Electrical Project - Advice Needed

Electrical Project - Advice Needed

Author
Discussion

ryanc1993

Original Poster:

19 posts

138 months

Sunday 6th January 2013
quotequote all
Im after a bit of advice on a project that i am currently working on.

Basically i have a motor powered by a 12v battery which turns a shaft through a gearbox.

What i want to do is use an alternator or generator which is also attached to the shaft via a gearbox to charge the 12v battery.

Is this possible? Can i simply use another 12v powered motor and switch the polarity around to use it as a generator. I am okay with the mechanical side of the project but just need a bit of advice with the electrical side of this.

Thanks in advance,
Ryan

ryanc1993

Original Poster:

19 posts

138 months

Sunday 6th January 2013
quotequote all
Im after a bit of advice on a project that i am currently working on.

Basically i have a motor powered by a 12v battery which turns a shaft through a gearbox.

What i want to do is use an alternator or generator which is also attached to the shaft via a gearbox to charge the 12v battery.

Is this possible? Can i simply use another 12v powered motor and switch the polarity around to use it as a generator. I am okay with the mechanical side of the project but just need a bit of advice with the electrical side of this.

Thanks in advance,
Ryan

Mikey G

4,733 posts

241 months

Sunday 6th January 2013
quotequote all
What you are saying is you want to continuoisly recharge the battery by discharging it into a motor to drive a generator, hmmmm...
Of course you can turn a DC motor into a generator, alternators do it more efficiently and run a constant voltage, Dynamo's need voltage regulators to work properly as increasing rpm makes the voltage go up.

I can see what you are trying to achieve but the laws of physics and the efficiencies of the equipment will not mean free energy.

Simpo Two

85,475 posts

266 months

Sunday 6th January 2013
quotequote all
You want to use a 12V battery to drive a motor to drive a generator to charge a 12V battery?

You could dispense with the motor, generator and one battery, and keep the other battery shiny and fully-charged on a shelf smile

ryanc1993

Original Poster:

19 posts

138 months

Sunday 6th January 2013
quotequote all
Simpo Two said:
You want to use a 12V battery to drive a motor to drive a generator to charge a 12V battery?

You could dispense with the motor, generator and one battery, and keep the other battery shiny and fully-charged on a shelf smile
Yes i want to charge the same 12V battery that is powering the motor so there is only one battery is involved. Similar to the setup in a car with the battery and the alternator charging it as the engine is running.

davethebunny

740 posts

176 months

Sunday 6th January 2013
quotequote all
If You figure IT out expect to Get the nobel Prize and be the worlds richest person

rsv gone!

11,288 posts

242 months

Sunday 6th January 2013
quotequote all
I think you have stumbled upon perpetual motion...

GadgeS3C

4,516 posts

165 months

Sunday 6th January 2013
quotequote all
ryanc1993 said:
Yes i want to charge the same 12V battery that is powering the motor so there is only one battery is involved. Similar to the setup in a car with the battery and the alternator charging it as the engine is running.
Just add a V8...

SpeckledJim

31,608 posts

254 months

Monday 7th January 2013
quotequote all
ryanc1993 said:
Simpo Two said:
You want to use a 12V battery to drive a motor to drive a generator to charge a 12V battery?

You could dispense with the motor, generator and one battery, and keep the other battery shiny and fully-charged on a shelf smile
Yes i want to charge the same 12V battery that is powering the motor so there is only one battery is involved. Similar to the setup in a car with the battery and the alternator charging it as the engine is running.
hehe

Bertrum

467 posts

224 months

Monday 7th January 2013
quotequote all
Physics FAIL

Simpo Two

85,475 posts

266 months

Monday 7th January 2013
quotequote all
ryanc1993 said:
Yes i want to charge the same 12V battery that is powering the motor so there is only one battery is involved. Similar to the setup in a car with the battery and the alternator charging it as the engine is running.
Ah I see. Well if you turn a motor mechanically, it generates electricity - I think, if I recall my O-level physics. Right-hand rule, back EMF and all that.

