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prong
Experienced Roboteer
Joined: 19 Jun 2004
Posts: 839
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I think you missed the point. Glen is experimenting with much lower amperage and voltage electro-magnets than you are talking about. As far as i can see from reading the rules his magnet is fine as long as it does not cause and sort of electronic interference with the other robot.
A compulsator does not have to be dangerous, people have succesfully built them and if you search around a bit on the net you will find instructions on how to rebuild electric motors to create one. Maybe the army will build a huge one that could potentially shatter and be dangerous but we are talking about a 12kg robot here, the compulsator Glen could possible use would be very small. That said there is almost no point in actually using one as far as i can see, ni-cd's or Lead Acid batteries will supply the current he needs.
As for the railgun being an unrestrained projectile, where did Glen say that? He talked about using a railgun spike, basically a large solenoid. There is no projectile, just a spike to attempt to puncture etc other robots.
I think the word railgun is the word that mislead you, but having a large electromagnet that used say 100amps or so that when turned on, created a magnetic field that repelled or attracted a shaft through its centre (same as a solenoid) you could get that spike moving quite quickly. Not sure how well it would work but maybe you could also use some strong magnets on the shaft to give the electromagent something better to attract or repel. The spike would come out of the robot, but like a gas powered spike weapon it would never leave the robot completely.
Another use for the electro magnet would be to try and get a hold on the other robots, but this could be tricky. I also agree with Valen, the power usage on the electromagent will be very high, bit still it is an interesting thing to experiment with.
As for RF interference it will be an issue, as will the high voltage spikes from the electromagnet when it is turned off but since Glen is only using fairly low voltages it should not be too hard to isolate satisfactorily.
I do not mean to sound rude Maelstrom but it bugs me when people discourage other peoples ideas when they have not even read the persons idea properly or even have a good understanding of what they are talking about. Next time read the posts properly and do a bit of a search around on the net so you are up to date with what you are talking about. Also not every comment on here is serious, its usually pretty easy to tell the little jokes apart...
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Mon Sep 06, 2004 1:15 am |
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Maelstrom
Joined: 18 Jun 2004
Posts: 8
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When you connect power to an electromagnet it will cause an RF spike, when you disconnect power it will cause an RF spike which means it will cause RF interference and that is why Robotwars, Battlebots etc have banned them!
Reversing the field of an electromagnet will NOT cause it to repel, iron is attracted to either polarity tha same amount, only NON FERROUS metals are repelled by a pulsed or moving magnetic field, a continuous field has ZERO effect on non ferrous metals, I suggest you try it for yourself!
Where are the links to websites with compulsators that actually function and can deliver any significant current as good as or better than a pulse capacitor, I personally know people who are trying this for railguns and other devices requiring high amperage pulses!
Even a small compulsator would explode violently if there is even a small amount of stress fracturing in the metal or other material!
Show me actual scientific experiments not pseudoscience (which there is a lot of on the net and is most likely what you have seen)!
That aside the weight required would mean you would have to go into the 100Kg class just to have the compulsator let alone the weapon powered by it!
Railguns only work with short projectiles, long ones would weld to the rails, even short ones do this sometimes (again I know people who experiment with them)!
Using an electromagnet to drive a spike like a solenoid might work but again the weight problem and RF interference make this useless and would require the use of pulse capacitors (I know as I have been researching coil guns and built a small one)!
I do have a good understanding of these technologies, as stated above I have been researching electromagnetics, most specifically pulsed magnetics (you obviousely do not Prong)!
Kkeroo is right about the weight, it will be too much once you take into account the iron core, wire and batteries!
I am not trying to stop people from building just trying to stop people from electrocuting themself or being injured by schrapnel!
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Tue Sep 07, 2004 10:39 pm |
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