ELECTRIC GENERATOR POWERED BY A GYROSCOPIC SYSTEM - A THEORETICAL APPROACH

The development of our society now depends on electrical energy and the demand for electrical power increases yearly. Due to the vast amount of carbon dioxide released in the atmosphere by conventional power plants and the negative influence on the climate, new ways of producing electricity must be developed. A gyroscope consists of a spinning flywheel of mass m mounted in a suspension frame that allows the flywheel’s axle to point in any direction. In this analysis, one end of the axle is supported by a pylon situated at a distance R from the center of mass of the spinning flywheel. In order to generate electrical energy at this low speed, the same approach should be used as in wind power electrical generators. In this case, the wind and propeller are substituted by a gyroscopic system and gravitational attraction. Based on the conservation of angular momentum, the gravitational attraction can be used to create a precession strong enough to provide the energy and torque necessary to activate an electric generator similar to those in wind power generators. Instead of recovering the energy from this kinetic energy, we can use the precession rotation created by gravitational attraction to create the necessary kinetic energy.

A Novel Type of Bi-Gyroscopic System Undergoing Both Rotating and Spinning Motions

In order to explore the influence of combined gyroscopic coupling effect on the gyroscopic system, the dynamics of a beam undergoing both rotating and spinning motions as a bi-gyroscopic system is studied. The natural frequencies, modes, and stability of such a bi-gyroscopic system have been studied by the standard eigenvalue problems. The bifurcation series of frequencies and corresponding modal motions have been presented to show the gyroscopically coupled motions. The complex modes of the proposed bi-gyroscopic systems, such as whirling motions and in-plane reeling motions, have been illustrated.

Coupled Bi-Flexural–Torsional Vibration of Fluid-Conveying Pipes Spinning About an Eccentric Axis

This paper presents a dynamical model of a fluid-conveying pipe spinning about an eccentric axis. The coupled bi-flexural–torsional free vibration and stability are analyzed for such a doubly gyroscopic system. The partial differential equations of motions are derived by the extended Hamilton principle, and are then truncated by a 4-term Galerkin technique. The frequency and energy evolutions and representative mode shapes in the two transverse directions and torsional direction are investigated to unveil the essential dynamical attributes of the system. It is indicated that the stability of the present system mainly depends on spinning speed, flow velocity and eccentricity, while the torsional frequencies are almost immune to the flow velocity. The pipe reveals ‘traveling-wave’ modal vibrations in both transverse directions, and a general ‘standing-wave’ modal vibration in the torsional direction.