A capacitor at its simplest is two conductive plates separated by a
dielectric or insulator. So, given conductive metal strips of sufficient
size and a dielectric of PVC pipe, could the static charge the occurs from
dust collection be used to power something?

Maybe the "PVC capacitor" could be used to power the dust collector motor.
Turn on the DC, establish a charge, and then the DC would power itself!
Except for the noise, there'd be no reason to turn the DC on and off.
We've made a perpetual motion machine!

Puckdropper
--
On Usenet, no one can hear you laugh. That's a good thing, though, as some
writers are incorrigible.

To email me directly, send a message to puckdropper (at) fastmail.fm

"Puckdropper" puckdropper(at)yahoo(dot)com wrote in message
...
A capacitor at its simplest is two conductive plates separated by a
dielectric or insulator. So, given conductive metal strips of sufficient
size and a dielectric of PVC pipe, could the static charge the occurs from
dust collection be used to power something?

Maybe the "PVC capacitor" could be used to power the dust collector motor.
Turn on the DC, establish a charge, and then the DC would power itself!
Except for the noise, there'd be no reason to turn the DC on and off.
We've made a perpetual motion machine!

If you buy in that the static charge amounts to anything requiring careful
grounding, there might be enough energy to capture and power something
useful, even if not necessarily the DC itself. I don't happen to share that
misconception, so I don't have to answer the second part of how to capture
the electrical white noise and convert it to useful power. You could do the
same for lightning, and find a market for the madness in this Green world of
ours. There are also other sources of measurable electrical potential. Did
you know that there's a 9 volt difference between ground potential and the
foliage at the top of a 30 foot tree?

MikeWhy wrote:

There are also other sources of
measurable electrical potential. Did you know that there's a 9 volt
difference between ground potential and the foliage at the top of a 30
foot tree?

Actually, you don't even need the tree

DAGS on "Atmospheric Potential"

--
Morris Dovey
DeSoto Solar
DeSoto, Iowa USA
http://www.iedu.com/DeSoto/

"Morris Dovey" wrote in message
...
MikeWhy wrote:

There are also other sources of measurable electrical potential. Did you
know that there's a 9 volt difference between ground potential and the
foliage at the top of a 30 foot tree?

Actually, you don't even need the tree

DAGS on "Atmospheric Potential"



Anyone who has unloaded a suspended load from a helicopter can tell you
about static.

"CW" wrote:

Anyone who has unloaded a suspended load from a helicopter can tell
you about static.

Gasoline tanker trucks still drag ground chains don't they?

Lew

On Sun, 5 Apr 2009 00:31:24 +0100, MikeWhy wrote
(in article ):

There are also other sources of measurable electrical potential. Did
you know that there's a 9 volt difference between ground potential and the
foliage at the top of a 30 foot tree?

Yes. Electricity always flows downhill to balance the sap, which rises. it
can be measured with a Calvinometer which shows that it has no choice in the
matter.

also-
The potential difference between the top and bottom of a tree is the reason
why all trees have to be grounded...

time for my pills..

Bored Borg wrote in
.com:

*snip*
The potential difference between the top and bottom of a tree is the
reason why all trees have to be grounded...
*snip*

That's a good one... Mind if I use it as my sig? :-)

Puckdropper
--
On Usenet, no one can hear you laugh. That's a good thing, though, as some
writers are incorrigible.

To email me directly, send a message to puckdropper (at) fastmail.fm

On Sun, 5 Apr 2009 06:12:26 +0100, Puckdropper wrote
(in article ):

Bored Borg wrote in
.com:

*snip*
The potential difference between the top and bottom of a tree is the
reason why all trees have to be grounded...
*snip*

That's a good one... Mind if I use it as my sig? :-)

Puckdropper


for a rent of one peppercorn every three hundred years. I'll send invoice
when first rental period is up.

feel free :-)

Bored Borg wrote in
.com:


for a rent of one peppercorn every three hundred years. I'll send
invoice when first rental period is up.

feel free :-)


I'll just reverse my perpetual motion dust collector and get that
peppercorn right over to you when the time comes.

