This last piece was rescued from a scrap Honda VF500, donated by our local bike breaker. The prototype was updated with CNC-machined aluminium side plates to ensure alignment of the lathe-turned bearing holders and a motorcycle timing chain final drive to the DC motor. Some investigation showed that the pulley belt final drive was very inefficient. We removed one gear train and managed to generate a steady 40W with a mass of 20kg, but it descended too quickly. While the first iteration showed promise, it required too much mass to turn the gears-in excess of 30kg. In early testing we discovered that building a good gearbox is relatively difficult, and that efficiency is extremely dependent on tight tolerances and the choice of drive train. This first prototype re-appropriated lathe gears and an off-the-shelf DC motor. This last element was a key factor in the choice of gravity as a solution due to Madeira's vertiginous landscape and numerous cliff-face communities. The power available is determined by the size of the dropping mass, the speed at which it drops, and the drop distance. When it is needed the energy is released by dropping the weight, which in turn rotates the motor-now a generator-to produce electrical energy. This powers a motor, and with the help of a homemade gearbox is used to lift a fixed weight into the sky. In our case, energy (provided by the abundant Madeiran sunshine) is captured by solar photovoltaic panels. The device is designed to be used with a variety of renewable energy generation methods.
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