In 1958 my first industrial history lesson at age of 12 years was a variable twin cone and belt transmission as used in early Victorian windmills in Britain. The point was that the mill stones would have a constant speed thus reducing the high liability of fire in the flour laden atmosphere which was explosive under certain conditions. Shortly afterwards Daffodil in the sixties marketed the Daffodil variomatic transmission. When I commented on this to my toolmaking uncle he showed me his Robin Hood lathe which worked by a similar transmission and was designed in WWII as a raining machine for workshop machinists. I still use this machine today for hobby processes! As the Presenter suggests there is merely the upgrading of old ideas!
Good job mate, came to the same conclusion several years ago after realizing just how good the variable transmission on my motor bike actually is and how well matched it would be for wind generation, I can vouch after doing 150,000 km that I've never had a problem, never had to adjust anything, the only change I made was putting lighter rollers in for faster start speeds and higher torque ratio's up hills.
Easy enough to move the Golf Ball - place it on a rail where its position is determined by centrifugal weights attached to a small flywheel attached to the main input of the Wind Turbine shaft. As the Wind Turbine Shaft's speed increases/decreases - the weights will move and this movement is applied to the Golf Balls Horizontal position. Similar to the method of 'tuning' an old fashioned Car Distributor.
Moving the golf ball is a simple matter of having it linked to a traditional mechanical governor. As the input shaft increases, a linkage from the governor to the golf ball can move it back and forth.
2 cones lined like a motor with coils on the outside and the inner cone like a stator with permanent magnets should make an awesome wind turbine, you could vary the rotation power by moving the stator in and out of the coils, this should eliminate over speeding and improve efficiency, basically a long cone shaped generator. The more magnets you can use in the correct configuration should also eliminate vibration. The further the cone is open the less wind power would be required to start the turbine and it's peak performance would be able to be determined on the fly.
For moving the ball up and down to change the ratio automatically, you can look into "flyball governors" as used in steam engines. They use centrifugal force to fling weights outwards, which in turn pulls on a linkage which controls the engine throttle (or the ball in your case). If set up correctly, this forms a feedback loop. Windmill speeds up, weights fling out, ball is moved to keep the ratio constant. Interesting concept, keep up the good work Robert!
I was having lunch in the USA today while my Subaru CVT was serviced, and thought what a wonderful solution CVT drive would be for wind generation. I was thinking of a spinning cone drive as a simple solution. Then just now, Robert, your CVT video was in my and today's RU-vid notifications. Our minds must be linked up all the way across the pond. : )
This was such a well presented history and explanation of transmissions! Your videos are always great and very enjoyable but this one just seemed even more so!
Nice video! Some wind turbines achieve speed matching through variable pitch blade hubs, but usually these days a variable frequency converter is used between the generator and the (fixed speed) grid, so that the mechanical complexity up in the nacelle is minimised!
Thank you for the clarification. DAF is a Dutch automobile company that has a rich history in the automotive industry. One of the earliest and most well-known economy cars produced by DAF was the DAF 600, which was introduced in the late 1950s. The DAF 600 was a compact car designed for efficient urban transportation and was one of the first cars to feature a continuously variable transmission (CVT), which was a significant innovation at the time.
