@Charlie,

Interesting concept. Let us know how it works out. [edit] Do you think it might work better with a follower and cam guide on the upper weight box? It would seem that you would have more leverage....just a thought.

Yes it is more leverage at center, but over a proportional shorter distance, should work out the same when weight rise, distance, and speed for the same time is considered. Also the rise at center would be many times greater and harder to tweak. With the bottom cam I should be able to have real accurate control over the rise. But let me know if you still can see a problem, since Bob K said his cam was around the center. Don't know if it was due to the actuator arm or not.

I could be wrong but the round object could be part of the drive gearing for his generator? Small gear on the shaft to a much larger one to ramp up the rpms?

Good point.

Regards, Larry

I'm stock on understanding the locking? mechanism. Kind of don't get the purpose of the levers.

I'm stock on understanding the locking? mechanism. Kind of don't get the purpose of the levers.

When the weights are forced to the top during the rotation, the locking mechanism is used to hold the weights against the springs until about 4:00 (going clockwise) the locking mechanism is released which releases the potential energy of the compressed springs and aids in lifting the weights upward. The actual mechanism would be whatever would work. For instance, a pivoting catch and pin. However, it will need to be very strong as you'll see.
Regarding the levers, we are currently unsure of the exact geometry of lifting levers. Larry is currently working on an approach which may not require the levers. It would be helpful if you could complete as much as you can and present it and we can comment on how to proceed.
Thanks for your help!
Charlie

@Bessler007

The problem with most evaluation versions, including this one is that you can't save your work.
Charlie

@Broli,

Sorry, I've been trying to reply to you off and on today, but evertime I would insert your post I would get error on page. Finally tried other post and they work fine

Well, anyway if you look at the Door latch stop pic, you will see a regular door knob with a lever attached to it hitting a stop to cause it to release. The catch is attached to the weight box rear on a piece of 2X4 almost even with the hole. The other piece of 2x4 below that is attached to the main board and forces the catch into alignment to latch properly.

The  cam guide pic is a graph to represent the proposed slope to raise the weights. Each square is 1". The bottom length is 2"8", which is the length over two clock positions when the diameter is 5'. The side length is 13" which represents the height to raise. The top length is 2'1" which is the length over two clock positions when the diameter is reduces by the 13".

I have a dot at every 4" with a rise value before it. So the cam guide will follow the dotted path.

@All,
Had a new disturbing idea today, what if Bob K is using the spring force at first then after that loses force, he releases the stored shock pressure to further assist the rise. This would throw our simple design out.

Regards, Larry

 



 

@All,
Had a new disturbing idea today, what if Bob K is using the spring force at first then after that loses force, he releases the stored shock pressure to further assist the rise. This would throw our simple design out.

Regards, Larry

Brilliant observation! I was thinking that they just absorbed the shock of the shifting weight. Let's see what Uncle Bob had to say....
"The air cylinders I use as a shock absorber, similar to that in a car and it also stores a bit of energy that locks the 2 weights together almost at the bottom."

So it may very well be that he is using the air cyclinders themselves  to 'latch' the weights. He could have valving set up that transfers the pressure at the correct time to release (and possibly assist in lifting) the weights. OK....now what?
Charlie

Interesting thoughts guys!

I'll add a few.

Springs: Since Bob had springs on the ends and bellows in the middle. To simulate, I put bungee cords in the middle so with their length they would not apply tension until they got around 4" to the end/middle. You can see the green in reply 353 (Bob-Machine pic) on each side. It had the eye bolts to add bungees to the other side of the boxes, but wasn't needed yet.

Momentum: I normally try to keep any supporting structure mass on a gravity machine as low as possible, believing that mass should be focused as much as possible into the unbalanced weights to give gravity the advantage. But in this case with one rotor, additional structural mass may be required to pull the unit thru the lift phase. Does the end plates of the unit in Bob K's pic look like fixed weights?

Rpm: It seems a certain minimum rpm will be needed for the centrifugal sling effect to work.

Regards, Larry       

OK Guys

 Springs work both ways in energy transfer. They always want to go to neutral position. So for every action there is a equal and opposite reaction. In this device it is obvious.