Mathematical Analysis of an Ideal ZED

[TinselKoala]

Just like that,, nope,, but then things are not just like that.

It is kind of like TK carrying on that the rams must stroke for feet and feet and feet,, hogwash,, never heard of a lever??

Hogwash... so that's the secret of the ZED! It's full of hogwash!
Yes, Webby, I've heard of levers. Did you know that the product of force times distance is the same for both ends of the lever? Move one end a long way with little force and the other end moves a short way with great force. Or vice versa. You can have small travel and high pressure at one end, but the other end is going to have large travel... and low pressure.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HuxmF_1Z90

How much REAL water does it take to lift 65,000lbs of virtual water?

How long does it take to lift that virtual water and dump it?

Meaningless questions because you aren't specifying initial conditions.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEeNmSOEgQY

Some of the arguments against the ZED reminds me of the comic Jimmy Jones,, the one about getting pulled over for speeding on the A1,, 60mph?? but I have only been out for 10 minutes,, If you remember back that far you know why I did not write the actual joke

Isn't that Wayne's line? He only needs ten minutes input to get a net of an hour's output, it sounds like. Or  maybe it's the other way around.... he puts in an hour, recycles that hour over and over and gets a net ten minutes out every cycle. Sounds like he's using mental health hours, which are only 50 minutes long to begin with.

[MarkE]

This is a fun little piece of trivia about this,, you most likely already know it,, rough numbers of course

The volume of the whole system at end of state 3 is

116cc

The volume of the whole system in end of state 2 is

112cc

The equivalent volume of displaced water in the end of state 2 is

147cc

The volume of water in the system at the start of state 2 is

22cc

The added volume to make all this happen is

2.5cc

So playing with 24.5cc we get 147cc worth of fun

Another way to look at it is this:
A complicated device with a cylindrical volume compressed of ~131cc compressed, and  ~136cc extended can be replaced by an ~$1. compression spring that occupies a volume of:  0.08cc compressed and 0.1 cc extended.  The latter device works in any orientation, does not require complicated procedures to prepare, does not change its properties due to evaporation, leakage, or contamination.

[minnie]

  Webby,
           I think that your load is 65,000lbs of displaced water so the answer must be that
   times the distance you raise it. It's just the paradox.
                      John.

[MarkE]

MarkE,

Are you going to post your fixed spreadsheet?

I might also suggest that you make the riser OD self setting instead of hard coded.

Oh sure, here it is along with the five state graphics.  I added an additional state:  State 1X which is a state that would occur if after reaching State 1, the risers are not restrained.

[MarkE]

Thanks MarkE.

If you have automagic riser OD's then use a HorGap of 3 and a pod of 400 and drop the fill down to 33

You can change the geometries and the spreadsheet will still calculate correctly.  Do you really want to increase the pod from a diameter of 20mm to 400mm???