Gravity wheel development

[ultimavoid]

I have an idea for a gravity wheel using springs and earth magnets to adjust the radius of the weights. I want to see if anyone can come up with a design similar to mine or another possibility. Think of this as a community brainstorm. I will give hints and suggestions along the way and we'll see if we can come up with something. I have no problems with sharing my design, but I would like to see where we could go as a group first. Let's get to it!


-Dan

[ultimavoid]

What does your idea consist of? My thoughts are about using magnetism and the potential energy that can be stored in springs because they are intrinsic and do not need output from the system to function. My final goal is to create an excess of torque that can be tapped into with a generator.


-Dan

[infringer]

If gravity wheels can work then surely there is a way that water can be applied for over unity a way of generating more power out of the fall of water then what it takes to pump the water up.  To me this is a cheaper and more modifiable approach if things can generate power from gravity so can the fall of water in a practical way not evaporate and then fall into a tank like the earth this would be too slow a process to be useful while it would provide an unlimited power potential the time factor is killer.



-infringer-
www.mopowah.com

[ultimavoid]

Tom, that sounds quite interesting. My only concern with those components is that they are not highly efficient. Energy conversion and chains/gearing tend to be lossy. The big question is, will the addition of force due to gravity outweigh the losses in your system? I have thought about implementing these types of systems, but I find the simplicity of magnets and springs to be the more efficient route. They require no electricity to operate.


Infringer, that is an interesting concept. As I understand it, solar water heating is fairly efficient. Have the water heated via solar heating system, evaporate through tubing to condense at a higher altitude, and use the gained potential energy to fall across a waterwheel back into the original tank. The evaporation removes the need for inefficient pumps, and solar heaters can raise the temperature fairly quickly.