Well, here is a video shot from behind the driver.

http://www.youtube.com/user/TraderTurok#p/u/2/39LhFo3P-bw

Too bad they are on this bumpy saltlake terrain, so they could not let it run
faster with shaking it apart...

Would have liked to see it go 100 mph !

Larger wheels are usually worth it, even if they add air drag. I could write books on the important of sufficient wheel size for a job. Some would wish I had, to I'd preach it less online and hope people would get the book.


Here's a brain teaser. As if this stuff isn't complicated enough as it is.

In the video's, we see a vehicle which has the 100% traction wheels 1:1 connected to the propellor, in whichever gear ratio and blade pitch.
Now, HOW VITAL is this (1:1 or otherwise) hard link to make such speeds possible?
Could selective braking on the wheels and/or the prop seperately, to keep spin ratios in a preferable zone, make the cart "think" it's outfitted with such a physical link?

So, the prop upon self-start wants to turn backwards but is withheld by the wheels, right? A one-way clutch on the prop could do that. But not get it turning the "wrong way" when the cart gets moving due to the force pressig against the uncooperative prop. Then, why not use an on the fly adjustable prop. Let the prop spin up while the cart is held in place. Adjust pitch to get maximum kinetic energy storage at high rpms. An additional flywheel could store some more, later to be used to boost the wheel.
Then adjust the prop pitch to the other side, effectively reversing thrust. Don't waste rpms, and crank it open. Clutch the flywheel to the wheels. Cart will accelerate, and hopefully cross the threshold after which the magic can occur without further gearing tricks. Prop speed and cart speed line up, and are from there on brake-adjusted. The flywheel is dropped, not needed for the run itself.

An air ship might need to start with a wire to an anchor, wrapped (indirectly) around the prop axle. Same as wheels on a cart.
Would, whel the wire runs out and off the axle, the ship be able to accelerate towards 3x wind speed? The around the world record could come into jeapardy then. Imagine hitting the jet stream and merely doubling the speed.
When it sounds too good to be true, it usually is. But could a simulation give the answer?

Clo
your goin to fast for me!This is a holy cow idea
Quote:
"Then adjust the prop pitch to the other side, effectively reversing thrust"
------------------------------------
You are a very smart fellow!
Having started life on this planet as an aircraft mechanic, I can fully appreciate where you are coming from!

WOW

gotta go back to work,thanks for the redirect![something to think about]

Chet

Thanks Chet, appreciate it.
Being 100% uneducated I think sometimes allows me to think outside the box, into the obvious.

I'm pretty sure this has been invented before I wrote it. Like by a Wright brother too lazy to first dismount and then push his biplane rearward into the garage.

Too bad flywheels tend to be overly heavy to bring along for the few times they actually come to good use. Just my bold observation though. A flywheel can however be stuffed with KE indefinately, as long as the bearing is sound, the shape round, and the gearing up for it. If you let the car sit on the parking lot during the 9 days of your working day, being fed by the roofmounted prop, how much KE might it have stored? Might made for a sweet burnout down the office parking lot as you head back home.

The pitch flip would meet some good resistance (open a car door on the highway), being at top spinning speed, but then also might give a good initial kick to get up to a start, and the prop in sync.

I hope I can sleep before I have a Zeppelin freewheel its prop when having its tail pointed in the wind. Could it possibly be, that the negines internal resitance and mismatching rpms have kept a century of air ships miss out on a quick no-fuel orbit of the earth? Nah...

Being 100% uneducated I think sometimes allows me to think outside the box, into the obvious.

I'm just wondering whether achieving OU were not a question of education but mainly a question of daring. Just like Fire Walking.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firewalking

At the first glance it sounds impossible witout being burnt.
Actually, anybody can safely do it.

  The wind is always moving 14mph relative to the ground.  This provides the power in the system.  Doesnt matter what portion of the wind he is in.  It is a great demonstration that what appears as static is doing work staying static.  Like a motor in a car.  The mounts and frame are doing work resisting the counter torque produced by the engine.  When an aircraft touches down the wheels are motorized to high rpm otherwise the Earth does some work on them heating the rubber up pretty good.  To save on tread the wheels are motorized to reduce this work.  Put some piezo crystals between your motor mounts and the frame.  Theyll generate.  Line a muffler with them.  Theyll generate.  Line a cylinder wall with them and lean out the mixture so you get detonation.  Theyll generate. 

Hi Chet,
what do you mean by going faster than the the wind on
just a catamaran ?

Do you mean having the wind behind you or is the wind then
blowing from the side ?

Probably only possible with a catamaran, when the wind
blows from the side, but not from the back as it is here.
So this catamaran thing does not count.
It is a totally different thing.

With this vehicle we don´t need wind at all.

If it is accelerated by the car to 14 mph WITHOUT wind,
it just takes off and generates its own thrust.
This will never wiork just with a catamaran !

Regards, Stefan.

The idea of the spinning propeller geared to the wheels on the tread mill gave me an idea. Why not stick the propellers on the end of a fixed bar which is free to spin on a central shaft. The moving ground could be a motorized lazy susan or turntable.

I had a hard time trying to find pieces in the software to conceptualize the idea, so I made a very rough design. I used Lego Digital Designer which is freeware and good enough to get the basic idea out.

The center shaft would be mounted on a spike or needle like a weather vane is and be freely turn-able. The gearing would be geared up, since I couldn't find the right gear pieces I used the same as reference in the drawing. Also the propeller blades would be much larger.

Yes, good ideas !
I agree !

Many thanks for these ideas !

Regards, Stefan.