Algobox - Rotary Collision Engines (prototype)

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Rotary Collision Engines (prototype)

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Author: Little

Group: Default

Filesize: 114.75 kB

Date added: 2025-05-06

Rating: 5

Downloads: 860

Comments: 10

Ratings: 1

Times favored: 0

Made with: Algodoo v2.2.3

Tags:

Hello!
Now that I'm out of school (forever), I've been brainstorming different stuff to do in Algodoo with my new-found time!

One thing I thought might be fun would to be make a mechanical engine that runs off of collisions rather than attraction or springs.

These two engines have a central rotor and 8 "spikes" which can have collision on or off depending on the position of the rotor.
I'm quite happy with how they came out!

I will warn you about 2 things though!

1. The one on the right *very* abruptly brakes when switching directions. Please keep this in mind if you use it in a car!

2. If the RPM rapidly decreases (like if you are shifting gears) too fast, the engine can backfire and create a nasty jolt, shaking the entire car and slowing it down quite a bit, potentially leading to the gear shifting back down.

As such, I consider these two engines prototypes -- but I still find them really fun to play with!
I also included my new RPM meters in this scene (totally not just stolen from my new dashboard)!

Instructions in scene -- have phun!

2017 - 2025 Little (Kinetic Experiments)

These can be used in your scenes with credit.

EDIT: Fixed bug with on-demand engine seizing in reverse

DESC EDIT: The more I use these, the less I like them...

I might delete this scene later...

Last edited at 2025/05/06 03:11:36 by Little

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Xray

2025/05/06 05:19:36

Quote: "Now that I'm out of school (forever)."

No way! Someone as smart as you are will surely want to further your education. Before you mentioned your age in an older comment, I thought that you were a young adult (maybe mid 20's)! Your sentence structure, grammar, and spelling are quite superior to most high school age kids. I see a future for you as an engineer (maybe mechanical?). I hope you don't waste your young years by doing nothing productive. You are very smart and creative, so put that talent to good use! :tup:

(NO EXCUSES!)

Little

2025/05/06 05:38:21

Oh, I meant grade school! :lol:

I'm still thinking about what college I could go to!

Xray

2025/05/06 16:42:39

Oh, GOOD!

Little

2025/05/07 21:59:00

When I do end up going to college though, it's probably going to be for something psychology related.

I don't have huge confidence in my engineering skills :lol:

This scene showcases why to an extent, I would say -- if you try to build a car with a geared transmission with these engines, the engine usually backfires upon shifting up because of the rapid RPM change, and the backfire results in a huge jolt and usually slows the car down pretty hard.

Last edited at 2025/05/07 22:01:20 by Little

Xray

2025/05/07 22:49:51

Quote: "I don't have huge confidence in my engineering skills"

Silly girl! Of course you don't have engineering skills! That's what college is for! :lol:

brane_benz

2025/05/16 18:17:58

That's very nice.

The4spaceconstants

2025/05/21 18:43:30

.
wow
pretty fast

Xray

2025/05/21 21:10:14

@Little -- While playing around with the "Idle" version, I noticed something peculiar. When the RPM drops down to the value in "_idle" the engine speeds up and then slowly ramps down to _idle speed and then the cycle repeats. For example, if I set "_idle" to 200, the RPM will slowly ramp down to 200 RPM but as soon as it's at the idle speed, it ramps up to about 345 RPM, and that cycle repeats forever. (Well that may be a slight exaggeration!) :lol:

So, is it supposed to do that?

Little

2025/05/25 04:59:25

It's sort of just an artifact of how my engines idle.

From what I understand, real engines usually just have a minimum throttle rate -- and that throttle rate usually happens to be around enough to reach 800 or so RPM.

However, these engines only have completely on or off throttle -- so the idle speed is achieved through a hard rev limiter which shuts off ignition above a certain RPM.

Since each detonation can easily increase the RPM by over 100, it will typically overshoot a fair amount and slowly glide back down due to air resistance, causing the cycle you mentioned.

I may experiment with soft rev limiters in the future -- who knows? :lol:

Xray

2025/05/25 20:06:21

Wanna learn something cool about speed control? There is a very common speed control algorithm known as PID (Proportional, Integral, Derivative). The cruise control in most cars use that technique. It may be more than you want to tackle for this scene, but I guarantee that it would be worth your while to learn about it because you very well may need to use it in one or more of your future engineering projects!