heres one to mess around with
lets say we take a tube wrapped with coils, open at both ends
drop a magnet through, as expected it induces current into the wires, but the problem is using energy to keep the magnet moving through the coil
lets now connect both ends of the tube, so we have a circle tube, still wrapped with coil
lets take this tube and put it on a flywheel
the magnet will stay at the bottom of the tube as gravity will hold it there
when the flywheel rotates, it forces the coils to pass through the field of the magnet, generating electricity (it would be a homopolar generator as the pole would never change)
this causes the lorentz force to be absorbed in the friction of the magnet and the drag will not be induced into the axle of the spinning flywheel
personally i dont have the magnets to see if there is an equilibrium point at which input apporaches similarly to that of the output
pros of the setup-: lorentz force attemps to be neutralized
- the faster the flywheel spins the more efficicent it becomes, as well as the more electricity will be generated by the magnet itself
- more "tubes" could be added, adding mass *adding to efficiency of generator* which obviously would increase generating power
- a lot of areas to expand to generate more electricity (ie. making the tube bigger, different gauges of wire, adding more magnets to
each tube, &c &c.)
cons- the generating mechanism would come no where close to generating enough electricity to maintain momentum in the flywheel
-obvious friction in the bearing or axle mechanism as all flywheels have issues with
-would the rotation of the flywheel force the magnet to rotate with the wheel while in the tube, generating nothing
i do not fully believe it would work, but im interested if anything can be expanded on it or maybe taken into a new direction
it seems a simple set up, i could add some drawing later if i get around to it
thats all i can think of at the exact moment, curious to hear opinions
until next time
quick sketch
whited out part on flywheel is "tube"
dotted line leads to tube by itself, concept view, real version would be balanced and have spaced coils of wire around tube as to achieve as close to equilibrium as possible
@ mr_bojangles,
You would have real problems with that. Try dropping a magnet through a copper tube. Notice the drag? A copper coil would do the same. Your magnet would virtually get stuck and all you would wind up is an imbalanced wheel. The centrifugal force would not help either.
I don't think this is a viable idea. Keep trying though, at least you are thinking.
Hans von Lieven
yes the centrifugal forces would work against keeping the magnet stationary in the bottom of the tubes, and as far as a copper tube it would have to be of a thin, nonconductor
what if there were a lot of these tubes and it was kept at a slower rotation, surely if it was slow enough the magnetic drag would be overcome by the force of gravity pulling the magnet towards the bottom of the tubes
i feel it would take an extremely fast rate to make the drag induced by magnetic fields to grab the magnet and have it stay stuck in the field, enough so to lift the weight of the magnet itself (assuming there is minimal friction between the magnet and inside of the tube)
just speculation, as i have not tested it at all which is why my opinion is just that, opinion
until next time
You might get away with it if the wheel is very slow and if there is no load. The moment you get a load though the drag will increase proportionally and that is when you get stuck in my view.
Give it a try, it's not difficult to do but I doubt it will work.
Hans von Lieven
extremely true hans
a flaw that i did not see initially
this is why the principle would only work at a specified speed that would need to be determined
i appreciate the criticism, and good luck to you