1151 - Gravity Battery/Generator MK2 - It Works!

[jourdanhamme]

You're excitement with the 1 Volt is making me smile <3 Good work guys

[TheMan]

Placing the flywheel above the stairs gave me an idea:

What if you were to use the stairs only for going up, and then use the rope for going back down? Climbing the stairs is something you have to do anyway, but if you used the rope to lower yourself back down you could then capture energy that would otherwise be wasted and use it to turn the flywheel. This would eliminate the need for lugging heavy objects up the stairs every time the unit needed to be 're-charged' (a task which would likely require multiple trips), and also allow you to use steeper gearing for making the flywheel turn even faster, thereby storing more energy.

[ollieb]

There's a project called Gravitylight (2?)they make a gravity powered torch essentially for rural Kenyans far as I'm aware. They fill up a bag weighing 12kg I think with rocks, earth whatever and it powers the torch for 20 minutes so they don't have to have kerosene fumes or fire in the huts. 👍

[Teknopottu]

Awesome stuff, guys! Luke, thanks for the close up of the meter. Now we all can hopefully make out of the readings!

[kenbrown]

been a big fan for years, awesome vid, i live off grid in the Arizona desert, I'm working on a project very similar to this idea, except i use the weight dropping from thirty feet to keep a large pendulum swinging, which rotates a large flywheel and that powers a 10kw generator, still working

[historyisfake]

Great! I have wanted to see people play with this type of generator. Thank you. Keep up the great work xx

[leostarling]

Instead of the flywheel, you can gear it up and use an electric load (such as feeding any surplus output to a capacitor) to slow down the descent. Much more useful and convenient. With additional useful property that an initially empty capacitor will allow it to quickly gain the operating speed but then as it begins to fill up, it will naturally control overspeeding.

[markmetzger]

Perfect a model prototype and build a full scale machine powered by 400 (or more) gallons of water from a decent rain off my roof gutters. When it reaches the ground I have a captured water supply for my plants and garden...awaiting the next rain to repeat the cycle.

[davidoneill]

i love your philosophy of build, test, improve……
We are building bicycle trailers to explore the Baja Outback….
Our first trailer i bicycled across America two years ago.
I find your videos to be most inspirational…..

[chrisreeves]

Now attach little buckets to the rope, chuck the machine on your roof and wait for the rain. Haha ofcourse you would have to stop the rain filling the opposing buckets and a way to auto empty the bottom bucket. Love the videos guys.

[islandsedition]

Perhaps you could try inserting a gear with a high ratio to slow the fall some more, allowing you to use a much heavier weight whilst stabilising output of the power generated?

[docink]

The picture in picture works well! There was a story a few years ago about an invention making its rounds in Africa, it was a geared gravity generator hooked to a light. The idea was you wound it up and it would produce light for a certain amount of time

[anthonydavinci]

You really are CHEERFUL FELLOWS ! It doesn't take very much to impress and be Happy....SERIOUSLY THANK YOU, YOUR SCIENCE IS IMPRESSIVE.

[twestgard]

So one watt, if I have the concept right. Might not seem like much but that is such a tiny weight and the height is minimal as well. Expand the concept to a ton lifted 20 feet up, neither of which is terribly difficult or expensive, and you really have some useful power saved up for a household scale application.

[Gigaloader]

Old school pendulum wall clocks have gravity batteries called weights too. You could spring load this contraption with the flywheel to get an even voltage output. Store energy by winding up a battery bank of springs with wind energy.

[maukaman]

I always thought it’d be cool to have a generator gym where all of the weights have cables attached to harvest energy as they drop and the bicycle, elliptical, rowing machines etc. use generators for resistance instead of just a brake. At each machine or station there would be a meter displaying the power each person is generating as well as a large display that shows everyone’s combined energy output.
These generators wouldn’t be able to power an hvac system or anything but could probably keep the lights on, and I think it would help people get pumped up and motivated in their exercise as well

[slrnuttall]

So, looking at this setup I see potential for a magazine style slide for the weights. Load up a row of weights with loops attached and use your fan-belt build (the toothed rubber belts) instead of rope to stabilize hooks along the outside side (like a conveyor belt with hooks). When a belt hook meets a weight loop, it grabs it from the magazine, the next weight slides in place and repeats as long as you keep feeding in weights with loops.
Maybe have a heavier weight every 2nd or 3rd and have the lower on a slow moving lazy-susan type affair so that the UP side of the rope pick one of the lighter weights and brings it back up. There will be losses due to friction all over but it could then continue for a longer period before needing to be "re-wound". Just a thought.
Love your work and glad to see the young lad following in your passion for invention.

[TrollFaceTheMan]

Up close video of the meter is appreciated.

[hubrisnaut]

I recently read an article about a company (in Spain, I think) that is selling concrete "flywheels" for energy storage. The system is a 20 ton concrete cylinder and a permanent magnet motor-generator. The concept is to use the motor to spin-up the cylinder when electricity is cheap. Then generate power when it is expensive.

[danchadwick]

Awesome demonstration! Curious if you made it oscilate with weights on the ends of a rope, such that the flywheel brings the other weight up until it stops you would have the mechanical version of an electric oscillator. Friction would eventually stop it... the flywheel represents the inductor because it resists change, and the weights represent the capacitor because they cause the change in direction of the rope, which represents the current. Remember the 0 point is where the weights rest at the same level. Pulling one up makes the other go down. This is important in that the midpoint is halfway down the stairs.