Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

homestead - [Homestead] Solar-Powered Buoyancy-Driven Heat Engine

homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Homestead mailing list

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: "WILLIAM JONES" <billj AT harborside.com>
  • To: <homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Cc:
  • Subject: [Homestead] Solar-Powered Buoyancy-Driven Heat Engine
  • Date: Sun, 17 Jun 2012 14:41:02 GMT

Wendy wrote:
>I'm not convinced that this contraption will be useful, but here is an idea
>to hold the bottles together:  take some of those big ty-wraps and fasten
>them >around the bottle bundle (or you could ty each bottle individually). 
>For added rigidness, use two-part plastic epoxy to glue the ty-wraps to the
>bottles >after fastening.   BTW look for the type of ty-wraps that has the
>plastic fastener.  Those with the metal fastener might rust out in the water.
Well, bear in mind that the diagram just minimally illustrates the concept. 
Six floats are about half as many as you would actually need, since the
torque profile would be extremely lumpy with only six.  In other words, the
more floats, the smoother the action.  To inplement more than 12 bottles,
it's probably better to start pooling the air from several bottles that send
air to the same float.  Because the air pressure involved is so low, mere
wine corks and drinking straws can be used as connectors. with sealing wax or
tallow.  But even one bottle is capable of generating about a pound of
buoyant force, since the air expands by about 10%, or one cup.  When I first
made the bottle you see in the picture, I used a glass swizzle stick to 
weight it down in a glass of water.  It's a good thing my eye wasn't right
above it when I laid the bottle in the sun, because the swizzle stick leapt
right out of there and broke on the concrete.  And BTW, don't leave the
bottle sit in the sun indefinitely.  It WILL melt.
Now's a good time for some background info.  I first dreamt of a buoyancy
engine when I took my basketball into the pool when I was about 8 or 9.  I
let it go and it smacked me real good, right in the nose.  I thought, this
has got to be good for something.
If you think about it, there's a buoyancy engine in every pet shop.  It's
called a bubble wheel.  I guess you could that an "open float" buoyancy
engine.  Mine is a "closed float" buoyancy engine, mainly because the change
in air volume is so small that we have to hoard every bit of air.
My ultimate goal goes way beyong water pumping.  I would like to power a
humble conveyance, like a bike powered by compressed air, with enough
capacity to make it back and forth from the market.  I call it the Wirtz
bike, after the fellow who did so much work on these devices over 100 years
ago.  I would like to use hydro power, wood, or solar to pwoer it, each
according to its season.  Unfortunately our little creek is completely
shaded, so the only model we'll be showcasing at the Museum of Fluid Power
will be a toy that works in a pond filled by the creek's hydro power, perhaps
a 24-bottle model driving an elaborate fountain.  But the neighbors have a
big pond that's in full sun, so who knows.
Bill


Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page