Perpetual Popcorn Machine

This is a concept design of a perpetual motion machine. A perpetual motion machine is a mechanical system that is able to move without a source of energy, without ever stopping, some designs are too bold to even claim that the system generates free energy (free energy machine).

Of course this design is not a functioning Perpetual Motion Machine, it is nearly impossible to design such system, energy is always lost while it makes its cycle in the system. It is lost in form of friction, heat dissipation and by moving the surrounding air which absorbs the energy.

Here is a brief explanation of how this simple machine could operate. An individual corn kernel falls on the heated platform (colored in red), the water in the corn kernel heats up and eventually causes an explosion (The POP), the explosion allows the corn to expand into a popcorn and this expansion pushes the piston downward and the Popcorn with it. At the bottom, the Popcorn exits the piston from the right side. The motion of the piston drives a gear which rotates a shaft connected to an electric alternator. The alternator generates electricity which is fed back to the heating platform. 

By this design, the energy of the exploding Popcorn is partially recovered and sent back to heat up another corn.

 

I should point out however that this system can be multiplied to several pistons connected to the same shaft and flywheel , each allowed to input energy to the alternator freely but also keeping a more continuous motion for the flywheel. The gear and the flywheel are not connected by a straight shaft, the gear drives the main shaft by a torque in one direction and free rotation in the other direction, exactly like the drive gear of a bicycle.

There are few mechanisms removed from these pictures.There is a mechanically connected gate , that allows one corn kernel to fall into the piston when the piston moves downward and returns to place, this gate will allow feeding in the kernels, one by one. This system also assumes that all corn kernels will explode. It is of course possible to later add electronic smart systems that detect a bad corn kernel and disposes of it to keep the Perpetual popcorn machine running.

Of course a system like this has no point other than interesting mechanical design , popcorn making and just a fun thing to try out. All previously design "Perpetual Motion Machines" had no purpose, at least this one , while consuming energy from the electric grid to keep running, it will also make you something to munch on while you watch a movie.

There could be in fact a perpetual motion machine, if you can cheat with the conditions, for example, two bodies in the vacuum of space connected together by gravity, can rotate around each other endlessly if there are no external gravity fields affecting their motion and no contact between the two bodies to create friction.

Next Generation Self Parking Car

RFID is a relatively simple technology, it is not new and it is already implemented in several industries, including logistics. RFID stands for Radio frequency Identification. Below is a simple picture of an RFID tag. This tag includes a chip which carries a memory and an antenna which is used to read the data on the memory. This particular tag does not need energy, but it is energized by the wave sent from the reading device. This tag is relatively cheap, also carries and transfers back data accurately. Recently , there is intense research to improve the performance of the chip and expand its application. One direction is to allow the reading device to read from distances exceeding five meters and to measure the distance from the device to the tag. By measuring the distance with accuracy up to one cm and using at least three reading devices, the accurate location of the tag can be determined.

This self parking car concept, suggests using the RFID tags and reader to guide the car into a parking spot. As the accuracy could be up to one cm;the sensor placed on the car and RFID placed on the sidewalk, the distance separating the car and sidewalk can be accurately measured and the orientation of the car can also be measured using two or more tags.

As the tags , carry data, the tags can have the exact distance between them on the memory and the approved car dimensions that can fit in specific parking.

The sensor on the car emits an all direction radio wave, that arrives to all nearby RFIDs , energizes the tags and receives feedback data from individual tags.

As the data reaches the tags, a radio wave is reflected from the tags carrying the data. The time delay for this reflected data and the known speed of the wave propagation is one method the car can identify the distance from the tags and orientation.

This  RFID self park system, can be the basic system for park guidance, and additionally assisted by rear view camera and other types of sensors (Ultrasound or other) that the car could be equipped with.

It could be more accurate so that the car identifies its location and orientation for a perfect positioning compared to camera assisted park.

Installing RFID tags along a sidewalk is not of high cost, the tags price is dropping as the technology spreads. The tags do not need energy, they are passive systems, only energized by the car sensor when it is activated.

Küg - A Dice you do not Throw

As Successful redesign has a higher chance than a dice's 1/6 if you know what you are doing. Küg is a redesign of the dice function of generating a random number from 1 to 6. The exception is that the user does not need to throw Küg, but a small ball that runs through it to reach one of six gates in the design. Each gate has a number from 1 to 6 and the chance for the ball to reach each gate is 1/6.

It must be noted that One of the oldest known dice games was excavated from a Mesopotamian tomb, dating back to around 24th century BCE (ISBN 978-1-4522-6610-7). The dice has not changed for thousands of years.

 

In the Küg design,the ball is thrown in the center hole, it falls on a tiny platform inside the moving bell and rolls out of six axi-symmetric openings in the bell, and finally lands on the bottom platform and stops at a gate.( In the above picture the gate Roman numbers II ,III and IV are shown) . The ball trajectory is shown in the section view below.

The bell at the center of Küg is not made for esthetic design only, but also for function. If Küg is placed on a tilted table of up to 10 degrees, due to the force of gravity, the bell adjusts and aligns perfectly vertical to keep the chances of all gates equal at 1/6.

The above picture is a first 3D printed prototype to allow the testing and improvement of the design function.

The final functional Küg. 3D printed