Rush is right in that the gravity is the force that slows down the vehicle but not in the way you were thinking. See, the way that the piezo elements can generate energy is by removing it from a source, in this case the moving vehicle. The piezo elements generate energy because a force works on them *and* because they move (a force without movement by definition does not generate energy). The movement of the Piezo elements is not instantaneous, in fact they will generate the most energy when they only yield slowly to the force, such that the largest possible force over the largest possible time can act on them. What does this mean for the movement of the road? Simple, when the vehicle is entirely on the first piezo element, it is *not yet* completely compressed, but it continues to be compressed while the vehicle is already on it. Then when the vehicle reaches halfway, the piezo element behind him has started to uncompress, but is not yet halfway uncompressed and the piezo element in front of him is starting to be compressed, but it is not yet halfway compressed. The result of this is that the vehicle is driving a longer time on a ramp upward than on a road that is tilting downward. And that is what is causing the loss of energy, which is then harvested by the electricity produced by the piezo elements. It is quite simple Physics, but you need to take into account the dynamic system, not the steady-state, because in the steady state that was described, no energy is generated by the piezo elements (no movement is no energy). You can sketch a series of pictures where you assume that the piezo elements continue compression for 1/4 of the roadway distance between the piezo elements, the simple way of thinking about this is that they respond 1/4 distance later than when they would respond instantaneously. So, when the car is on top of element 1, it is 3/4 compressed while element 2 is uncompressed When the car is 1/4 distance down the road, element 1 is fully compressed while element 2 is still uncompressed, about to start compression. When the car is halfway down the road, element 1 is back to 3/4 compression while element 2 is 1/4 compressed When the car is 3/4 down the road, both elements are halfway compressed and finally the road is even. When the car is on top of element 2, element 1 is only 1/4 compressed and element 2 is 3/4 compressed so for the last 1/4 distance the car has been able to drive down the ramp, but at this very point it is entering the next section of roadway that is tilted up because the point where the car is, is already compressed and the next element is still uncompressed, so for 3/4 of the distance it will drive up a ramp (which will "sink" while the car is on it, that is what causes the piezo elements to generate power) Hope this clarifies the Physics involved, there *is* a force generate in the horizontal plane *by* the gravity, due to the tilted road, just like climbing a hill causes you to lose kinetic energy. In this case, you are not gaining potential energy like in the case of climbing the hill and regaining it when you descend, but instead the "hill" is created by the piezo elements that are generating energy, tapping from the forward motion of the car.
Cor van de Water Chief Scientist Proxim Wireless office +1 408 383 7626 Skype: cor_van_de_water XoIP +31 87 784 1130 private: cvandewater.info http://www.proxim.com This email message (including any attachments) contains confidential and proprietary information of Proxim Wireless Corporation. If you received this message in error, please delete it and notify the sender. Any unauthorized use, disclosure, distribution, or copying of any part of this message is prohibited. -----Original Message----- From: EV [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of via EV Sent: Friday, August 26, 2016 6:58 PM To: Rush Dougherty; Electric Vehicle Discussion List Subject: Re: [EVDL] Piezo-power> 10mi of freeway could charge all the EVs inBurbank-CA(?) > I think you've forgotten about a little pesky thing called gravity... and while > the distances maybe similar, the energy needed to get the 'vehicle' back up to > the same level, the rise, is more than the energy gained on the fall. Best check your physics Rush. That same resistance to rising is what makes objects crash into the ground. While there are losses, gravity isn't one of them. _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org Read EVAngel's EV News at http://evdl.org/evln/ Please discuss EV drag racing at NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA) _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org Read EVAngel's EV News at http://evdl.org/evln/ Please discuss EV drag racing at NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
