems from other producers...

There is another topic on the site "best pyrotecnical equipment" - that should answer your question

Regards,
Lars

hi lars thanks for your reply!!
i wrote in general topic on the site again!!i hope that is correct place to find out my answers!!i have already searched digital systems before to begin thesis!!they are so complex for me..it would be best to show my teachers!!but they are so expensive!!!
by the way i have downloaded to fireone demo version from their web site!!but it doesnt work..
thanks

Pyrodigi,

there are a few things that you must consider when designing your firing system. The most important feature, which is something that many people overlook when designing their own systems, is that there has to be a way to stop the show in the event of an accident. I know that PyroDigital uses a "dead-man's handle" approach where you have to press a button continuously (some people call this "the pickle" for the show to fire. If you let go of the button, the firing modules stop initiating their e-matches (though the script continues to run). This feature means that if, for example, a rack of mortars fell over (for whatever reason) you could prevent them firing even after the script was started.

Another important feature is the ability to test the connections from the firing modules to their e-matches. This allows the pyrotechnician to diagnose any connection problems, find bad e-matches etc. The test current has to be kept to a very low level to be safe - yet another consideration you have to make in your design. You will also want to design the firing module portion such that it can safely initiate multiple e-matches at once and also in quick succession. Many people make the mistake of using a small 9V battery thinking it will be sufficient. While it will fire several e-matches at once, it probably won't have the capacity to fire multiple shots in quick-succession (unless you use some kind of capacitive discharge (CD) circuitry for each output). If you do use a CD based system, you will also need to provide a means to remove the charge from the circuits to put them back into a safe mode.

Finally, it is best to have a firing module which will shunt (i.e. short-out) the e-matches for safety during display setup. The shunt is removed when the display setup is complete. On some systems the two modes are called "shunted" and "armed".

Oh yes, one other thing, you will want to make sure your system can fire at a suffcient rate such that exciting effects are possible. You will want at least 16 firings per second, but many systems are capable of more than that (up to 100). If you use SMPTE time code, I think the resolution is 30 frames per second - so that would give you up to 30 firings per second.

Good luck with your project!

Paul.

Hello, Admin!

Very, very sorry, but i`m not agreeing with your opinion about it " Many people make the mistake of using a small 9V battery thinking it will be sufficient. While it will fire several e-matches at once, it probably won't have the capacity to fire multiple shots in quick-succession"
Because our company discovered a solution for this problem. We use 9V, but Quantity of electrical matches launching together simultaneously-up to 20 electrical matches on each channel. If necessary, you can launch more than 20 electrical fuses at the same time, but from several executive firing modules. If you have 50 firing modules, you can launch 1000 e matches together.

The maximal distance between different firing modules - more than 1 km.

Dima Kobzar

I'm not saying it is impossible to use a 9V battery, but you do need additional circuitry to make it work. One solution, as I meantioned, is to use a capacitive discharge (CD) circuit. Without this, the reliability could be less, especially when the temperature is below freezing. In Canada, we have to have systems that work reliably down to -25C and lower - and a regular small 9V battery will fail after one or two shots without a CD system at this temperature.

How does your circuit solve the problem?

Cheers,

Paul.

Hey, guys,

A very interesting topic. It's very nice to know and understand the complexity of digital ignition systems!

Paul, I'm sure the Mondial SAQ uses 100 firings/second at times, especially during those finales! To tell you the truth, sometimes it feels more than that capacity.

Regards,

Trav.