Puckdropper
--
"The potential difference between the top and bottom of a tree is the
reason why all trees have to be grounded..." -- Bored Borg on
rec.woodworking

To email me directly, send a message to puckdropper (at) fastmail.fm

On Apr 4, 2:17*pm, Puckdropper puckdropper(at)yahoo(dot)com wrote:
A capacitor at its simplest is two conductive plates separated by a
dielectric or insulator. *So, given conductive metal strips of sufficient
size and a dielectric of PVC pipe, could the static charge the occurs from
dust collection be used to power something?

Maybe the "PVC capacitor" could be used to power the dust collector motor.. *
Turn on the DC, establish a charge, and then the DC would power itself! *
Except for the noise, there'd be no reason to turn the DC on and off. *
We've made a perpetual motion machine!

Puckdropper
--
On Usenet, no one can hear you laugh. *That's a good thing, though, as some
writers are incorrigible.

To email me directly, send a message to puckdropper (at) fastmail.fm

Interesting idea. One difference is that in a capacitor, the charges
are on the conductive plates, where it could be easily conducted away
to do some work.
In a DC system, the charge is a static one on an insulator. Getting
it to move in some way other than a spark would be a challenge.
Besides, a fully charged PVC DC system probably wouldn't contain much
more than a fraction of a Joule, and it takes time to build up that
much. I don't think we could count on enough power to run a serious
motor for very long.

Now if we put a turbine wind generator in the pipe...

On Wed, 8 Apr 2009 10:49:25 -0700 (PDT), ed_h
wrote:

Now if we put a turbine wind generator in the pipe...


You'd take more power from the airflow in the pipe (supplied by the
dust collector motor) than you'd get out of the generator. Same sort
of idea as using a motor to run a generator to feed the motor to run
the generator. The generator puts out less than it takes for the motor
to run the generator.

You'd put more power into the DC's motor to flow the air than you'd
get out of the air turbine. A net loss.

Tom Veatch
Wichita, KS
USA

On Apr 8, 5:52*pm, Tom Veatch wrote:
On Wed, 8 Apr 2009 10:49:25 -0700 (PDT), ed_h
wrote:

Now if we put a turbine wind generator in the pipe...

You'd take more power from the airflow in the pipe (supplied by the
dust collector motor) than you'd get out of the generator. Same sort
of idea as using a motor to run a generator to feed the motor to run
the generator. The generator puts out less than it takes for the motor
to run the generator.

You'd put more power into the DC's motor to flow the air than you'd
get out of the air turbine. A net loss.

Tom Veatch
Wichita, KS
USA

Tom--

Absolutely correct.

I guess you couldn't see my smirk when I suggested the turbine. Irony
sometimes doesn't make it intact through cyberspace.

On 4 Apr, 20:17, Puckdropper puckdropper(at)yahoo(dot)com wrote:

Maybe the "PVC capacitor" could be used to power the dust collector motor.

Try powering a capacitor and neon bulb. Even if you just get the odd
flash from it, it'd be a cute demonstration of the static electricity.

I doubt you'll extract much electricity from two plates though - try
two rings, one downstream of the other.

Andy Dingley wrote:
On 4 Apr, 20:17, Puckdropper puckdropper(at)yahoo(dot)com wrote:

Maybe the "PVC capacitor" could be used to power the dust collector
motor.

Try powering a capacitor and neon bulb. Even if you just get the odd
flash from it, it'd be a cute demonstration of the static electricity.

I doubt you'll extract much electricity from two plates though - try
two rings, one downstream of the other.

Not much capacitance in that configuration. Sheet of foil epoxied around
outside of pipe, another sheet inside, now you've got a capactor. Probably
again not much capacitance because of the thickness of the dielectric, but
maybe you can get up enough juice to fire a neon bulb.