Hess, H. L. (2015, June), The “Minty Boost®” as an Exciting Laboratory Experience  in Learning Power Electronics and Instrumentation  Paper presented at 2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Seattle, Washington. 10.18260/p.24845

\bibitem{asee_peer_24845}
  Hess, H. L. (2015, June), \emph{The “Minty Boost®” as an Exciting Laboratory Experience  in Learning Power Electronics and Instrumentation}
  Paper presented at 2015 ASEE Annual Conference \& Exposition, Seattle, Washington.
  10.18260/p.24845

Herbert L. Hess.  "The “Minty Boost®” as an Exciting Laboratory Experience  in Learning Power Electronics and Instrumentation".  2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Seattle, Washington, 2015, June.  ASEE Conferences, 2015.  https://strategy.asee.org/24845 Internet.  08 Jun, 2024

\bibitem{asee_peer_24845}
  Herbert L. Hess.
  "The “Minty Boost®” as an Exciting Laboratory Experience  in Learning Power Electronics and Instrumentation".
  \emph{2015 ASEE Annual Conference \& Exposition, Seattle, Washington, 2015, June}.
  ASEE Conferences, 2015.
  https://strategy.asee.org/24845 Internet.  08 Jun, 2024

@INPROCEEDINGS{asee_peer_24845
author = "Herbert L. Hess"
title = "The “Minty Boost®” as an Exciting Laboratory Experience  in Learning Power Electronics and Instrumentation"
booktitle = "2015 ASEE Annual Conference \& Exposition"
year = "2015"
month = "June"
address = "Seattle, Washington"
publisher = "ASEE Conferences"
note = {https://strategy.asee.org/24845}
number = {10.18260/p.24845}
}

TY  - CPAPER
AB  -                 The “Minty Boost” as an Exciting Laboratory Experience                  in Learning Power Electronics and InstrumentationLimor Fried designed and markets a cell phone charger under the trade name, Minty Boost®. A BoostConverter, a common power electronic converter, provides the main function: boosting about 3.2 Voltsfrom a series pair of AA Alkaline cells to the five Volts of a USB cell phone input. The Minty Boost®also contains appropriate logic to protect the circuitry and to enable the high current mode of the USB.The Minty Boost® is packaged as a kit for the user to solder together and then place inside an Altoids® tinor similar container to provide quick, mobile power on demand for any USB applicance.[1]The Minty Boost® kit is intended to teach soldering and to give an understanding of the basic operation ofa boost converter while having fun with an open-source project. The kit and the board topologyreinforces the notion that the user is not expected to take measurements on the unit’s performance. Yet,making measurements presents interesting and realizable instrumentation challenges for an undergraduateenergy course’s laboratory requirement. The challenges include       measuring floating voltage waveforms,       measuring and displaying current waveforms from a circuit board,       synchronizing those voltage and current measurements,       engaging and then making such voltage and current measurements in the presence of a time-        varying load, and       measuring dc power and energy efficiency in this environment.A typical electrical energy laboratory equipped to teach undergraduate topics has most, but often not allof the necessary instruments. In this paper, we will present the best solutions to the measurementchallenges presented by the Minty Boost®. These include appropriate interfaces and probes formultimeters and oscilloscopes. We also adapt the Digilent Explorer® instrumentation system for thetask.[2] We will show and compare results in the paper. We will likewise address importantadministrative issues in offering this Minty Boost® laboratory experiment, such as how to finance theMinty Boost safely and successfully.Our assessment shows a strongly improved understanding of important issues in power electronic energyconversion. This is one energy lab that the students actually look forward to and speak fondly of. Wewill assess why this is so.And the students get to keep the Minty Boost® after completing the lab. I have seen several of our alumnistill using it.References[1] http://www.adafruit.com/products/14[2] Digilent, Inc., “Digilent Electronics Explorer USB Reference Manual”,http://www.digilentinc.com/Products/Detail.cfm?NavPath=2,842,883&Prod=EEBOARD , October 19,2014.
AU  - Herbert L. Hess
CY  - Seattle, Washington
DA  - 2015/06/14
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - The “Minty Boost®” as an Exciting Laboratory Experience  in Learning Power Electronics and Instrumentation
UR  - https://strategy.asee.org/24845
DO  - 10.18260/p.24845
ER  -