Simple method for testing the Fluid
Space Drive principle (adequate for testing other propulsion proposals)
For
a quick read you can skip the yellow (not indispensable) and the blue (calculations) text boxes.
Introduction.
The objective of this experiment is
to determine if a propeller enclosed in an airtight box can exert a force that
pushes (propels) the box from the inside, and the magnitude of that force.
The method to be used is hanging the
airtight box from the celling by four cords, comparing the position of the box
at rest (propellers not activated) with the position of the box when propellers
are activated (displacement) (Fig 1).
Fig 1
Fig 2
Although the Fluid Space Drive proposal has
been tested by various methods such as; Torsion Balancing
Pendulum, Low friction surfaces, dry ice,
boats on water, hanging the test box vertically and observing change when
turned on, handing the test box vertically but inverted.
After all different methods have been
used (the Fluid Space Drive passes ALL the tests) we are using the 4 Point
Pendulum Test as recommended testing and demonstration method, it serves to
demonstrate the effect and calculate working thrust.
The described experiment is inexpensive
and so simple that can be done in your living room.
Preparation
For
the experiment you will need:
An
airtight box to put the mechanism to be tested.
A
motorized propeller(s) on a pedestal with R/C unit to turn propellers on/off
(optional)
Two
lightweight supporting beams (Fig 2)
4
cords
Description
of the airtight test box.
Although
we have seen a simple cardboard test box can be used (see
here) we recommend the following design for consistent results that can be
compared with ours (if you desire)
Fig
3
The
box has the following dimensions (Fig 2)
Height
1 meter.
Length
1.4 meters.
Width
1 meter.
Plus
rounded rear and forward end with a 0.5 meter radius
A box with these dimensions has a volume
of 2.18 cubic meters, therefore there are 54.634.954.084.936.200.000.000.000
molecules (that’s 54 septillion [2]) very
fast moving molecules colliding with each other in random manner.
Description
of the motorized propeller(s) on a pedestal assembly.
Fig 4
Fig
4 illustrates a pedestal attached to a base, the pedestal has two Lego motors
and propellers (Fig 5), one of the propellers is
counter rotating.
Also
illustrated is a toy R/C car used to turn the propellers on/off remotely (you
can use Arduinos or other system)
Although a pair of counter rotating
propellers is displayed in Fig 4 the experiment can be done with only one
propeller (at slightly higher RPM) when using a 4 point pendulum (Fig 2), the
counter rotating propellers are necessary if you are demonstrating/testing
using a balancing horizontal
torsion pendulum for the test may be invalidated if the
airtight box has a tendency to rotate on its vertical axis.
Fig
5
The
propellers can be constructed using an old PC power supply fan (1) with a Lego
wheel (2) glued in it (Fig 5).
Cardboard
cut outs (3) were attached to the power supply fan to increase size (Fig 5).
The
resulting propeller was attached to a Lego Motor and installed on a pedestal
inside the box (Fig 6).
Fig 6
So what can we expect?
(Results)
Fig
7
Illustrated
in Fig 7 is the position of the elements when the airtight box is at rest
(propellers turned off), a pointer attached to the box is positioned at 0, when
the propellers are turned on, if there is a force pushing inside the box the
pointer will move to a position of 2 or 3 mm and stay in that position for as
long as the propellers are turning, when power is switched off the box will
swing to -2 or -3 mm and oscillate until it comes to a full stop (at rest)
The described setup shows sufficient
displacement that can be seen by the naked eye and recorder with a simple
camera and an approximate calculation of the force/thrust generated can be
calculated.
For more precise calculations an analog
Laser Distance Measurement Sensor would be necessary for a 0.004 mm resolution.
So
how/why does this thing work again?
Calculations
The box (the 2.18 cubic meter box Fig 3
was used) was hung from an altitude of 2.2 meters.
The box has a mass of 4.5 kilos.
When the propeller was turned on the box
moves and maintains a distance of 3 mm
That gives us an angle of 0.0781 degrees.
Calculating useful force
If the pendulum is positioned at an angle
of 0.0781 degrees, using the simple
pendulum equation we see that when the pendulum’s (box) velocity at the
bottom of the swing is 0.000632 mps.
As the box has a mass of 4.5 kilos we can
calculate a force of 28.4 millinewtons.
28.4 millinewtons is
equivalent the power generated by today’s low end Ion thruster, they presently
range from 28 to 250 millinewtons.
But we must remember
that Ion thrusters are a mature technology, by that I mean that thousands and
thousands of research and engineering hours have been invested, as has been
billions of dollars.
The Fluid Space Drive is
optioning similar results using only a few dollars of materials.
Also as the Fluid Space
Drive does NOT expel any type of mass (no even ions) it can continue
acceleration for as long as a power source is available propelling spacecraft
further an faster than ever before.
This
page is a work in progress (May 2019)