THIS VERSION SEEMS TO WORK AND HAS NO MOVING PARTS
(IT DOES VIBRATE PROBABLY A BIT)
20180106 Saturday
Last night I used foam board for two sides to hold 3 electromagnets in place so they are 120 degrees apart and close together at the center. I want to use bolts and washers to hold it all together. It will stand straight up so will need some support pieces.I have all the electronics needed. The electromagnets will all have like polarity pointing outward and inward. The polarity will reverse 10 times a second in the hope that this will drive the smaller aluminum pan as it floats in water. Some small steering magnets will also be added.
The electromagnets will be wired in series and batteries will be used to provide 1 to 1.5 amps so not to overheat our H-bridge controller.
I have it mostly set up with the L298n, Arduino, 8 AA NIHM batteries, a 9 volt battery and a quick little sketch (Arduino program).
The 8 batteries are 9.6 volts and I measured 1 amp so the 3 electromagnets are 9.6 ohms in series.
20180107 Sunday
I've decided to use metal bolts as opposed to nylon bolts with consideration for static electricity, a problem that keeps occurring in the water tank and causes the boats to resist motion.
All ready to test after batteries are recharged.
20180108 Monday
Batteries are charged.going to use a fresh 9volt battery to. Seems the magnets weren't getting power.
It works. It moved towards Earth's magnetic North Pole. The batteries have to be fully charged then it will work for about 10 minutes. It moved about an inches per minute slightly accelerating for a few minutes.
20180110 Wednesday
So far I noticed when the rechargeable batteries became drained the device didn't go so I considered that a reasonable control for these tests or experiments but I felt I should make a more formal control test with no power.
I placed the device in the water tank without the power connected to see how long it would stay in one place.
The results were for a time humbling. I noticed that in the first control trial while I stood behind the camera the boat drifted north very much like it did under power. OK, I'm not that skeptical so I tried some more and was able to get the boat to stay in one place for six minutes and catch that on video. I was able to do this several times while not always on video. The video was shortened to a minute by the video editor from Magisto.
To get an accurate indication I need to stand away from the water tank when I do the experiment with the power on and come back to check on it several minutes later to see if it worked.
I will soon do more experiments. In the meantime here is a control trial for six minutes shortened down to one minute for your approval.
My lesson learned is that I know that this may be important work in magnetic field propulsion near Earth's magnetic field so I want to be sure to take my time and not rush through it.
Also with this particular instance of magnetic propulsion the top speed was clocked at no faster the 1 1/2 inches per minute while other versions were much more powerful doing at least 2 or 3 or even 4 inches per minute. As I have learned 1 inch or 1 1/2 inches per minute is also the speed this particular device will go propelled by only the draft in my home.
I decided to get some of those science project cardboard fold out boards with three sides and surround the tank completely with them and I was able to get the device to stay still for close to a half hour. (That is it did not to move all the way to either end or to either side and more or less stay within about 4 inches of its starting position.)
This was a very nice project with the electromagnets and Arduino and working with foam board but I am afraid it isn't going to get me to outer space any time soon.:)
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