Hydrostor is starting to get a lot of action with their water-compensated CAES plant:
https://www.energy-storage.news/goldman-sachs-invests-us250-million-in-long-duration-energy-storage-provider-hydrostor/
The champagne effect can be a serious problem in these plants...
Use hydraulics. I am not suggesting a 100% hydraulic drive such as attempted by Parker Hannifin, or Mitsubishi with their Sea Angel. These, and all other such attempts, failed. Not technically, but economically.
In my proposal, analysis attached, a variator would handle as little as 11% of...
Is it possible? Meaning, would it work?
In the attached file, the white parts are standard spur gears. I used 20 tooth, 20DP, 25 degree PA gears, but the gear size does not matter.
Then I extended the lands, as shown in black. These extensions are curved, but with a smaller radius than the...
A few years ago, on the condition that I keep it confidential, a prominent gearbox designer gave me a paper he had written on an advanced design for a wind turbine planetary gearbox. I don't believe I am betraying his confidence by quoting the following statement from the paper. It seems to me...
In an emergency shutdown. a nuclear plant requires on-site generators to drive the emergency cooling pumps. I am wondering why the decay heat is not used. Of course that is a simple way of describing a complex system, if one is possible. I am not a nuclear engineer, but I guess it is not...
Why are there no large gearboxes using the gear bearing concept? Say in the wind turbine industry? I can't find any.
Early reports did not indicate that there should be no upper limit on the rating of gearboxes of this kind. In 2002:
"Planetary transmissions could be simpler, cheaper, and...
Here are some claims for this new gearbox:
"Our box will last five to seven times longer than the traditional design," said Attia, who said a traditional gearbox costs upwards of $200,000 per wind turbine, but only lasts two to three years.
"The gearbox Ivankovic and Attia have developed will...
Advice on this topic is requested below. First a description of the arrangement.
The right-angle drive would be installed at the top of the tower. Power would be transferred to the base through a vertical drive shaft. This would reduce tower top weight and put the generator and electricals...
This is a fine program, free to anyone. There is one small flaw in it that they didn't notice. When analyzing spur gears, if the contact ratio is greater than 2, some of the results will be nonsense. The Fairfield product engineer says:
"Unfortunately, our program doesn’t flag that...
I would start by locking up the TEPCO officials who have been in charge of the response to this monumental disaster. They have been lying and procrastinating and refusing to recognize the danger from the start.
It will take trillions of dollars to stop this thing from getting worse, possibly...
Does the Nuvinci ever slip? Any comments on the more recent CVTs below?
http://www.ereleases.com/pr/cycling-cvt-horizon-infinity-drivetm-cvt-enters-prototyping-phase-33681
For the above see US Patent 8376888
Here is another design:
http://www.bitraptor.com/en_edyson_CVT.html
Here is a description of an inherently safe nuclear power reactor. It is from a recent discussion of a report that was written in 1956 by a ten-person group working to establish General Atomic. Among the authors of that report were Freeman Dyson and Edward Teller:
"An inherently safe reactor...
To capture the leaking oil and gas until it has been stopped, would a gas lift pump work? There is about 40% methane by mass in the leak. This high percentage of gas would create a very powerful gas lift.
Direct the leak -that is, after the oil/gas has left the wellhead and is in the water at...
I am building a gearbox with Mod 1 helical gears from Dodge APG (American Parallel Gear) gearboxes. Helix angle is 15º. I believe the normal pressure angle is 20º. I don't know whether the teeth are modified. There are 22 teeth on the pinion and 50 teeth on the gear. Face width of the gear...
Why does entrained air cause problems in a centrifugal pump? I am supposing that the air/liquid mixture separates under acceleration in the impeller, allowing the liquid fraction to flow backward through the air region - internal recirculation. How close am I?
I have no particular problem here, just requesting general comments on the subject. Unequal load sharing among the planet gears seems to be the main disadvantage with planetary gearboxes. Is this a myth? Cases of damage from unequal load sharing, design rules for improving load sharing, all...
