Components you wish existed.

[Cerebus]

Top riders can sustain an average of 700 watts at the pedals for an hour under occasional peak performance conditions.

A bit less than 700W. The UCI hour takes around 500 watts average power for an hour and, pretty much by definition, that's the world record for average cycling power output over an hour. The 1972 record of Eddie Merckx has been calculated at 485 W average and that's probably the highest effort attained because, although the record has been broken several times since, the bikes have improved over the same period reducing the actual physical effort required.

[JPortici]

I would like a 'perfect' active-synchronous bridge rectifier.  Like four IR11672, but without the external components, in a standard bridge rectifier footprint.

And a similar part for low voltage, perhaps integrated with a switching buck/boost regulator.  That would allow using any power brick up to 24VAC with small gadgets.

something like... http://www.mouser.it/new/Fairchild-Semiconductor/fairchild-greenbridge-solutions/
?

[timgiles]

A real working 800% batteriser!

[BrianHG]

Top riders can sustain an average of 700 watts at the pedals for an hour under occasional peak performance conditions.

A bit less than 700W. The UCI hour takes around 500 watts average power for an hour and, pretty much by definition, that's the world record for average cycling power output over an hour. The 1972 record of Eddie Merckx has been calculated at 485 W average and that's probably the highest effort attained because, although the record has been broken several times since, the bikes have improved over the same period reducing the actual physical effort required.

You are correct, the reported 700watts I saw was for 1h and 25min, not 1 hour.  As for the extra power on the generator, without a flywheel, the generator needs to withstand the 2 heavy torque strokes in the pedaling cadence at lower RMP without fail, otherwise the rider will get a slip, like when a stepper motor skips.  Just having heavier magnets and a slightly larger diameter which comes with a more powerful generator will also add to the mechanical flywheel effect as well.

Note, we are talking power at the pedals, not power transmitted to the road after all the mechanical gears/bearings/wheels...

[Housedad]

Fluxcapacitor

But where are you gonna get the 1.21 gigawatts of electricity?!

Actually, if you only need to hold that wattage for a second, then it's not that bad.  If you need to dish out that total power in one second, then you got some real problems.

Unfortunately they sort of glossed over those details in the movie.

One thing I've always wanted to know is how did he fit a nuclear power plant into a car? It would have been more believable if the flux capacitor was based on nuclear fission directly rather than electricity.

It was a fusion device, not fission. The name on the side of the unit said "Mister Fusion". 

[Cerebus]

You are correct, the reported 700watts I saw was for 1h and 25min, not 1 hour. 

Still something very wrong about that figure. That's a higher power output figure for a longer period, which common sense (and your aching legs) tells you is not the way that human endurance works. I think someone's quoted you figures for peak power output during a 1h 25m race, which I can believe, for an all out sprint in the final 200 metres of a race.

[helius]

It was a fusion device, not fission. The name on the side of the unit said "Mister Fusion". 

That was the version of the car that came back from 2015. The 1985 version ran on plutonium: that's why Doc had to make a bargain with the terrorists!

[BrianHG]

You are correct, the reported 700watts I saw was for 1h and 25min, not 1 hour. 

Still something very wrong about that figure. That's a higher power output figure for a longer period, which common sense (and your aching legs) tells you is not the way that human endurance works. I think someone's quoted you figures for peak power output during a 1h 25m race, which I can believe, for an all out sprint in the final 200 metres of a race.

Hmmmm, that would be average 495watts/hour at an hour and 25 minutes, measured with Powertap P1 Powermeter Pedals which have a +/- 2% error rating.  I'm going to have to find the original supplied log posting as I am nowhere near this figure (my record when my back was better was 225 watts at 1h, 40min, however, that was surplus wattage measured coming from a treadmill motor linked to a stationary exercise bike by a rubber belt as a generator & halogen lamps as a load).  I know sustaining a perfect 408 watts for 1 hour straight is considered a typical minimum capability for TDF grade racers.

NOTE: This is an old image before the control board circuitry and PC control logging, but, you get the idea...

[Cerebus]

Hmmmm, that would be average 495watts/hour at an hour and 25 minutes, ...

