JP2012030765A - Variable gravity device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve the problem that in a conventional suspending vertical movement type variable gravity device, a flywheel is required, and accompanying an increase in size, out of consideration peculiar to a rotary machine, a load in manufacturing costs becomes high; and for transmitting rotation in both normal and reverse directions in a torque conversion mechanism in order to achieve appropriate acceleration and deceleration, strings of a special specification need to be procured, becoming an obstacle in reduction of the manufacturing costs.SOLUTION: A moving body having substantially the same mass as a capsule is alternately reciprocated in the vertical direction with the capsule in place of the flywheel. Therefore, consideration for a rotary body having a large mass is not required. Further, by a mechanism of winding and winding back the strings respectively suspending the moving body and the capsule by two coaxial spiral pulleys, basically, as tension is always applied by gravity, a high tensile strength string that is normally commercially supplied can be used.

Description

  The present invention relates to a variable gravity device that uses a reciprocating vertical motion and doubles a low gravity time that can be realized only by a simple drop motion.

  The conventional microgravity device uses the low-gravity environment provided in the time-to-fall device from a high tower, and the height of the tower is proportional to the square of time to satisfy the demand for longer time. However, the apparatus becomes large-scale and faces difficult problems associated with it economically and technically. In particular, several unique devices have been devised in the mechanism for braking and receiving a device that falls at high speed with an allowable deceleration. Nevertheless, its maintenance and operation require a lot of manpower and expense, which hinders the spread of the use of the device.

  The use of the low-gravity environment brought into the device not only during the fall but also during the parabolic movement between ascending and descending is the same altitude difference, and the low-gravity environment is doubled for the second time of the case of only the falling movement. Although it has been known for a long time that it can be used, only ballistic flight of aircraft is actually used in Japan and abroad (domestic: Diamond Air Service). However, it is lacking in general convenience.

  There is a facility (Germany, Bremen) that has devised a launch method in the fall tower and has attempted vertical movement (Germany, Bremen), but there are problems with orbital dispersion, operation is complicated, and it has not reached practical use.

  Inventors devised a method to repeat the vertical movement of the capsule while preserving energy as much as possible by suspending the experimental capsule with a string, applying the yo-yo movement principle, and manipulating the length of the string. Has developed and patented an indoor short-time zero-gravity device.

  Hereinafter, as a conventional type, the yo-yo type weightless device most relevant to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. This will be described with reference to FIG. In the figure, 10 is a string for suspending a capsule, and the other end is tied to a yo-yo pulley at 11. The capsule moves in conjunction with the winding and unwinding of the string. The transmission mechanism is a twelve pulley system. This pulley is composed of a pair of conical spiral pulleys, but rotates in both forward and reverse directions. Therefore, in order to transmit power to each other, two strings that bear tension according to forward and reverse, such as 13, are provided. I need. Here, when tension is applied to one side, the other side is relaxed, and an ordinary string without bending may be detached from the pulley groove. Therefore, a string having a non-linear tensile characteristic must be produced.

  At the lowest point of the capsule, all energy is stored as rotational energy of the flywheel. Therefore, as the size increases, a large flywheel that rotates at high speed must be designed and manufactured.

Japanese Patent No. 4391266

Akiba. R. et al. A New Low Gravity Device Applying the Yo-Yo Prince, JSTS vol. 25 no. 1 (English publication of the Japan Rocket Association)

  The conventional weightless device using the vertical motion described above has problems in operability and convenience when it is large. The yo-yo type, which is a recent invention, has solved these drawbacks as a small size, but has two problems that must be dealt with in terms of upsizing. The first is that, in principle, the falling energy is exchanged with the rotational energy of the flywheel, and the vertical movement is repeated. Therefore, the flywheel becomes larger as the size of the flywheel increases, and a large flywheel that takes into account the dynamic balance is designed and manufactured. Must. Second, since the string on the pulley of the torque converter must be equipped in the forward and reverse directions, it has a special non-linearity in the tension characteristics in order to prevent loosening of the string on the side where no tension is applied. I have to do it. For this reason, a special high tensile strength string is required. Since the string of such characteristics is limited in demand, the production cost increases.

