On Monday, 24 August 2020 10:05:57 UTC+1, Clive Arthur wrote:
On 24/08/2020 02:36, tabbypurr wrote:
On Sunday, 23 August 2020 12:34:19 UTC+1, Clive Arthur wrote:
On 23/08/2020 12:13, N_Cook wrote:
snip
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fireless_locomotive
Don't know about locomotives , but for road transport ,they came to an
abrupt abondonment. All is fine until there is an accident. The flywheel
dislodges and continues like a much more energetic panjanderam,
demolishing everyone and everything in its very long path.
These never caught on either...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyro_monorail
too many errors
...but it doesn't con men trying...
https://www.litmotors.com/
what's con about that?
The big issue people have with gyro balancing is that if things go wrong, stability is lost & carnage results. And IRL things go wrong & lawyers get greedy.
NT
The con is that, while it can balance, it can only be an impractical
novelty, and I'm sure that Daniel Kim (Lit Motors owner) knows that.
why?
All these years and you just get a few seconds of video, usually without
sound and without tripod. It's noisy - maybe that could be overcome -
but it's constantly rocking about it's balance point, which can't be.
I've seen footage of gyro stabilised vehicles. They rock about when the gyro speed is too low, otherwise they're stable. It seems to be quite usable. I'd think 4 wheels a more sensible option, but for a niche market I don't see any inherent large problem with gyro stabilisation. Ultimately 2 wheels & gyro is a less efficient layout, the problem is worse than the cost of 2 more wheels, but it's perfectly doable & some people want novelty.
The gyros can only supply one-way torque for a limited time
(newton-metre-seconds?) before they hit their 'end-stops', no way round
that, so to balance, the thing has to actively push against a side force
so that its weight counteracts it. In the large Brennan prototype for
example, as the passengers move to one side, the car tips sideways the
other way to maintain balance.
I'm not making much sense of that.
If you push on it with a finger, it will actively push you back, I mean
actually move you back so that its weight balances against your finger.
Of course, that's how it automatically leans into a curve.
Imagine that in traffic with constant changing blustery side winds.
the gyro stabilises it. I've watched a car drive into the side of a gyro stabilised 2 wheeler. It got knocked sideways but didn't fall over.
Imagine one stationary near a solid object and trying to squeeze past -
it would crush you.
Surely it's basic sense that the driver knows it's not always completely upright. If they choose to squeeze a person between car & wall they have only their own foolish actions to blame.
I think Kim revived the idea with a view to getting lots of investment
and advance orders, he seems to have disappeared.
An interesting subject though. There have been a few prototype
vehicles, mostly very old, and Ford experimented with their 'Gyron'.
There are some youtube videos of home made toys using the idea, I think
a properly made say OO scale monorail would be fun, and maybe some sort
of fairground ride - the idea of using a wire rope as a bridge is appealing.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Gyron
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyrocar
AIUI Russia were particularly interested in a national monorail system because it would save them so much on rails. Bridge savings are also attractive.. For cars there seems little real upside bar novelty. Given the bridge situation perhaps it would suit North Korea.
NT