Daedalus' Inventions: Vibrating Tram

Most vehicles need shock absorbing suspensions to ensure smooth ride. The exception is air cushion devices (WUAs), but they have to pay for the softness of the need to continuously pump a huge amount of air. Therefore, Daedalus is trying to construct a new mode of transport, occupying an intermediate position between wheeled transport and WUAs.

Daedalus’s car (the prototype of which was a vibratory conveyor) has instead of wheels special runners, or “shoes”, installed along the entire length of the device and performing fast vertical vibrations, so that the vehicle moves forward as if with quick short jumps.

If the shoes are sufficiently elastic (for example, made from the wonderful rubber used to make baby balls), then the energy loss will be small and the power spent on movement will be small.

The speeds of the new transport, which can be considered as a logical development of the principle of the children's “stick-rope”, will not be limited by centrifugal forces breaking the tires; its translational movement is provided due to the horizontal movement of the runners at the moment they touch the road surface.

A similar principle can be applied to change the direction of movement, although the rail option will probably be the most effective.

For braking, just turn off the vibrators. The load on the road surface will not exceed normal. If you choose a vibration frequency of the order of several hundred hertz, then with each jump the transport will be able to cover a distance of only a few centimeters. Initially, Daedalus believed that such a frequency of vibration would be invisible to passengers. Then, however, he realized that due to the constant vibration, passengers would not be able to stay on the seats or stand on the floor - they would have to helplessly glide like on ice. Therefore, the body of the vibrocar will have to be installed on special shock absorbers that dampen vibration.

New scientist

From Daedalus's notebook:

Suppose that in a prototype of our vehicle, vibrations will occur at a frequency of 50 Hz — the usual frequency of industrial alternating current. (Perhaps this frequency is a little small, but it will allow us to use some decommissioned tram for testing). Then, with each jump, up and down movements will take 0.01 s. For 0.01 s, a falling object travels a path

This means that the amplitude of vibrations of the vibrators can be very small. However, with this amplitude, the shoes will not be able to overcome path irregularities exceeding 0.5 mm, so the rail track is most suitable for such vehicles. At each push, the vibrators must tell the vehicle a vertical speed equal to

If our device has a mass of 1 t and makes 50 jumps per second, then the power consumption will be

This is a small power, especially when you consider that a significant part of the energy will be saved thanks to the elastic suspension. It is obvious that the energy costs of keeping such a vehicle in a “suspended" state are negligible compared to the costs of its translational movement, and they can be further reduced by increasing the frequency of vibrations.

Speed. For movement at a speed of 47 km / h (13 m / s) at 50 jumps per second for each jump, it is necessary to cover a distance of 13/50 = 0.26 m = 26 cm. Assuming that the vibrators are in contact with the surface for 10 % of the duration of the jump, we find that the horizontal movement of the vibrator should be 2.6 cm

Perhaps two types of vibrators should be used: vibrators with a small amplitude will keep the device in a "suspended" state, and vibrators with a large amplitude will set it in motion. You can also use vibrators of the same type, providing the possibility of changing their angle.