Mr2Mike

20,143 posts

256 months

Monday 7th January 2013
quotequote all
ryanc1993 said:
Yes i want to charge the same 12V battery that is powering the motor so there is only one battery is involved. Similar to the setup in a car with the battery and the alternator charging it as the engine is running.
Assuming this is genuine and not a troll, I get the feeling you aren't going to accept the truth from other people, so go ahead and give it try. I suspect almost everyone with any scientific interest has 'invented' this amazing scheme in their youth (I can clearly remember trying this when I was about 7 or 8 years old).

A permanent magnet, brushed motor can certainly work as a (fairly inefficient) DC generator. Obviously the output from the generator will have to be at a higher voltage than the battery in order to charge the battery, otherwise the battery will be powering it as a motor. This means that given two identical motors, the one acting as a generator will have to be turned faster than the one driving it, so you gearbox has to step up the speed rather than reduce it. It still won't work though.

one eyed mick

1,189 posts

162 months

Thursday 10th January 2013
quotequote all
Perpetual Motion machine ?

Mr2Mike

20,143 posts

256 months

Thursday 10th January 2013
quotequote all

GadgeS3C

4,516 posts

165 months

Saturday 12th January 2013
quotequote all
Mr2Mike said:
I've wasted a day clicking that link biggrin

anonymous-user

55 months

Saturday 12th January 2013
quotequote all
Fairly pointless now, but fo rthe record:

If you use a synchronously rectified pulse width modulated H bridge (MOSFETS as switches) driving a normal brushed motor, you can easily drive a motor in all four quandrants (FWD Motoring, FWD Absorbing, REV Motoring, REV Absorbing) and you can do this at all shaft speeds for which the system (Motor speed constant x battery voltage) is capable.

In effect, couple your motor directly to a large inertia, spin up that inertia, taking power from the battery, to max speed, then use the drive in "regen" to slow the inertia back down again. Typical round trip efficiency will be circa 50% (i.e. every time you do it, you'll "loose" 50% of the total energy cycled.

With a synchronously rectified switching bridge, the motors inductance acts to smooth the phase current, and in effect acts like a buck / boost convertor, allowing the system to either drive or regenerate (even if the motor's Bemf is lower than the battery voltage)


Anyway, pointless meanderings over. ;-)


98elise

26,632 posts

162 months

Wednesday 16th January 2013
quotequote all
As others have said, what you are trying to do is create free energy, and it appears you're doing this without any knowledge of how energy, or electricity works smile

To put it simply the whole electrical/mechanical chain is using energy, which is coming from the battery. The power available at the end of the chain is less than is being drawn from the battery.

If instead of your set up you had a charged battery>motor>generator>flat battery, and you set that going, it would charge the battery but when the first battery ran out of power, the one at then end would only be partially charged. The rest of the energy would have been lost to the conversions.

The same principal would appy with a loop back to the original battery.

RealSquirrels

11,327 posts

193 months

Thursday 17th January 2013
quotequote all
I think people are being a bit thick on this thread.

Nowhere does the OP state what the gearbox is driving. It could be used to propel a vehicle, for example.

Now in such a case, as well as speeding up, you might want to slow the vehicle down too. in which case it is really rather practical to use the momentum of the energy to turn a motor/generator and charge the battery. Of course this kind of idea is widely implemented and used in lots of vehicles.

so I don't think the OP is trying to break the laws of physics, or generate free energy, but rather has a practical question for a practical purpose that everybody has overlooked.

Mr2Mike

20,143 posts

256 months

Thursday 17th January 2013
quotequote all
RealSquirrels said:
I think people are being a bit thick on this thread.

Nowhere does the OP state what the gearbox is driving. It could be used to propel a vehicle, for example.

Now in such a case, as well as speeding up, you might want to slow the vehicle down too. in which case it is really rather practical to use the momentum of the energy to turn a motor/generator and charge the battery. Of course this kind of idea is widely implemented and used in lots of vehicles.

so I don't think the OP is trying to break the laws of physics, or generate free energy, but rather has a practical question for a practical purpose that everybody has overlooked.
I think it's perhaps you who has not read the OP correctly. He's already using a DC motor to provide the mechanical power. Why would you add yet another DC motor to use as an inefficient generator when you could use the existing motor for regenerative braking? It's very clear what he's trying to achieve.

RealSquirrels

11,327 posts

193 months

Thursday 17th January 2013
quotequote all
it's not very clear since he didn't say why he wants to charge the battery.

i don't know why you would use a different motor, maybe the OP does.