Gravity Motor Patent 7/10/08

[TinselKoala]

@shakman: This might be an appropriate time to state "Ibison's law": If your simulation software or your mathematical model predicts violation of conservation of momentum or a violation of 2LoT, then the software or the model is in error.
But they are "phun" to play with anyway.

I am in the lab today, actually working on a model of mondrasek's wheel, as per my drawing earlier. Will post pics later.

Magnetic latches? We shall see.

[mondrasek]

While waiting for Clanzer's next post I decided to go out in the garage and get stators on my build.  Again, since I am playing with tiny 1/4 dia x 1/4 long magnets (n45) I have doubts that I would have enough mass to over come the wall I face.  I am not just sliding the magnets up to their natural hover hieght by any means.  I am firing them almost the entire length of my 8 1/2 inch guide tubes.  So my stator and thus the repulsive wall is kinda high next to the mass of my switch magnets.  But I am causing them to travel a rlatively large distance so that torque unbalance might be relational to the higher wall force.

My stator magnets are now bar magnets (1/2 x 1 x 1/4, n40 I think).  That gives my stator wall a straighter edge for the switch magnets to approach.  I am "eyeballing" everything and fixing with screws and super-glue (CA) without any adjustment capabilities except for shimming.  My mass switch guide tubes also have some burrs around the whistle cuts for the latch that sometimes catch a magnet.  I cant completely clean them up since I am working at such a small scale with 40+ year old eyes.  But after shooting some locksmith dry graphite down each paper guide tube they seem to fire as needed about 95% of the time.

Some interesting observations:  If you spin the wheel by hand too quickly the centrifical force cuases the mass switches not to work and the magnets in each stay out towards the rim.  You can hear each one fire as it approaches the bottom stator, but they do not launch high enough to make the lacth (again due to centrifical force).  As the wheel slows you can hear when the mass switches begin to operate properly.  And they do so for longer than I expected, but then again I have alot of inertia in my wheel compared to my tiny magnet's mass and the wall forces.  She almost looked like she wanted to run!  But soon enough you see the pulsed slow down as the wall takes off speed with each approaching mass switch. 

I am suprised by how robust the design appears to be.  My stator magnets are not adjusted to the optimal position to minimize the wall yet stil fire the switch magnets past the latch. My switches ares crap yet work just fine about 95% of the time.  I may work up another four to add.  I layed out the wheel for 24 and rolled that many guide tubes last Sunday.  The whistle cuts and clean up take the most time.  But four shouldn't take more than 2 hours.  Unfortuantely my garage is hotter than hell right now.  But maybe 24 will make her run, so I guess I'll try while waiting for Clanzer.

[shakman]

@shakman: This might be an appropriate time to state "Ibison's law": If your simulation software or your mathematical model predicts violation of conservation of momentum or a violation of 2LoT, then the software or the model is in error.

With any luck some time soon we will need to write an exception to that rule 

[TinselKoala]

Here's a way to tell if your weight shift or magnet assist is really working. You need to be able to give your wheel a "calibrated spin". In my lab we do this by taking a known weight (I usually use a boxend wrench) and some string, tying the string to the known weight, and wrapping the string an exact number of times around the axle or the outer periphery of the wheel. Suspend the thing an appropriate distance from the ground, measure the height of the weight. Let the weight fall, unwinding the string and accelerating the wheel. Note the height of the weight when the string lets go. So the weight has fallen through a height of (first height - last height) and has imparted a calculable momentum to the wheel. Count the turns of the wheel to come to rest.
Now do a comparison--with your weights fixed in place so they cannot move (choose some average position, or compare inner and outermost positions, etc. ) and also test in "free running mode" that is, as you expect it to operate.
If your weights are helping turn the wheel, you will know about it using this technique even if self-sustaining operation is far away
This is why I have incorporated a groove around the outer periphery of my mondrasek rotor.
Which, BTW, is nearly complete. I just need to drill 12 more holes for the outer magnet retainers, and tap 23 holes (I already drilled the inner retainer screw holes and tapped one of them.) When this operation is complete, the rotor will be ready for magnets and bearings.

[CLaNZeR]

While waiting for Clanzer's next post I decided to go out in the garage and get stators on my build. 

Hi Mondrasek

Nothing new to report this end apart from marking out my new wooden wheel and getting the bearings sorted.
Also working out a way to make sure I have the wheel perfectly balanced before adding each component, so it can be un-balanced very easly.
I also want to get the laser tacho rigged up to see at what RPM the magnets fly out and stay out if you get what I mean.

Sorry to say I work away from home during the week, so will not be doing anything else till next weekend

Will be online during the week to keep a breast of whats going on though

Cheers

Sean.