Models and Designing Zero-Gravity Mechanism
I began to create
the 3D models for my design. I have not fully created the design for how I will
get the flywheel to spin in zero-gravity, but I have some ideas. The reason I
want to get my flywheel to spin in zero-gravity is because I would hopefully like
to figure out a way to get a flywheel onto the International Space Station,
which uses rechargeable nickel-hydrogen batteries right now to store its excess
solar energy. The benefits of using a flywheel in space is that there would be
no need for a vacuum chamber to reduce the air resistance of the system (since
space is a vacuum already), which would cut down on the input energy into the
system. Furthermore, even though the batteries on the ISS are rechargeable,
they are misleading, since they can only recharge for a certain amount of time
until the battery is completely dead, which would call for a replacement. This
could require an entire rocket dedicated to bringing up a replacement battery
that would require a lot of resources, whereas a flywheel on the ISS would cut
down the chance of this predicament occurring.
I have already
created the CAD (Computer Aided Design) drawings for my flywheel design from my
science fair, which does not include the zero-gravity components. The different
parts that I needed to 3D print for my project were the glass panel holder, the magnet coil holders, the
two magnet holders that kept the flywheel levitating, the adapter from the
weight to the shaft, a small capsule to hold the magnets on the shaft in a
'plus' formation, and a small structure to hold up the hall effect sensor.
There are a lot of
different ways that I could get my design to work in zero-gravity, but the one
I am most interested in trying is by just having two more structures on top of
my design to keep the flywheel from flying in the vertical direction while it
is rotating. The magnets on the bottom of the flywheel are already oriented in
a way to push the flywheel into the glass panel, so the only way that the
flywheel can stop rotating is if it floats away, which is what I hope to combat
by putting more magnets on top of the design.
This is the design I
have for my flywheel in its current state.

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