Does a fast gearbox generate more electricity?

In this video we will generate electricity using an extremely high gear ratio gearbox. Does the fast speed help generator more electricity? Let's find out.

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#gearbox #electricity #generator #gearratio

[xTHERANGAx]

This man sure does love his 3D-printed gearboxes

[IZuzivowoI]

As others have pointed out, you need to measure voltage and current at the same time. Also, when measuring current, your multimeter is set to mA, but your leads are connected to the unfused 10A sockets. This will give unreliable results.

[DC-oxrc]

You need to measure current and voltage at the same time, NOT measure unloaded voltage and then multiply by the short circuit current.

[TheObserver]

You need a flywheel on the fast gear set to maintain speed and store energy momentum.
For the big generator just get a slight faster speed and wala!

[BenjaminMarshallScienceMan]

Great video! But unfortunately as others have pointed out, you didn't measure power correctly. It doesn't look like anyone has explained how you should really do it, so try this:

You should buy a power resistor. A 100 Ω resistor rated for 25 W would work fine and only costs like $5. BTW power resistors can also greatly exceed their power ratings for short periods of time, so it's fine if you produce over 25 W. Once you have it, connect it to the output leads of the generator, and hook up your multimeter to measure the voltage across it, and do some simple math.

If you have a 100 Ω resistor and see 12 V across it, then you know your current because 12 V ÷ 100 Ω = 0.12 A. You'll also know how much power you're generating because 12 V × 0.12 A = 1.44 W.

Good luck to you!

PS. I don't know if you'd be interested, but I have a bunch of experience in 3D printing entire electric motors and have dabbled into 3D printing magnetic gearboxes. It might be cool to collaborate on something.

[ginnungagap]

Getting the gearboxes to spin faster: mounting them with bolts/screws would be a great idea so you didn't have to hold them down for the spinning. This may look like a heavier-duty more industrial stand than what you've been printing, but that way, you could both get a faster and more consistent turn of the crank. And, speaking of the crank, if you increased the distance between the crank shaft and crank handle, you'll have significantly increased leverage, and thus an easier time to spin quickly and consistently.

Seeing a metal gearbox would be fascinating. It would be a great way to compare the friction outputs of similar gearboxes with different materials; not to mention spin speed and electrical output differences.

[jamo]

Nice work on the gears, looks like you've stepped things up a lot in how you've designed/put these gears together.
Question though: You're measuring the voltage without load, and the current is being measured with the meter acting as a dead short.

[jespermller]

A fun little test. and thanks for that, I really like your videos.
But it just does not quite work out in reality.
You will need to measure the energy you are getting into the system at the same time to get an idea of the output.
And you can not measure voltage and amp separately, it must be done simultaneously with 2 multimeters.
In the test you use 2 different generators, it will certainly also give different results.
Suggestion: how about setting a motor to drive the input shaft, use the same generator at different gears, measure amp and voltage simultaneously.

[irfankhan]

You need to do comparisons on a standard load not just the open load voltages or currents. Although its ok for simple scenarios. You can also start with the law of conservation of energy or just the fact that if gear ratios increase or decrease speed, they do the inverse for torque.

[jasmijnariel]

2:22 when you dont use the handle, and create a false reading

[zachlistofficial]

That makes sense from a mechanical perspective as well. If you're riding a road bike, you can pedal the smaller gear ratio a lot faster to pick up speed and get going, and the big gear ratio, while requiring much more force, outputs a lot more power.

[sapientboxcreature]

You should try covering the gears with magnets and surround it with a lot of copper wire to make your own generator

[Lunarcreeper]

3:27

if you are wondering why he doesn't just hold its handle. it's because for some reason when it's connected to something it's meant to power it becomes extremely difficult to move and feels almost impossible to get a good grip on

[itsglizda]

2:05 You are using your multimeter in 2mA range, so you arent getting 200mA from that motor, you are getting less than 1mA (0.234mA), and 2:43 you set it into 20mA range, so from that bigger motor you are getting 2-3mA - barerly to light up an LED, you can connect LED and see how much power you are really generating.
For generating power purposes you should always use brushless DC motors, because they use permament magnets

[Skyfighter]

On that high speed gearbox, you need a bushing on the crank handle hole. This will spread out the forces, prevent enlarging of the hole itself, and make for a more secure crank handle. A bushing and bearing would work even better, but as we see in the video, even trying to use that crank for only a short bit wallowed out the hole it was in.

[electronresonator]

may I know why you still avoid planetary gears for this gear up ratio ?

[LifeontheBellCurve]

As someone who rebuilds industrial DC generators for steel mill conditions, I can tell you that most of the MG sets run at 1200-1800 rpm but I have seen some slower. They have a synchronous motor (an AC stator with a DC rotating field element that maintains a consistent speed without slippage) coupled to several (separately excited or series excited) DC generators on both ends of the motor. There is a direct mathematical relation of work done in HP to the output voltage and supplied possible amperage output. Horsepower = Torque x RPM / 5, 252 and 1 HP = 745.7 Watts. Knowing this, you can deduce that the rpm can vary but what really leads to a higher output is the torque in the system. You can build a DC generator to maintain a certain EMF at variable rpm by adjusting of your excitation field in response (the bread and butter of series excited generators) but the actual amp(flow) output under load leans more on the torque of your driving force. AC generators are a completely different beast and are more dependent on RPM over torque with the speed being the deciding factor in the output frequency. Most run at 3600+ rpm with 3600 being more common in the United States in order to make that 60Hz frequency.

[peterknoppers]

Multiplying Voltage with nothing else connected by short-circuit current does not yield achievable output power. You will have to attach a decent load resistor and measure Voltage AND power under that load. What constitutes a decent load depends on the specifics of the generator. If you don't have those specifics, measure it's resistance while it is stationary and use that value for the load resistor.

[genepozniak]

I was looking at this as a means to make a gravity "battery" more efficient, as in needing the weight to fall more slowly, thus decreasing the distance it has to fall. Over a certain weight, the torque would be irrelevant, for all practical purposes. A flywheel might help even further, though it might not be necessary.

[aliozanerbektas]

No. It's about how much power you input into the gear, minus the friction loss, times the efficiency of the generator.