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Ian's anti gravity power device - not to scale

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Here is my idea for a better future of power generation – by Ian Burgers

The graphic (above) shows it all really – The red floats are attached together by a chain which is needed to turn the two shafts. On one side, the weight of

An idea could be to install a row of the units onto existing dams (side by side) – large scale, big floats and the already high wall to create more power on the dams that have been built.

the floats in air pulls the chain downwards. During this process the chain turns a camshaft which moves the two specially timed sliding gates to let the tapered floats through into the water chamber.
This is designed similar to the floodable airlock system used in submarines which will minimise the downwards pressure from the water on the floats. There would only be one door fully open at any time to reduce water loss and flow against each individual float.

Once in the chamber the floats are forced to rise to the surface thus pulling up on the chain. This is where most of the power generation would take place (imagine trying to hold an empty

barrel at the bottom of a swimming pool)! The chain moves over the top shaft which is connected to a generator.

An important feature of the design is that the depth of the water chamber must be substantial (larger designs would be 10s of meters high), and there should be a small gap between the float and the wall in the ‘waterlock’ to allow floatation to take place.

It could also be built into council water tanks which would have the added bonus of being close to towns thus having less transmission losses.

In both cases it would be cheaper and greener done that way as one side of the unit is already being used. Rural houses could have smaller models – there could be one for every household in remote areas where top up water is plentiful. (Important note: This top up water would NOT come from a new dam, but possibly from an existing water supply for farm water troughs, etc). The power able to be produced is a bit unknown, but it would be scalable depending on the float size and the height of the chamber.

The cost to build this gadget? – Approximately $1000 each – this being the expected cost of the domestic version being a very rough estimate. The running costs however would be low with only bearing and door seal replacements being necessary.

I have not built a prototype but I think it possibly could work. There would be some water loss of course which would be a limiting factor but I think it is more worthwhile pursuing this than the proposed Mokihinui dam!

Tags: green energy design