Ed Ledskalnin's PMH by Jim Rodney.

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Coating one of Rodney's steel blocks with a film of Piezo transducer compound like nano powder Barium Titanate in alcohol solution may generate and store enough power in a capacitor to latch and unlatch the magnetic bond. Reversing the spark polarity unlocks the bond.

The steel blocks would act as the Piezo transducer electrodes. The charge rate would determine the latch frequency. Thinner plates might bond just as good. The Piezo electric layer spikes power upon release as well as when presurized. The capacitor may store sufficient power to do extra work. A DPDT switch and zener diode would help. Thinner plates could work into a sandwich stack, with one magnet wire threaded between the multiple thin finely machined playing card size plates. Finely machined prefabricated steel spacers or fat steel washers are available off the shelf.


!00 grams of Barium Titinate nano powder is available for $41. from this supplier:

http://www.advancedmaterials.us/5622ON-01.htm

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Based on Rodney's tests, flat steel washers, like the one in the picture, may lock up by just snap touching charged wires to the outer edges. It may help to polish the sides of the washers with fine sandpaper. A Leedskalnin Piezo compression stack of washers and Barium Titanate film coatings may generate useful power.

The challenge firstly, might be to try and succeed at locking three of these steel washers back to back.

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This Fugi flash circuit may adapt well to the shock lock charge circuit , and reduce the power requirement. The latch wire would replace the zenon bulb.

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                                          "A SHORT 50 MILLISECOND DC VOLTAGE IS APPLIED TO THE COIL."

The latching "Coil" in Rodney's demonstration is a single wire. The Flash Module can deliver just that short a jolt to it from it's 1.5 volt battery and capacitor. We need to fish for the right size steel plates that it will latch. A pair of Aligator clips, one from each bulb electrode, then cliped to two sides of the paired washers might work. The Flash Mod dosen't need to be altered. The mod signals when the capacitor's fully charged and ready to refire. A manual DPDT can work the reacharge cycle from a second pair of wires one on top and bottem of the Piezo electrodes. All one needs to do for the proof of concept is to manually fire the flash and flip the two switchs.

This configuration would require 4 wires, 2 DPDT switches and the flash mod, because it needs to reverse the polarity to unlatch, hence the need for a second DPDT switch.

Below are pictures and discription of commercial bi-stable locking valves that use the latching effect:


"Through the use of a permanent magnet, the latching valves are bi-stable in either shifted state. This allows the valve to stay in either state indefinitely without drawing power. To shift the valve from one state to another, a short 50 millisecond DC voltage is applied to the coil. To shift the valve back, a reverse polarity pulse is applied to the coil. This feature makes this valve suitable for use in remote areas where continuous power may be limited. It is also valuable in equipment where coil heating, due to a continuous application of power, is undesirable such as in medical and chemical analyzers".