  The present invention is intended to solve the problems of such a conventional configuration, and without using a flywheel, the falling bodies are configured in pairs, and energy is exchanged between them. It is intended to be realized as a mechanism that can always drive the pulley of the torque conversion transmission section between them with a string without looseness.

  In order to achieve the above, the present invention has a mechanism for exchanging translational motion and potential energy between a pair of rising and falling bodies, instead of the rotational kinetic energy of the flywheel so far.

  The problem-solving means applies the seesaw principle, arranges the spiral pulleys on a common axis with a phase difference of 180 °, and wraps a string connected to each pair of rising and falling bodies. Therefore, both strings always give torques in opposite directions around the axis.

  The operation of the problem solving means is as follows. The torque is equal when the pair of cords are part of the spiral pulley and are at the same radial position with respect to the shaft, and balances when stationary. If the rising and falling body is shifted from this stationary position, torque is generated, and a vibration that returns to this position is induced by the seesaw principle. Increasing this amplitude will eventually cause the string to hang over the cylindrical pulleys with the maximum and minimum radii, respectively.

  After the string is engaged at both radial positions, the moving body on the large radius side rises at the speed obtained by the spiral pulley, receives a constant acceleration of less than 1 g by the radius ratio, reaches the apex and pauses. Then, it is dropped at the same constant acceleration until the string is hooked on the spiral pulley. During this time, the inside of the moving body becomes a low-gravity environment and is used for experiments. During this up-and-down movement, except for the apex, the string is always in tension, so that the string does not sag, so the second problem can be overcome.

After that, the string on the large radius side decelerates toward the minimum radius side, and the other moving body is accelerated and replaced with the string hanging on the other minimum radius. Without it, it becomes a repetitive exercise. That is, the energy is transferred between the two moving bodies during this one cycle, and the energy of the rotating body is not required. Since this moving body only needs to consider the translational motion, the first problem can be overcome.

  As described above, the weightless device according to the present invention does not include a rotating part having a large moment of inertia, and therefore there is no problem inherent to the rotating part.

  In addition, all the strings that are applied to the pulley during operation are tensioned and do not relax.

  Overall view of an apparatus showing an embodiment of the present invention   Seesaw spiral pulley and string (stationary equilibrium position)   Seesaw spiral pulley and string position at the highest and lowest points of the moving body   Overall view of conventional yo-yo type zero gravity device   Driving spiral pulley system of yo-yo type weightless device

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

  In FIG. 1, 1 is a capsule, 2 is a mass for balancing it, and each is connected to a pulley system of 3 via a turning pulley.

  In FIGS. 2 and 3, the turning pulley is simplified and both masses wrap around a pulley sharing a shaft. The fixed end of the string is 4. Since the two helical pulleys 5 and 6 face each other and are attached with a phase difference of 180 °, each string applies a torque in the opposite direction to the shaft as shown in FIGS. According to the seesaw principle, the two masses are balanced when the radii of the spiral positions where the strings are applied are equal. FIG. 2 shows how to tie a string in this equilibrium position. Similarly, FIG. 3 shows an example of how to tie a string at a position deviated from the equilibrium position by taking the highest point and the lowest point as an example.

  In FIG. 1, by disposing the turning pulleys 9 and 10 away from the pulley system, the horizontal movement of the string is absorbed, so that both masses move vertically up and down. Thereby, instead of the flywheel, the vertical movement of the capsule can be realized by alternately repeating the vertical movement of the capsule and the balance mass.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Capsule 2 Balance mass 3 Pulley system 4,5 Two spiral pulleys that face each other with a phase difference of 180 ° 6,7 Position of the string on the spiral pulley

Claims (1)

    A string of two objects suspended by a string has two spiral pulleys attached to the same pulley shaft, and is operated according to the seesaw's movement principle to exchange kinetic energy with each other. A variable gravity device equipped with a mechanism for alternately moving the object up and down.

Images