Today I made some sketches brainstorming different configurations and technical solutions:
The main technical challenge is to use the motion of the tree, which is most of the time very powerful, but also very slow and with low amplitude. Therefore a mechanism has to be found, which can convert this motion into electricity.
- The most likely solution, a connection between two trees where a rack and pineon transform the linear movement into a rotational one, which then through some gear drive powers a generator.
- There is a central post between several trees, where some weights or springs pull at ropes which are connected to the trees. The ropes have a chain element which drives a gear which then drives the generator.
- There are two chambers mouted to the tree. When the tree bends, one chamber is compressed, the other is stretched. The compressed chamber pushes a liquid through a one-way valve into a central high pressure tank from which the fluid goes through a turbine into a low pressure tank. When the tree bends to the other side, the compressed chamber streches and gets new fluid through a one-way valve and a seperate connection from the low pressure tank. The previously stretched chamber gets compressed at the same time and the cycle continues.
- Same as the principle above, but instead of a compressable chamber there is a piston which generates the pressure (also two one-way walves and to connections to the high and low pressure tank).
- This is just another configuration, it would work with a linear generator as in Type 1 or with a piston as in Type 4. The difference to all other concept is, that it uses a connection not between two trees, but between the tree and ground.
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