MAY TECHNICAL GROUP MEETING.

The meeting started at 7.45pm with Robert welcoming everybody, especially our interstate guests from New South Wales. There were quite a few other new local faces appearing as well which swelled our ranks to 43 people. It seems that most of the newcomers found our group through the ASTRO web site. 

Jan began the night's proceedings with a demonstration of how a biscuit tin can roll uphill with the help of a piece of wood and a roll of masking tape. He then explained how this experiment led to his design of a wheelbarrow wheel which will go over obstacles with much less pushing effort than with using a conventional wheel. His final demonstration was with a wheelbarrow fitted with his wheel design being pushed over an obstacle so we could all see how it worked.

Ken was next with a voltage converter that he has designed to be used to power an electric bike. It contains no transformer and so has no leakage inductance problems while it converts 12V DC to 36V DC at over 90% efficiency. Ken explained how the basic circuit works and then gave a demonstration of it by lighting up three 100W globes. The heat sink that the electronics is mounted on remained cold, testament to the high efficiency that the circuit is running at. 

The principle of the design is shown in the circuit diagram. When the switch is closed, the high current flow pumps up a magnetic field in the choke. As the switch is opened, the magnetic field collapses and charges up the capacitor. The "switch" is actually a bank of five FETs that are switched at 37kHz. The output voltage is determined by the duty cycle of the "switch", with a 50% duty cycle giving an output of twice the input voltage. Ken's design has a 2:1 ratio giving him a 36V output from a 12V supply (Pulse width is modified by the circuit as required). The layout of the electronics is critical for the design to work properly as is the use of Schottkey diodes.

Roger then bounced to the front of the group with a cheese cutting machine that he passed around to challenge people as to how it worked. More on that later.

I then gave an introduction to the Joe Cell and the water charging unit that I have just finished constructing with the help of some other ASTRO members. I asked Uli to give a talk on his experiences with the water charging unit as he had designed the original unit that mine is based on.

Uli explained how the charging cell construction is different to conventional designs in that it has a carbon rod in the centre and a 75mm stainless tube on the outside. The top and bottom of the unit are made from aluminium and have a cone shape machined in them. Uli pointed out that there must be some geometric consistency for resonance to occur, the cone shape being very important and he had experimented with a lot of different angles until he found one that worked much better than all the rest. This turned out to be 51.3 degrees (pyramid angle) at the apex of the cone. Water is recirculated through the unit via a pump and 5L tank. No filtering of the water is needed. Clear PVC pipe is used to join the various components and in Uli's original unit after 10 - 20 mins running, these pipes were full of foam with the water being fully charged. Uli said that the water source was important with only one type of supermarket bottled water and water from his own rainwater tank working in the charging unit. It is interesting to note that Uli's rainwater first runs through a Douglas pine tree before it is collected. 

Uli then went on to talk about his experiences with his Joe cell fitted to a Toyota 1.5L van. The cell did run the van for a short period of time but was unreliable and caused some health problems. Uli said that the vehicle ran better under load or at higher speed indicating that the throughput of air in the engine is important.

The meeting then became a bit chaotic with questions and ideas flying from one side of the room to the other. I got things back on track with an explanation as to the problems that have been experienced with Uli's cell, such as rotation of the field is clockwise, ill-health effects and oil smoke out the exhaust. Joe claims that the field must rotate anti-clockwise, good health will be felt by those in the cell's field and a smoky motor will stop smoking. I pointed out that it is my belief that there are two polarities of field that can occur in a cell and it is critical that the correct one is produced.

Lionel returned to this meeting with his Adam's motor complete with more refinements. He gave a demonstration of it running and explained that the coil polarity changes in his motor so that the magnets are alternately attracted and repelled. The conversation moved on to the LUTEC machine and a Tesla patent of a Harmonic Oscillator Generator.

Next was one of our interstate guests Russel, who brought his Tesla Turbine with him to show the group. It was a very impressive piece of machinery with the two discs having been laser cut and bolted together. The turbine is designed to have steam/gas fed from the outer diameter in between the two discs where it spirals into the centre and exhausts. Tesla turbines have a 75%+ efficiency, can be stacked on one shaft and with added heat can be used as an engine. Russel explained that the Tesla turbine works on the boundary layer principle and so corrosion is not a problem while all sorts of things can be pumped through it like pebbles and fish!

Another visitor to the meeting from country SA, Mark, brought along his Joe cell and Bedini motor. He spoke about some new information about the cell and gave a demonstration of his motor. The motor runs on 12 Volts and puts out 30 Volts. 

Jan and Robert both brought along cylinders that can be spun and appear to be suspended in thin air above a base. These can be bought at novelty shops and obviously magnets have something to do with their operation.

The last demonstration of the night was by Ron who brought along another Fischer and Paykel washing machine motor. He showed how at low rotational speeds a 12 volt lamp could be lit and a siren could be used to deafen everybody. Ron also showed how the three phase output can be converted to DC using six diodes. (The current Renew magazine has an article on using these motors as a low speed generator)

Roger then reappeared with the answer to the cheese slicer. (The knob that clicks at the back pushes the cheese out the front where a vertical motion on the other bit cuts the cheese with a fine wire)

Some general chitchat followed which included Bob having some separator cones for a keg and glass jars for sale for Joe cell enthusiasts and Randal giving away some wheelchair motors and an old signal generator. Other subjects covered were rechargeable batteries, the Egely Vitality Meter and the give away of a Biofeedback machine.

