Idea on how to trick the conservative gravity - a very possible solution.

[spinner]

Hi, T-Koala,

That linkage would be mechanically feasible for one pair of pistons, as you showed in your earlier animation, but with several like here, the linkage is impossible. It requires parts to interpenetrate, at the axis.

I think the "interpenetrating parts" are technically rather easy doable (axle bypass pipes). The main technical obstacles are still (not mentioning a conservative principles...) a really high friction with vacuum-tight pistons, a very bad force parallelogram (look at the Force vectors in certain areas - a  piston-push circular offset...).... etc...

Now, ignoring that, the substitution of a heavy gas to eliminate the pressure gradient doesn't change anything, because the pressure gradient in water isn't what prevented the submerged wheel from operating in the first place. It's the fact that, in all these configurations, as broli has discovered, the Work Out equals the Work In, once you have found all the masses that are being moved and account for them.

Keep thinking, though.

This idea (gravity/buoyancy) using a "vacuum"/volume  in a dense gas  environment has some advantages and many disadvantages comparing to a "common" (Air/water) buoyancy combinations....  Of course, both concepts should be "less effective" than a classical overbalanced wheel (weights in a normal atmosphere, sorry, gravity)...

The buoyancy difference between the gasses/fluids should define the theoretical "buoyancy difference" leading to a (possible) overbalance and potentially work performed. Mass in a gravity field has a better potential difference in relation to any buoyancy concept so far, so it's a way to go.... 

[Low-Q]

How many buoyancy wheels has been built or designed based on vacuum?

Do they only exist on paper? At least mine does...

Is vacuum, as a non-material, a part of thermodynamics?

Wouldnt vacuum be the absolute zero-energy level? Wouldn't it allways be a potential difference in an environment full of matter?

Vidar

[TinselKoala]

Some, sort of:
From the Simanek site:

1833 [No. 6510] Barthelemy Richard Comte de Predaval of Leicester Place, London, Engineer. Complicated mess of water, turning cylinder, drum, pistons, friction plates, springs, etc. It acts "by a joint power derived from the buoyancy of a body in fluids, and the weight of a body in vacuo." (A joint stock company was based on this patent.) Long description in Dircks (1861) pp. 420-427, with four drawings. A rotating drum is in a cylinder. Carefully machined "seals" divide the space between drum and cylinder into a left portion, filled with water, and the right portion in a vacuum. Buoyancy was expected to keep it turning. The inventor describes a simple experiment with a half-drum intended to demonstrate the ability of the buoyant force to turn the half-drum.

"Wouldnt vacuum be the absolute zero-energy level? Wouldn't it allways be a potential difference in an environment full of matter?"

Pretty much. That's why it's so hard to find a real vacuum. For example, I'm working with a vacuum chamber about the size of a washing machine. Say 200 liters capacity or so. Call one atmosphere of pressure 1 million microns. It takes a mechanical roughing pump about an hour to get the chamber down to 1000 microns, then another hour to get to 100 microns, then another hour to get to 10 microns. Then I start the turbo-molecular pump. It takes 10 minutes to speed up, but then it fairly quickly gets the chamber down to below 1 micron (or 10e-3 Torr).  After a couple hours, we are down to the mid 10e-6 Torr, and I can turn on the high-voltage ion pumps, which are totally electrical and have no moving parts. If things are looking good, I can valve off and shut down the mechanical pumps at this stage. By evening the chamber may be down to 10e-8 Torr. But there is STILL air in there, and other stuff too. At these pressures, almost everything has a detectable vapor pressure. So when I fire up the residual gas analyzer I might be able to detect water, air gases, crud from lubricants and seals, even some metals, you name it. And that's in a medium-hard laboratory vacuum, far better than anything you are going to be able to achieve by pulling on plungers.
In fact, any vacuum that's in direct contact with water can't be lower pressure than the vapor pressure of water at that temperature.

[Low-Q]

Thanks for the information above

Can't you start with an initial vacuum made by pulling a piston out? If you use CNC made mechanism, you start with no volume, at least a micro-volume. Then you pull back the piston by a great force. Let's say you manage to get 1 micrometer average space between the piston and the bottom of the cylinder. Then you pull the piston out to one meter. Shouldn't you get 1micro bar in an instant? Then you can continue to pump out the rest of it. You will save alot of time I guess.
With my biggest squirt, I fill some of the volume at the bottom with vaseline to prevent space when I press the piston to the bottom. Then I seal the aperture, and I visually inspect the bottom to see there is no bubbles in there. Then I pull back the piston. A scale show me that I use the same force of pull all the way - about 2,7kg - according to the area of the cylinder too. That rubber piston will in fact not leak. I pulled it out for a few minutes. When I released it, the piston went back to the bottom, and no visible bubbles after a few minutes of vacuum. I was quite surprised it worked that well.

Of course, if you have 200 liters, the great area of the piston would be hard to pull out...

br.

Vidar

[Low-Q]

Hi,

I understand now that I have to use my hand and energy to lift up the weight in water displaced by the cylinders in order to have a rotating buoyancy wheel. So I now replaced that hand with hollow pistons that have the amount of volume required to lift itself up, making it easy for the pistons to move that water upwards. There is no limit how much volume it can be that lifts the pistons upwards. And still it will be possible to have the very same buoyancy difference between left and right.

Where is the flaw? It must be a flaw, so where is it?

br.

Vidar