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  • From: "WILLIAM JONES" <billj AT harborside.com>
  • To: <homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Cc:
  • Subject: [Homestead] Wirtz Bike
  • Date: Thu, 28 Jun 2012 06:33:40 GMT

One potential problem for my present version of the Wirtz alternator is that
the chambers refill passively, which I know from experience can take more
than a second or two.  If you really throttle down, it could be that the
refilling can't keep up with the ejection.  Here's a simple way to avoid that
problem.  Just use a little more pressure than it take to run the engine, say
5 psi more, so that the pressure in the final loop of hose is high enough to
inject water, uphill even, into the displacement chambers.  If we just add a
5 psi regulator at the top of the gravity separator, then the water will
always be pressurized enough to fill the chambers quickly.  If we don't have
this "active reflll" feature, then it becomes a problem to place the
separator below the pedal/hose assembly, and also the alternator below the
separator.
We also don't need to push foam in.  The air can just push the water out from
the top and continue flowing.
We can also make do without the complicated balance for weighing the
chambers, just by using the bike pedals as cams to change the state of the
valves.
Tomorrow I'll submit a diagram for my new design.


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