The meeting closed at 10.00pm with thanks to all those attending from Robert. Supper followed with lots of talking, spilling over into the carpark after the 11.00pm curfew and some real keen ones travelling down to Glenelg to continue discussions under the big yellow M.  

EXTRA! The following day saw the interstaters plus a couple of locals visit my place where I showed them the projects I have been working on. I think everyone enjoyed themselves and a lot of good information was shared, with the NSW guys leaving quite enthused about experimenting in various areas. The electric bike also had quite a few test riders. The only disappointment was that no other ASTRO members volunteered to share their homes/experiments/hardware on the Saturday with our visitors.

....Bruce

 A COMMENT ON MEETING PRESENTATIONS.

Matthew asked a very interesting and important question at the last technical group meeting which in essence was "When are you guys going to all get together and work on the Joe cell together instead of working on it separately?" 

As I said at the meeting, this is happening within some members of the group now. For example, the water charging unit that I brought to the meeting was designed by Uli, most of the lathe work was done by Lionel, the slots inside the unit were milled by Bob and I did the rest and assembled the unit. This help that I received from these members of the group was a direct result of me letting them know what I was doing and also bringing the part finished unit along to the first tech group meeting.
However I also know that Matthew is correct in that there are still people in the group who come along to all the meetings, gather up as much information as they can and go home and do their own thing, but never contribute anything to the meeting themselves. So please remember, even if you go home and build something on your own and it does not work, if you share this at the meeting it can stop someone else wasting their time doing the same thing.

So I urge you to think about this and bring your stuff along to the next technical group meeting. Be part of the solution!!!!!!!

....Bruce

I'd like to thank Mark Turner for his email on the Joe Cell.
Please go to the other site for a look....Ken

 The meeting started at 8.07 pm and was opened with a welcome to all by Robert.

The February minutes were read by Athol, moved by Cedric and seconded by Vic.

Robert proceeded over a lengthy debate on club membership, fees and library management.

Ken outlined the new interactive library system where videos could be ordered by Email and they would then be brought in to the next main meeting.

Ken discussed an article on " could the common cold really cure cancer". The full story is available from THE GLOBE and MAIL, Canada, April 27, 2002, http://theglobeandmail.com .

Andrew  commented that the perception from "The Last Vegetarian Society" was that cancer was a healing process that could not be turned off. He said that all cancers were anaerobic (survived in an oxygen free environment) and had a deficiency in lysine.

Nina spoke on "Paris Creek Biodynamic Dairy Products", saying that she had seen a sterilized and sanitised fertilizer made with cow poo, chaff and processed (sterilized) in a special vortexing machine.

Robert then introduced the ASTRO GUEST SPEAKER  Anne.

Anne stated that she was trained in Iridology, Reflexology, Aromatherapy and was a member of the Dowsing Society of New South Wales. She said that she had always been curious about nature and living, adding that the start for healthy living was food - Bovis class food. Every thing radiates. We (humans) radiate at around 6.5 cps. Raw cabbages radiate like a star. Cooked cabbage and other cooked foods radiate very little to no life force energy. Dried Ginseng radiates for years unlike most things that loose their life energy fairly quickly after they are picked.

Anything pasteurised is life force dead. Raw food is alkalising and pasteurised food causes the body to become acidic, (which leads to ill health). Anne said to refer to the book " Return to Eden". She then gave a demonstration on dowsing and commented that any metal across the forehead (such as metal framed glasses) caused brain fogging and mental confusion. A small TV was used to demonstrate the field of negative energy that it radiated and the limiting or redirecting of that field by the use of quartz crystals.

Anne then explained about wearing protective crystal jewellery, stating that it should be worn around the neck in the circular form of a necklace. If one is toxic the crystals get hot when applied to them. Watermelon Tourmaline was said to be good for killing radiation (Garuda Gem Therapy).

Anne then drew a power generator circuit on the whiteboard. It consisted of a Silica Plate, Copper Plate and a Quartz Crystal in a cryogenic glass tube, all connected in series.

Trees, when they are bent over and twisted are an indicator of unhealthy ground energies (negative rays). These energies are recognised in Austria and Germany. School children are moved around regularly to compensate for these forces in classrooms. Fluorescent light tubes were said to destroy vitamin A and we were advised to sleep with our head facing N/E. Those with heads to the west do not normally have a good night's sleep. Sleeping with an electric power (meter) box within 2 meters was said to affect the pineal gland. Anne explained how to dowse for the best gardening spots, saying that the presence of ants, viruses, cats and bacteria were good indicators of negative rays. Dogs like positive rays and tended to seek out good spots to lie in.

Anne then gave a demonstration using an acupuncture stimulator connected to two plates either side of a bottle of water to regenerate positive life forces into the water, saying that over-generation caused a metallic taste in the water. She then briefly discussed dowsing in that it could show a visual presentation of what one feels. Anne finished her first class presentation by saying that one can block external forces from affecting their bodies by crossing their arms and legs

Along with items that Anne put on display were three books that she recommended for further reference.

1. Your Body Doesn't Lie. By Dr. John Diamond and published by Harper and Row.
2. Secrets of the Soil by Peter Tomkins & Christopher Bird. A Penguin book.
3. Secret Life of Plants.

The meeting closed at 10.30pm with a warm thanks to our Guest Speaker and everyone there.

Cheers.

....PeterP