Entitled “Project Gator”, our product is an Electric Pulse Disaggregator that has been through several evolutions to suit various R&D clients’ requirements. Gator can take apart materials at their grain boundaries without damage, and without contamination. Some of the most obvious uses for the device would be the extraction of minerals from background rock, recycling of valuable elements, and assay lab analysis of materials. The current state of mineral extraction involves either crushing with mechanical crushers or by utilizing caustic fusion, a messy process which often degrades the quality of the extracted minerals. Extracting minerals and grains from background rock in their original form becomes extremely important when dealing with observation or when the extracted sample is most valuable in its largest possible size. Conventional comminution processes often fall short in this regard. In past experimentation, our initial prototype was shown to be the best method for liberating kimberlites from drilled rock core when compared to both rolls crushing and caustic fusion systems. Other past testing was also done on amethyst clusters (Amethyst Panorama in Thunder Bay), and the results were also positive, showing that our system could break out large crystals in a fraction of the time it would take using manual methods. Although Electronic Pulse Disaggregation was discovered decades ago, the process has never really been put into mainstream use, nor has the technology been highly refined. Project Gator was originally designed in the year 2000, in my garage using spare components, and at the time was probably the highest power EPD ever created. Through collaboration with several mining clients, Gator has been finely tuned to meet the specific pulse shaping requirements to achieve optimal extraction of many diverse materials. There are definitely some unique features of our design that could warrant patents, but we will need to complete our latest design before pursuing this option.
The goal of this project was to install several remotely operated cameras on a construction site at an elevation of 100 feet in order to capture the construction of a water tower over the course of a year. There were two cameras installed at the site; one with a pan tilt and zoom function and the other a modified DLSR for high resolution photography. There were several challenges presented at this remote site as it had no power or access to residential internet service. Power was provided by a small solar setup that included a charge controller, inverter, and robust battery bank that could withstand the extreme Ontario winter temperatures. Internet was provided by a Starlink dish as well as several short range narrow beam links to bridge both cameras to the supporting computer. The security dome camera was remotely controlled by the client from the head office and the high resolution camera was programmed to send still frames at a rate of one per hour continuously to an offsite storage system. This system performed well for the entire duration of the project and allowed the client to remotely manage the site as well as create a high quality year long time-lapse video of the construction.