Re: Now the Bay Area rolling blackouts begin...

From: Ross A. Finlayson (raf@tiki-lounge.com)
Date: Wed Jan 17 2001 - 17:38:47 MST


Chuck Kuecker wrote:

> At 05:55 PM 1/17/01 -0500, you wrote:
> >Actually, the generator will put out a decent AC for anything but
> >sensitive electronics like science instruments, etc. You can also, if
> >you get a multimeter with sine wave display you can download and build a
> >power conditioning circuit to soften the sine wave off of the blocky one
> >typically seen with cheaper gensets. You only need a Trace inverter if
> >you are using a DC generator like solar power.
> >
> >Also:
> >http://www.cheaperthandirt.com
> >http://www.northernsupply.com
>
> Mike -
>
> What kind of AC generator puts out anything but a sine wave?
>
> I understand the square wave problem with inverters, but not with rotating
> machines like alternators. The big problem with the cheap sets is voltage
> and frequency regulation.
>
> Maybe if you severely overload the alternator, you will get a distorted
> waveform...magnetic saturation effects...
>
> Chuck Kuecker

My idea is to have large flywheels, say the size of a water softener or air
conditioner. The flywheel are pretty heavy, maybe a couple hundred pounds,
and are self-contained. Perhaps they would have to be mounted to the
foundation of the building if they would ever hold very large amounts of
power. So, throughout the year as power is available the flywheel draws power
and accelerates. Perhaps it is magnetically levitated on superconductor so
there is no friction inside the machine. So, the flywheel builds to a high
level of power, and when there is any power outage, then it automatically
compensates by slowing itself. If nanotechnology is available, then one
monolothic flywheel can instead be many million in a relatively inert human
layer physical state. The reason this would be better than a chemical battery
or generator are some, although ome renewable power source like a few panels
on the roof should also exist.

Ross

--
Ross Andrew Finlayson
Finlayson Consulting
Ross at Tiki-Lounge: http://www.tiki-lounge.com/~raf/
"The best mathematician in the world is Maplev in Ontario."  - Pertti L.



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