There's your problem. I don't think you understand what Watts are, which I'd kind of assumed you did given where you're posting, which consequently is why this was getting so confusing. 

Watts are the rate of expenditure of energy, also known as power; Watts = Joules per second, so Watts/hour is a meaningless unit (in this context). Watts are a measure of instantaneous energy expenditure, they don't accumulate over time, which seems to be your understanding from your roughly equating 700W over 1h 25m with 500W over 1h. A power of 700W expended over 1h 25m is a total energy expenditure of 3.57 megajoules, 500W over 1h is 1.8 MJ.

[PointyOintment]

I was going to say a composite video ADC, but there are many. For some reason, last time I looked, it seemed there was only a single such device on the market (which I could hardly believe, but I couldn't find any others).

[PointyOintment]

VCCap = voltage controlled capacitance

I'll give you something even better: Digi-Key -> ICs -> Specialized ICs -> Type column: Digital Capacitor. Unfortunately the IXYS datasheets are secret and all of the other manufacturers' parts are obsolete.

There's also an Electronically Trimmable Capacitor entry, though I didn't look at those.

(edited because the forum doesn't support Unicode )

[BrianHG]

Self aware MCU.

[blueskull]

Self aware MCU.

Skynet.

[David Chamberlain]

I'll put a second vote in for a cpld or self booting fpga with on board flash with lower pin count then what is available. Lots of glue logic and other simple stuff could be done with a device with 16 io but more cells. I guess that kind of product only interests hoists like me.

[BrianHG]

A random number generator which matches the results of the next lottery draw here in Canada.

[schmitt trigger]

A fully complementary pair for the 6L6 vacuum tube. 

[schmitt trigger]

And while we are at it, a ferrite power material with Bsat of 1.5 Tesla, and usable to at least 100Khz.

[Ian.M]

A fully complementary pair for the 6L6 vacuum tube. 

I wouldn't want to be within a couple of hundred miles of a compliment to a 6L6 tube - if the envelope cracks and air gets at the antimatter electrodes, it will make the Hiroshima bomb look like a firecracker.

[NivagSwerdna]

here's hoping

A reasonably priced portable multimeter (capable of uA measurement) that contains an inbuilt datalogger for subsequent analysis.

[Circlotron]

A fully complementary pair for the 6L6 vacuum tube. 

I wouldn't want to be within a couple of hundred miles of a compliment to a 6L6 tube - if the envelope cracks and air gets at the antimatter electrodes, it will make the Hiroshima bomb look like a firecracker.

What's wrong with "hello 6L6, you're looking smart today!"?
A full complement may well be dangerous, as you say.

[AndyC_772]

A reasonably priced portable multimeter (capable of uA measurement) that contains an inbuilt datalogger for subsequent analysis.

Fluke 289? Depends on your definition of 'reasonably priced', I guess. Mine cost much less than the value of the job I needed it for, so it definitely met that criterion.

[NivagSwerdna]

A reasonably priced portable multimeter (capable of uA measurement) that contains an inbuilt datalogger for subsequent analysis.

Fluke 289? Depends on your definition of 'reasonably priced', I guess. Mine cost much less than the value of the job I needed it for, so it definitely met that criterion.

That looks nice, but expensive by my definition of reasonably priced... but I concede my definition won't apply to all.  <£300 is my definition.

[David Hess]

1. A variety of monolithic matched transistor arrays.
2. Monolithic cross coupled quads - these are used for when you need real precision.
3. LCC and PLCC (J-*leaded*) parts including microcontrollers, programmable logic, and memory - these can be surface mounted or placed in sockets for through hole designs.
4. CdS cells - Is there really a problem with hermetically sealed CdS?

[e100]

Multimeter with a voice output so you don't have to look at the display.
Alternatively a multimeter with a remote display like the one on the "Google glass" glasses.

[schmitt trigger]

You know, this is actually a pretty good idea.

With the freakingly small components, in which one struggles to exactly position a needle pointed probe into whatever is exposed in a leadless component, I have had someone helping me reading out out loud the DMM readings.