Kepler, what a buoy!

There is some amazing new technology... well if you are thinking in terms of the ice age, 400 years is not a long time... ya know?

Here is a water purifier:  www.innovativetech.us/KeplerBuoy.htm

Here is a generator:         http://www.anwsite.com/wdpatent.htm

Good old Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) actually invented the Kepler Buoy... imagine that!  It is simple really... just put some kind of large surfaced plate on a pole under a buoy... that is about it.  Hi tech - eh?  So, how does it work?  The buoy is coupled to the surface, so it goes up and down with the waves.  The plate, on the other hand has a large surface area which resists moving against water.  At only a little depth the motion of water is decoupled from the surface... there you have it... the plate moves in a completely different way than the buoy.

You can do anything with that differential motion.  Why not use it to desalinate water?  Why not use it to pump water?  Why not use it to make electricity.  Not bad Johannes.  I guess he found spare time between his sessions helping Tycho Brahe with his measurements of the planets and figuring out the gravitational laws of elliptical orbits.  Rocket science indeed.

Tesla had some ideas that used wave motion too, but he liked to do most of his work in his head.  Maybe he actually built this, but probably not.  You take some kind of open cup shaped container and anchor it in place it in a body of water so that the lip of the cup is about half way from the average water level and the average crests of the waves.  In that configuration, about 1/4 of the water mass is above the lip.  As the waves crest over the lip, the cup will fill up to the lip - a level higher than the average level of the body of water. That might not give much "head" in a lake, but could be significant in the ocean.  If you allow the water to exit the cup through a turbine at a rate that balances with the rate of filling you have continuous power generation... well as long as there are sufficient waves to power it.  Imagine a "cup" as big as the coastline of a state... You can even  float it to compensate for tides.  I have thought about powering a boat with this too.  Water comes into a skirt that surrounds the boat.  You have to be able to change the height of the skirt to optimize the water collection.  Now just let the water run out of a duct on one side and the boat will move in the opposite direction... ya think?  Probably not very fast but a castaway might appreciate it anyway!

Wave action shows how God seems to like to have moving surfaces interacting with each other... like wind making waves.  Have you ever thought about grass - it makes waves too!  Trees move in the wind in about the same way, but lets think about grass.  The grass has a flexible, springy stalk.  They have a shape that the wind can transfer energy to, so they bend down, which reduces the force transferred to the stalk.  At some point, with the grass leaning over, the force of wind is overcome by the springiness of the stalk.  The movement of the stalk has some momentum, so it overshoots the equilibrium point.  After the stalk changes directions, it again overshoots the equilibrium point with its momentum carrying it into the wind.  The cycle repeats and is completely self regulating.  It also works in any direction and in very light wind.  I figure God is collecting that energy some how... Cleaver God!

So, how can we use that in as simple a way as Kepler's buoy?  Replace the grass stalk with a 4' stalk of fiberglass or carbon fiber tube like those used on bike flags and kites.  I think maybe a little ball on the top might help it catch the wind like a thistle.  A little way up from the bottom of the stalk attach a gimbal joint to hold the stalk but allow it to swivel any direction.  Attach a spring under the stalk with a string up to the bottom of the stalk passing through a fixed ring.  As the stalk moves, it pulls the string through the ring to stretch the spring up and down.  The spring acts like the returning force of the stalk of grass.  now the stalk should bob like a stalk of grass.  Attach a magnet to the string below the ring and put a coil of wire around it.  As the "grass" bobs, it generates electricity.  Or, you could pump water, etc.  Oh yea... if you put a flock of tiny stalks on tiny Piezo crystals you could have a tiny generator or microphone.

Imagine acres of close to the ground grass like stalks bobbing up and down generating electricity.  I know!  Plant it between all of those 100' tall wind turbine towers!  OK, so paint it green already!   Or put it on roofs...

Waves form in the stock market too!  Can we float our boat there too?  Why not.  We need a lake... the market, some waves... the fluctuations in prices.  Let's be cleaver and fill our lake with water that seems to have good waves... you know - up and down, but never too far up or down... just wavey!  Say we pick 100 stocks.  Take each one and find it's average (maybe with some predictable stuff removed - our boat is floating not anchored to the lake bed.).  Plot it's waveyness over time and set a call to buy a bit when it goes below some level below the average.  Now, when the stock makes its expected move above the adjusted average half way to the expected high, you sell the bit.  That creates a value differential that pumps money into your bank account!  With enough stocks you should be able to even out the non-predictable movements... like Monday 9/29/08!  Just remember not to sell in a hurricane - a massive swirling low.

I suppose this system has been used for hundreds of years too, but have you ever thought of it as a wavy ocean... I bet that floats your boat...