Exergen with flywheel action

[willib]

i found this flywheel some time ago,

it has been inactive on the exercise bike waiting for something...

yesterday i mated the flywheel to the motorcycle hub rotors.

i am real happy with the flywheel action and the rotors , a couple of pumps on the exercise bike pedals , and the rotors go on their own for a whole minute.

i still have some tweaking to do , the axle on the flywheel is from another bike rear wheel , because the one that came with the flywheel is 0.390" dia, and the one on there now is ~ 0.368 dia, so a 10 thousanths shim wrapped around the shaft should do it nicely.

i needed the new axle because it is longer than the original.

i still am going to make a windmill out of the motorcycle hub rotors , but until the stator is complete i can get in better shape and charge some batteries at the same time.

i'm thinking that i can sit on the couch and pedal while i am working on the puter.

plus i can test out the PWM DC to DC converter and the boost converter

the gear ratio on the final drive is almost two and a half to one.

i'm using two ball bearings on the shaft with the rotor hub, so consequently the shaft spins also , but i can stop it with my hand just by grabbing it.

should make for an interesting testing period because with the stator holder mounted on said shaft , the whole stator will be able to rotate smoothly , allowing very accurate torque measurements.

[willib]

this is the flywheel ,its 18" dia and real heavy





here i've drilled holes in the sprocket , and i am spotting the holes in the flywheel.





tapping the holes in the flywheel was tricky , with a blind hole , a couple of times i thought i was going to break the tap , but all turned out ok.





This is how it turned out, not too bad?

[willib]

wow i just got 10A (AC) from this coil, max'd out the meter a couple of times

i think i'm gonna charge some NiMH batteries

shouldnt take long..

turning the rotors by hand i only was able to get 6A if i recall correctly.

this is gonna be fun

ps after a several minutes at 10A the coil was warm to slightly hot

IIRC there are about 200 turns of 0.045"dia wire in that coil

[willib]

The nice thing about the flywheel is you can spin it fast then take a break while it discharges its momemtum .

[WXYZCIENCE]

Willib, that real cool! I got one almost exactly like that one. It had some real stupid friction brake pad thingy on it to simulate a hill. dah! I always wondered why all of those exercise bike companies couldn't come up with something like yours.
Joseph.

[willib]

I know i wondered that too.

at least you would be accomplishing something , like charging a battery .

i also have plans to put the MiniGenII on there ,just to test it out, cutin is 220 rpm so i would only have to pedal at 88 rpm to start charging a 12V battery

[RP]

Assuming those are steel, 2 of them would make a neat pair of magnet rotors.  Lots of air cooling and plenty of room for overlapping coils.

[willib]

the flywheel is actually cast iron , with a chrome plated rim

why would ya want to overlap the coils?

[RP]

Overlapping coils allows a complete fill of copper on the the stator.  Usually this is almost impossible on an axial unit because of the difficulty fitting all the wire loops on the inner diameter (inside the magnet circle but outside the bearing).  

It just seemed like it would be very elegant to do it with these flywheels.

[willib]

the flywheels are a bit heavy , which would slow down the reaction time , to wind gusts ,

the motorcycle disk brakes on the other hand , are very light , and have plenty of air circulation

[wooferhound]

What about a whole gymnasium that generates power

or a dance floor

or shoes

or a backpack . . .

http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB117270857656222691-3qllxXq2db3gi3uvYlQ53I8a_ak_20070308.html?
mod=blogs

 

[Norm]

I like David Butcher's ideas.....

http://www.los-gatos.ca.us/davidbu/pedgen/ultimate_pedal_tv.html

    Altho the flywheel is on the extreme side,

wouldn't take up much horizontal space tho

compared to my non-productive upholstered recliner chair...

       LOL !

         ( :>)Norm