Testing an Adjustable Lego Generator

Рет қаралды 19,944

Күн бұрын

Patreon: www.patreon.com/user?u=122597865
See my latest experiments and behind-the-scenes footage!
Is bigger better?
In this video we explore a few of the main factors that influence generator output. Namely, the strength of the magnets, the distance of the magnets from the coil(s), and the input speed.
This generator is a small and simple single core axial flux generator. You can vary the distance of the coil from the magnets by using a lever to bring it closer to the spinning flywheel.
We test 2 different flywheels with different size magnets, and 2 metal coils at different wire diameters to determine which has the greater output. To determine the greater overall output, we measure how long it takes for the different magnet sizes to bring a 1 Farad capacitor up to 1 volt.
Capacitors are a great way to capture some of the energy to use for low power applications.
#lego #power #energy #technic #experiment
0:00 Intro
53:00 Setup
3:52 Why Use a Metal Core?
4:53 What Influences Output?
7:55 Filling Some Capacitors
10:21 Lighting a Bulb

Пікірлер: 28

@gammongaming9081 Жыл бұрын

I'm so surprised you don't have more subscribers, your channel is amazing and inspiring!

@JamiesBrickJams Жыл бұрын

Aw big thanks, appreciate it! 😁

@Totally_Bonkers Жыл бұрын

So size matters and bigger is better. Got it.

@JamiesBrickJams Жыл бұрын

Ahem... Mostly 😉

@antekelektronik8788 Жыл бұрын

I see your videos don't make big numbers, I belive these videos are a lot of work. Don't be discouraged and keep up your work! Some day you will have a big and successful channel.

@JamiesBrickJams Жыл бұрын

Thanks, I appreciate your comments earlier - it's awesome seeing how encouraging everyone is! I'll keep them coming

@ansonhaniwalt4806 Жыл бұрын

You've done a fantastic job with your channel so far and as many others are saying it seems like you're about to gain a lot of traction! The electromagnetic experiment niche could prove to be very popular. As an idea, I would love to see you build the "most powerful lego electric motor ever" as I can't really find any examples of electric motors made from just magnets, copper, iron, and lego. You are so much of the way there already with the structure in this video! The most powerful lego motor I can find is the RC race buggy motor, which draws 15 watts at ~10v and produces just ~6 watts of mechanical power. At the scale of this build, with some more stator poles you would already be in the 100s of watts power handling territory, and possibly already better than the 40% peak efficiency of the buggy motor if you choose a BLDC pole pairing/winding that works with off the shelf brushless ESCs! If I were attempting this I would put magnets on both sides of the rotor and add a mirrored stator to cancel out the axial forces from the poles on the rotor and bearings, as I doubt lego pieces hold up well when used as a thrust bearing. Then I would do whatever possible to improve the rigidity of the rotor, the axle, and the bearings. Also, if you want to make a more efficient motor, you might look for "soft iron rod" or "ferrite rod" for the cores instead of an iron or steel bolt. Ferrite will be the weaker core material compared to soft iron, but both will produce significantly less heat for the same power as the bolt (significantly lower eddy current losses) as long as you aren't saturating them. Of course the bolts would work though! If you pulled this off, I have no idea what you'd then be able to do with 100s of watts of mechanical power in lego, but you'd probably be one of the first to have that problem haha.

@JamiesBrickJams Жыл бұрын

Thanks for taking the time to write out such a reasoned and detailed comment, I really appreciate it. You know I've actually been toying with that idea for a while, and even have some BLDC motor controllers that can handle a pretty large output... My main struggle was thinking of why I needed all that power for a Lego machine, and what I would do with it. Lego is usually limited by the mechanical strength of its components.. and likewise, so are generators. I've already come up against the limit of how much force I can put on parts. But if you or anyone else have any ideas for what to do with an absurdly powerful Lego motor, I'd totally build it. Might need some metal axles or liftarms to deal with the strength of it though!

@IvyMike. Жыл бұрын

Nice experiment man, would be nice to see the output waveform on an oscilloscope between the 2 magnet sizes.

@JamiesBrickJams Жыл бұрын

Hey so would I - that's definitely a piece of kit I've been looking at getting

@kennethmui88 Жыл бұрын

emf = -N*Delta_Phi/Delta_t, where N is the number of turns of wire, and Delta_Phi is the change in magnetic flux. The fact that your bigger magnet has a stronger magnetic field directly means that you will have a larger emf with all else being the same.

@kennethmui88 Жыл бұрын

Its not the size of the magnetic themselves, its the size or magnitude of the magnetic field, i.e. - You could have had physically smaller magnets but they could have been magnetized stronger.

@JamiesBrickJams Жыл бұрын

Very true, I should really have made that clearer - I guess if someone were to use a weaker but larger magnet (e.g., ceramic) then the output would be weaker. I guess at the time I wondered if the higher frequency and speed afforded by many more (but smaller) magnets could generate as much EMF as bigger magnets (but fewer of them).

@toni20k 8 ай бұрын

i love that kind of videos! thank you so much! i have got a question. why wont you try to make infinite energy wheel? maybe by using one of your projects modify it so batteries in the controlling brick are fake and you will use a modified ones with wires attached, and then a motor. by making a big enough input to output gear ratio it should be technically possible, shouldnt it? and you can always add a 'freewheel' and another powering thing, this time manual so the first start will be manually controlled until the brick starts.

@ravenstorm1203 8 ай бұрын

I'd recommend using a small crank than a twist, I think the power output would be more consistent than it is as you use it

@JamiesBrickJams 8 ай бұрын

I'm sure you're right, a crank would likely be a lot smoother. For a future one I'd love to use a foot pedal!

@jester_lp9933 11 ай бұрын

I would be very interested in how you built the device at minute 1:18 . Are there instructions or a video for this?

@JamiesBrickJams 11 ай бұрын

I don't have a video for that, but I've had a few folks ask about it, so I'll likely make something short and sweet with it! It's really just a simple ratchet though attached to some gears

@jester_lp9933 11 ай бұрын

@@JamiesBrickJams That would make me happy. copying that might be possible, but your construction looks very smooth ;)

@JamiesBrickJams 11 ай бұрын

Haha I'm by no means a good engineer, but happy to share it. Might put up a short vid or some pics on the KZfaq community page if I can figure out how that works!

@the_goood_man2271 Жыл бұрын

Can you make a short Video about how this ratchet works it’s kinda nice to have this mechanism and please keep on working on your videos as you did before they are very interesting 👍

@JamiesBrickJams Жыл бұрын

Sure, I can make a YT Short sometime soon with it - if I can remember how to build it again 😅

@the_goood_man2271 Жыл бұрын

@@JamiesBrickJams okay thanks