So I spent a couple of days thinking about Piezoelectricity and discovered many had been working hard on using Piezo's to “do stuff” and “move stuff around”.
Like many I originally hoped “energy harvesting” from Piezo's would be the answer though it appears not currently viable.
Reversing the concept, making the Piezo's “move stuff around”, seemed like a valuable idea due to the good old storage device we call a battery.
While Piezo's (PTZ's) do move, they only make very minor movements in the order of 100microns. Adding them together seems to work though in this example I've only included a stack of 5 to keep energy use as low as possible.
Many engineers coined a term “Fixed Displacement Amplification Hinge” (Another description for a “lever”) and while there are many research papers on the viability of using the PTZ's to “move stuff around” and “do stuff” it seems they haven't tried a “Ratchet drive”. (There's one I liked that used PTZ's to build a high volume energy efficient water pump)
My idea is similar to:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqnEIj00C6kThe obvious difference is using the PTZ's to move the ratchet and the added complexity of the “Fixed Displacement Amplification Hinge” though I quickly drew a little sketch of how it could work.
The math behind the lever, the PTZ's, power consumption and teeth on the cogs has all been done but I hope others are interested enough to verify it.
As you can see it's simple enough to build and doesn't do anything really that cool though it seems to provide enough energy to re-charge a battery and have lots left over.
Here's the idea:
Piezo ceramics move 100uf with correct voltage applied.
“Fixed Displacement Amplification Hinge” lever can amplify up to 20x (10 to be conservative).
PTZ has approx 8000N distortion force = to approx 800kg (give or take).
5x piezo's stacked = 500microns
500microns x 10 = 5000microns (or 5mm)
100mm lever with fulcrum point in the middle attached to a “Ratchet gear” converting linear motion to rotating motion.
8000n = approx 800kg force – 50% = 400kg linear force. (Note these numbers are "blocking force" n#'s, (IE: force required to push it back into shape) we'd only really need approx 20kg's to move the ratchet gear)
5x150mA = 750mA. 1.5A (Control box to increase voltage and pulse to distort PTZ's)
100Amp/h battery = 57.5hrs runtime (Unless it does actually power the alternator and then it will run continually)
I actually hope there's something I've misunderstood or something I'm forgetting that would make this design not work. Piezoelectrics aren't my forte and my only experience with them was some design work for a diesel injector I did with Caterpillar. I know very small Piezo's are capable of moving very high pressure injectors at very high speeds (55000+psi) so I know they can rotate a simple car alternator.
I hope this doesn't work because if it does, it's proof the scientific community has been withholding viable “free energy” devices for years.