Wind Driven Sculpture

[fused]

Maquette for a large outdoor sculpture VORTEX.

[novabelgica]

Looks cool. How large have you got in mind?

[Araich]

Will it mince un-ruly drunk climbing teenagers?

It looks interesting, have you a still image of the mechanism up close?

[sculptorsam]

Holy crap, it's moving! Very cool.

Sam

[fritchie]

Very nice! and great animated image! As Araich implied, you might have to put this in a cage or face Godzilla-sized liability premiums. But that’s another day. One up for art!

[JAZ]

Originally Posted by sculptorsam

Holy crap, it's moving! Very cool.

Sam

Ditto. (Sam your eloquence hit the nail on the head.) Actually, it's not the fact that the sculpture itslef is moving. It's that you were able to get the motion on the posting that amazes me.

[JAZ]

I just looked at Fused's (Art's) website and the only thing there is an animation of a blue kinetic sculpture similar to this one, but installaed in the flesh somewhere. No text. No other images. Art, you get the prize for minimalist website, but the motion is there.

[jsimms]

This piece might work if it was a foot or so in height and precision bearings were used, but I've had some pretty freightening experiences with runaway forces of inertia and momentum. My first impression is that this piece would pretty quickly self-destruct catastrophically in any thing other than a gentle breeze.
j

[RuBert]

Originally Posted by jsimms

This piece might work if it was a foot or so in height and precision bearings were used, but I've had some pretty freightening experiences with runaway forces of inertia and momentum. My first impression is that this piece would pretty quickly self-destruct catastrophically in any thing other than a gentle breeze.
j

I think it might work big, but it would need some special engineering. Perhaps a limiting device of some kind, and the areas that catch the wind could be made various ways, even with regularly spaced holes.

I think jsimms does have a point about the momentum, but if it is perfect in its balance then the forces are evenly distributed. Take a car tire for instance, if badly out of balance it will shake apart, but if in perfect balance it will spin safely.

[sculptor]

Originally Posted by RuBert

.......... Perhaps a limiting device of some kind, and the areas that catch the wind could be made various ways, even with regularly spaced holes.

I think jsimms does have a point about the momentum, but if it is perfect in its balance then the forces are evenly distributed. Take a car tire for instance, if badly out of balance it will shake apart, but if in perfect balance it will spin safely.

,,,
many years ago----1971---while at the desigh school...Southern Illinois-----we built a wind engine out of old car parts and oil drums cut in 1/2 lengthwise
.........
overall....it was darned rickety but when attached to a pump or generator, (the limiting device?) it grabbed the wind and made a pleasing whirrrrrrring sound...it pumped water, charged batteries, energized lights for a midnight party....we tinkered and played with it for over a year and then.....much like puff the magic dragon, abandoned it for other toys(studies)

I have seen a few "calls to artists" recently which asked for art that involved approximately ..."renewable energy", ......functional art......bless them.......but I never remembered "puff" till reading this thread....bless you all

I once saw an ancient giant bandsaw body rusting in a side-yard of a woodshop---it was shaped like a giant caliper with a beautifully curved cast iron arm that held the huge headstock wheel and allowed cutting to a 60"radius ...no guards just blade following the path set by the wheels---osha forced the old beast into retirement and out to pasture........grace, beauty, and functionality
-------made me think of Nick's mule.......I'd have begged to tak 'er home, drag her up the stairs to my apartment, but.....she weighed in at well over a ton....gravety assist...you get that long a blade, and the giant spinning wheels, and you really do not want it wandering around the shop...
...every once in a while, I wonder what became of her.

[fused]

Actually this maquette is a design for a twentyfive foot tall sculpture.
The fin/sail/wings are made of aluminum with a steel frame, bearings
top and bottom, and at 5' x 1'6" (accross the arc) are quite efficient.

The maquette itself is 25" tall (1" = 1') with a gear ratio of 4 to 1. The
real deal gets a gear ratio of 12 (or 16) to one which helps resolve the
dissapation of energy from the fins/sails/wings on windy days, so that
the rings at the top don't over exert themselves. The vertical pipes are
schedule 80sx which have a wall thickness of .337 in. providing enough
strength to allow fewer elements without sacrificing structural integrity.



The gears that link the fin/sail/wings are 'bevel gears' which by design
compensate for any misalignment with little detrimental effect on their
ability to function properly.

There are a couple more designs here.

[RuBert]

Yes I see that little gear now. Would you build the gear yourself, or do you have a source for it? It might be hard to keep the paint from chipping from the teeth.

16 to 1 on the gear... and then does that then directly translate to 16 revolutions of the bottom for one complete revolution of the top?

[fused]

That's it exactly RuBert... the wings fully rotate 16 times for each cycle
of the arms on top. This also keeps the load above from generating too
much 'start-up' torque for the wind to overcome and set the sculpture
into motion.

I will buy a matching set of bevel gears from a gear and bearing supplier,
which are stock items and not a custom machined creation.

Paint on the gears or not is no worry In fact there probably won't be
any paint on this one when it is made, going with an oxidized finish, which
is nearly maintainence free. In the heat of summer WD-40 is liberally applied
to the hot metal, and that's it. An annual application is the best, but if a it
is skipped a few years that isn't a problem either. I have one sculpture that
has been outdoors since 1980, exposed to all conditions, made of mild steel
and it's surface continues to be in excellent condition ( no scaling ).

[fused]

. . . also the mechanical connections at the top change significantly
when produced full scale. Oil impregnated hardened brass sleeves can
be incorporated into some of the joints, as opposed to all bearings.

[Easynow]

What a gear pair that will be! Any idea of the cost (curious) or the name of the supplier (I might decide to work that big someday).

You might want to add some type of centrifugal governor to the propellor shaft, or a mechanism that otherwise disengages or slows it during high winds, hurricanes etc.

There's a book any kinetic minded person might find extremely inspiring...507 mechanical movements. 13.95 paperback at amazon.com. SOOOO worth it!

I agree about the dangerous blades so close to stupid people's fingers, heads, etc.. Perforated steel of some sort might be unobtrusive.

[fused]

The Five Hundred and Seven Mechanical Movements book looks great and there were a few more related ones there too.

There are a few gear manufacturers that I know of; Beldon Inc. is in the midwest USA and Europe, ATS is in California and Martin Sprocket & Gear, Inc. is all over including Arlington, TX not far from me. Martin has a fabulous catalogue that lists products and even better, explains their use and a whole lot more.