The Paradox Engine

[Tusk]

This device is a proof of concept prototype designed to apply what appear to be newly discovered principles to the problem of mechanical overunity.

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/715/pengine.jpg/

While this build is not sophisticated enough to produce an electrical output it does nevertheless make use of a hitherto unknown phenomena to create mass in motion from both an applied force and the associated reactive force. The device consists of an aluminium disk with the axis mounted on one end of a main supporting arm or rotor which in turn is bench mounted at the central point with bearings such that both disk and rotor are able to rotate freely. The opposite end of the rotor is counterbalanced, but it is envisaged that in future designs a disk will be mounted at each end. The disk  has 36 permanent magnets arranged regularly around the outer edge and is driven by a tangential linear force supplied by a pulsed electromagnetic drive unit located directly over the axis of the main rotor such that the applied force alone cannot cause the rotor to rotate.

video:

http://youtu.be/Nn09U_c2S7U

Observation of the device in operation confirms that during acceleration of the disk the main rotor rotates in accordance with expectations based on knowledge of the aforementioned phenomena. In addition during deceleration (by application of electromagnetic braking) the motion of the main rotor reverses suggesting a second manifestation of the phenomena as expected. Data from an onboard power logging unit during tests with the main rotor both secure and free confirms that the rotor free mode requires no more power than the rotor secure mode, in fact somewhat less power is used for a significantly higher disk rotation rate as shown in the data from a typical test run in the image below:

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/145/paratach2watts.jpg/

The phenomena itself manifests as a duality of motion, in that a body subjected to a linear force so as to cause it to rotate is induced also by conservation of momentum to move with the same linear motion as would occur if the initial force were applied at the centre of mass. This understanding can be arrived at theoretically, but as a demonstration of the concept a simple experiment might do better service than a lengthy explanation: (the pegs have equal mass)

http://youtu.be/zi8k3PMUM6k

Since I could find no reference to the phenomena there seemed little choice but to formulate a rule of sorts to explain the concept, which rule appears below:

A force applied at any point on a body in equilibrium results in an equal and parallel reactive force at the centre of mass of the body acting in the direction of the applied force.
This reaction causes such linear motion of the body as would occur if the original force were applied at the centre of mass, independent of any rotational motion produced by the moment of the applied force.

Clearly this aspect of the work might be previously known, although the phenomena almost begs for application in the field of overunity. It would be an inexplicable oversight if that were the case.

It is envisaged that the operation of the device will be cyclic, alternating between accelerating and decelerating the main disks (allowing a twin disk system). During acceleration power will be taken from the main rotor. During deceleration power will come from the disk itself and also the main rotor, which will turn opposite to the previous cycle. This promises a theoretical overunity of almost 300% but of course there will be mechanical and electromagnetic inefficiencies.   

The next phase requires a far more sophisticated build than my own resources allow, at least in a timely manner. Open source seemed the most likely method to advance the concept, and I submit the work done so far in the hope that others will take the necessary steps to realise the full potential of the phenomena.

[DreamThinkBuild]

Hi Tusk,

Thank you for sharing.

It's interesting how it goes backwards as it slows down.

Have you tried putting a single weight on the outer edge of the aluminum disk?

[Tusk]

Hi DTB, and thanks for your interest.

The reversal of the main rotor represents the 'third bite of the cherry' so to speak. As the braking force is applied to the disk (in a fully functioning device this would be similar to regenerative braking on an electric vehicle, i.e. recovery of the kinetic energy of the disk) the secondary reactive force of equal measure applies at the axis of the disk driving the main rotor opposite to the initial 'power up' half of the cycle. With two disks running on a lightweight main rotor each of the rotor cycles (disk spool up/disk power out) would theoretically approach the combined kinetic energy of the disks.

As for adding weights to the disk, presumably you are suggesting a balanced donut type mass; certainly there are improvements to be made in efficiency based on established engineering principles, but in this instance my preference would be lightweight and high velocity for maximum kinetic energy.

[onthecuttingedge2005]

ummm, Newton's 3rd law, hello!!!!

[Tusk]

Apologies for the poor quality of the graph I uploaded, I had not intended for it to be reduced in size. Hopefully this will redress that error. Also I changed the colour of the power curve to red for clarity.

I should probably elaborate on the test method, due to the EM drive having an erratic startup the disk was spooled to just over 1150 rpm on each run then allowed to coast back down to 1100 rpm at which point maximum power was applied for 8 seconds. The time scale of the graphing software has a fault, each small graduation represents 1 second so that at the 0.25 second sampling rate there are approximately 32 data points during each power run.

Note that even if we disallow the potential of the main rotor motion, the main disk exhibits a significant advantage over a static test i.e. main rotor secure.