Model Engine Maker
General Category => Oddball => Topic started by: burnit0017 on August 22, 2019, 10:08:59 PM
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[youtube1]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYuOgZ4HQ-w&t=199s[/youtube1]
[youtube1]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pq39Tm2MHsE&feature=youtu.be[/youtube1]
Hi, I have started working on a gravity powered generator. Just for experimentation. This is to see how much electricity I can generate with this device. :zap:
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I don't get the basic physics premise of this gizmo. If the shaft and cams at the right have to lift the levers with the blocks, this will put potential energy into the system. When the blocks fall, this is converted into kinetic energy. There is no net gain - you can not get more energy out than the mechanical energy you put in, via the cam shaft at right. In fact having the fall motion be transferred to the generator through multiple spur gears, bearings etc there will be further significant efficiency and friction losses. Forget about Arduinos or other sophisticated control methods - the basic physics are not there for generating electric power reasonably efficiently with this thing.
Now if you had something naturally gravity driven, like falling water, or a windmill to lift the blocks and spin a generator with a lower friction more efficient power transmission method, that would be a better starting point.
Or better yet, eliminate the transmission and use falling water or waves / tides to direct drive a generator. Boring, and it's been done, but it works, and has a lot more energy density than other natural energy sources like wind or photons from the sun.
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I have made several Gravitic Powered Temporal Engines. Also know as clocks...
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Ah yes, gravity powered clocks. An elegant device.
I had a potato-powered clock kit given to me once when I was a kid. Naturally I threw the instructions away immediately. ::)
I must have dropped half a bag of potatoes on that thing, letting gravity do its' thing, with no visible results at all. Then I found the electrodes on the wires........ :facepalm: :embarassed:
:cheers:
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[youtube1]https://youtu.be/UUZhyh39yP4[/youtube1]
Hi, conservation of energy applies to the device. This is not a OU project. If I replace the wiper motor with a pulse motor and step down gear train it should reduce the amount of electricity used at the input without braking any laws. This really is just a experiment. Thanks for the comments. :zap:
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You are putting energy in to raise the blocks against gravity and then looking to take energy out by allowing the blocks to fall. If every part of the system was 100% efficient the very best you could achieve would be to recover the energy you put in. But that would require zero friction in the shafts, gears and bearings, and no copper or magnetic losses in either the motor or the generator. That isn't going to happen. All that changing the gearing, using pulsed motors etc will ever do is modify the force profiles in the parts.
I have heard grandfather clocks described as "gravity powered", but of course they aren't. The energy that drives a grandfather clock is supplied by the person who raises the weight every couple of days. Gravity can only "power" a system where there is a net change in gravitic potential (ie "height") in the process.
Essentially what you are attempting to do is to connect a motor to a generator, and then assuming that if you put a step-up gearbox between the two this will somehow give you some "gain". It won't. As a famous irishman often said "Ye canna change the laws of physics, Cap'n!"
AS
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"Ye canna change the laws of physics, Cap'n!"
AS
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Truer words were never spoke. Well said.
Live long and prosper! :Lol:
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[youtube1]https://youtu.be/Ee5TeEs-ynY[/youtube1]
poor results :zap: swapping wiper motor with a pulse motor
[youtube1]https://youtu.be/UUZhyh39yP4[/youtube1]