It's a great idea as an excuse for being late to work all the time...
"Sheeit, boss, I ran out of gravity.... again...."
Sorta related to gravity, Pop Mech had this inertia-driven car, with a big goddamm flywheel that you'd spin up in the AM. Only problem was, the car acted funny in turns....
Still waiting to see whazzup with air powered cars.
So to get this system, I'll have to buy a ups truck????
Well, I proly cain't look any dorky-er driving the wife to the movies in a UPS truck than I already do in my Honder Shit.... actually Consumer Reports Golden Car... but the wife hates it....
But that ups ditty is really ingenious, from the little I unnerstand. I would have never thought to mix air and hydraulics, but in fact it's done all the time: pneumatic powered hydraulic bottle jacks! Who'da thunk?
The article made a very inneresting point about the regenerative braking of compressed gas being 3 times more efficient in capturing braking energy than pure electric regeneration!
The reason for this, in hindsight, is clear: batteries can only be charged at a certain rate, vastly exceeded by the huge currents generated in the huge power levels of braking. You can calculate this from 1/2mv^2, converted to joules and then watts.
I did this for someone in a discussion of regenerative braking in trains, and just one stop, from 40 mph, can power the avg large-ish house for a full day -- on the order of 22 kWhrs.
You can almost visualize this in the car rotor, which can get near red hot in powerful breaking (and likely would, if not designed with boucou cooling). Imagine the current required to make a rotor glow -- like a filament!
Inyway, hydraulics seem to rool. Be inneresting to see more specs/stats on these ups trucks. Hydraulics, in general, seem very very reliable.
LMAO! Acted funny in turns? I remember that idea (though I don't remember if it was PM) from many, MANY years ago. You ever play with a gyroscope? I wouldn't want to go for a ride in one.
Why not? That's exactly what you're doing when you ride a motorcycle. Most people don't realize it, but you actually turn right to go left, and turn left to go right. The movement is ever so slight. Many people ride motorcycles all their lives and don't know that.
Once you understand it, and learn to use it, you can do so pretty amazing things. That how racers drop their bikes in to, and out of corners like they do.
I do, well - I used to do (gotten a little wiser as time goes by) wheel hops with my KZ-900. While going in a straight line, drop the bike to one side, and then crank the handlebars in the opposite direction (into the turn), so hard that the bike wants to stand up immediately, causing the weight of the bike to compress the front forks completely, and when the bike does stand up, the front forks extend causing the front wheel to hop off the ground. The front wheel hits the ground again just as you're dropping down to the other side. Pretty cool. You hear a little chirp, chirp, chirp, as the front wheel makes contact with the ground. Gotta do it hard and fast, and maintain your speed (about 45-50 is perfect). When you've had enough, just relax and the bike will straighten itself out. Just like a gyroscope!
Did by accident the first time while swerving back and forth as I was going down one of those terraced hills on the coast of CA (Cardiff by the Sea). I just happened to stand it up just as I hit the crest of one of the drop-off's, and the front wheel came off the ground! Freaked me out at first, but then thought, That was kinda cool! So I learned to do it on a straight, flat road.
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