December 2004 Newsletter October meeting Peter's Page
ASTRO MEETING 8th October 2004 Ken ... opened the meeting at 8.05pm. Hans ... mentioned an article on "starving yourself while eating". He gave an example: the calcium content of a supermarket silver beet was measured at 65mg versus organically grown at 1600mg. The implication being that modern high yield farming is no where as good nutritionally as organic! Dennis ... (Fisher & Paykel wind generators) mentioned an article where a 25KWatt commercial wind energy kit would take 25 years to pay off. He then displayed a wind generator head unit (see photos). It was a three phase to three bridge rectifier unit with two electric brushes outputting from the support shaft. He explained that it was delta wound, which produced much more power (600 - 1000 Watts @ max speed of 800rpm) than star wound units.
Peter ... demonstrated an electric water precipitator (see photo) that passed 180vdc through reverse osmosis water. This caused the totally dissolved organic solids to precipitate out and sink to the bottom. This was to demonstrate that seemingly crystal clear reverse osmosised water still had unseen gunk in it. (some members thought that the residue came from the electrodes, but Peter said commercial laboratory grade purifiers has special filters to remove these impurities and that he would repeat this experiment with platinum electrodes later on. Ken ... demonstrated a fascinatingly simple Gamma type Sterling engine. (See photo) Because it ran at atmospheric pressure no valves were needed. He said that NASA now propose using nuclear powered Sterling motors on satellites for power generation as an alternative to nuclear powered thermoelectric generators. RonE ... had converted 150 hours of ASTRO Audio Library tapes to "text on voice" on an MP3 CD. He had purchased a 240vac MP3 player (on special from Jaycar) and gave us a fascinating and amusing demonstration. Well done Ron!!! GUEST SPEAKER #1 ANDY BARRIE ... demonstration and talk on the INDIBA machine. http://www.indiba.es/eng/medicina/hipertermia.htm Andy gave a quite detailed explanation with demonstrations of the operation of the machine. With different types of electrode heads, frequencies varying (dependant on the treatment) from 0.4Mhz to 0.6Mhz is applied to the appropriate part of the body. Andy explained that there were many different ways of producing Hyperthermia or heating to affected parts of the body such as microwave, ultrasound, ultraviolet, magnetic fields, but there are problems with all of these. The non-invasive INDIBA method gives rise to an internal thermal increase with none of the disadvantages of the previously mentioned systems, meaning that it can even be applied to the eyes, brain and spinal column, areas that are completely out of bounds to the other methods. There are two types of treatment. CET - RET" INDIBA HYPERTHERMIA Capacitive Electric Transfer (CET) is a method that allows the RF electrical current to be transferred "by capacity" (principle of the electrical capacitor) to the patient's body via a moveable external application electrode. This is covered with an insulating film which acts as dielectric and the body acts as a second plate of the capacitor. A return plate closes the circuit. The electric circulation through the resistive medium formed by the live tissues increases its temperature. The Resistive Electrical Transfer (RET), introduced in 1994, is different from the CET in that basically the application electrode is not insulated, allowing the current to be transferred directly to the patient with less dispersion, thus obtaining an increase in temperature at a greater depth. Andy called for volunteers with swollen, aching or sore limbs to have a demonstration treatment. GUEST SPEAKER # 2 PROFESSOR DODGE Professor Dodge was the president of the NSW Inventors Association for eight years. He invented the Fuel Polariser, which he explained, gave a 40% increase in diesel power, and about 11% increase in LPG and unleaded petrol. He said that it was a fusion reaction caused by electrons in the fuel that gave a secondary burning. A general discussion ensued with Professor Dodge, Devashoen and ASTRO members relating to magnetics and their effects on health. For example, a carbon ferrite magnet of about 11,000gauss placed north pole to the skin is said to be an immune system booster and good for asthmatics. The effect was said to be able to be amplified through amethyst. The magnets should be used at the acupuncture points and the healing effect could apparently be increased by a factor of five times. A physiologist (named Philpot) in USA uses carbon ferrite magnets, with the north pole facing in on the temples, to treat physiological problems. Professor Dodge ... also said that our immune systems are electric, and that a healthy person has a magnetic field of about 9 gauss. He said that a battery watch, when worn, can reduce the bodys strength by 27%. This could be tested by pressing a bath scale to measure the differences. A person in good health also emitted an aura of 3 metres. Some other interesting things that he mentioned were that it was beneficial to earth one´s body by touching steel or hugging a tree. He said that a glass of lemon juice could be modified in taste by waving your fingers in a circular motion over the top for about 15 seconds. Anti clock wise sweetened it while clockwise increased the sourness. Thanks were expressed to our guest speakers and all participants. The meeting closed at 11.10pm followed by supper. Until next time PeterP The dispacer for the above Stirling engine, two
holes had been drilled in a can of mint sauce and the sauce was slowly
removed using running water. The displacer should clear the displacer housing by 1/8 of an inch. November Meeting NOT PETER'S PAGE !!!
Stephen showed several short videos of tests
done with the model boats as well as one of the current world
record holder, an Australian boat which traveled the course at
over 46 knots (86Km/h) in 1993. Stephen also went into some
calculations and demonstrations of the forces involved in sailing
including apparent wind angle and velocity triangles. The
advantages of this boat include stability, is fast, can launch
off a beach and has superior strength brought about by the use of
carbon fibre sandwich construction. Stephen is aiming to break
the world sailing speed record as well as break into the mass
sailing market.
Ken showed us a huge Fresnel
lens that he has used to melt his name into some volcanic rock
and set fire to wet 4x2 timber, as you do! He is thinking of
using it as a heat source for his Stirling engine providing it
does not melt it. He also mentioned a report that he read which
stated that a current of 2mA through the front of your brain
increases brain function by 20%. Apparently more or less current
does not have the same effect - any volunteers? Ken also showed
us an amazing new piece of IC technology which is a super
accurate function generator chip (AD9833) which outputs
sine or triangular waves and goes from basically DC up to 12.5
Megahertz in 0.1 Hz steps (28 bit resolution). Whats this in the car park?...Not a car with a Joe cell ???? Heliostats A few ASTRO members have expressed interest in solar furnaces, below is the definition if a Heliostat. A heliostat is a two axis solar tracking mirror that reflects sunlight onto a fixed receiver. Furthermore the geometry between the Sun, mirror, and receiver are constantly changing throughout the day. Below is a url for some good reading. http://www.redrok.com/main.htm Well Ron, it looks like this is our next project, a lot of micoprocessor controlled mirrors. .........Ken |
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