Difference between revisions of "Infinitesimal bearing"

Revision as of 15:04, 31 March 2015

APM in T.Level III may enable us to create a new type of macroscopic bearings in the form of a passive metamaterial.

A small demo stack of building blocks for a relative speed distributing metamaterial.

From classic to infinitesimal bearings. More layers reduce the relative speed differences. The result has lower friction and higher damage tolerance.

Different configrations (end to end connections) of infinitesimal bearing metamaterial can produce different types of bearings

To reduce the relative speed of two surfaces one stacks many layers with minimal thickness (each layer un-percievably small - thus "infinitesimal"). Just enough to accommodate some necessary nanomechanics. Those nanomechanics are DMME gears (not bearings) and further structure that make sure that every layer takes the same part of the total speed difference. Note that due to superlubrication a single layer can take well perceivable macroscopic speeds without being destroyed thus bearings replacing todays macroscopic ones will need to use only a very thin stack of infinitesimal bearing layers. Since there's no static friction and very low speed dependent dynamic friction in diamondoid nanomechanics (see superlubrication) the bearings efficiency can be expected to be exceptional.

It is to investigate how a macroscopic infinitesimal bearing performs relative to nanoscopic DMME bearing and how long an infinitesimal brearing of certain size would turn till it e.g. reaches half its initial speed.

As in all products of advanced nanosystems the nanomechanics must (through their structure) provide some redundancy making the design more complicated
[TODO add more detailed Model]

[TODO: design a makro model structure for demonstration]

Cheating on a scaling law

When the total speed difference that the bearing is supporting is kept constant the power dissipation per volume scales with size:

• linearly with mono-layer sleeve bearings (note that here the whole power dissipation is concentrated on a single layer in the considered volume)
• quadratic with infinitesimal bearings

[todo: add the math]

scaling only one dimesion (bearing thickness)

Doubling the number of layers

• halves the speed which quaters the dynamic friction (P ~ v²) (v->v/2 => P->P/4)
• doubles the surface area which doubles friction (P ~ A) (A->2A => P-> 2P)
• thus in combination it halves friction (v->v/2 && A->2A => P->P/2)

Related AP metamaterials

Adding chemomechanical or electromechanical motors into the layers changes it into an interfacial drive (an active metamaterial). There the add-up of layer movement acts as one of the methods to accumulate nano motion to macroscopic levels (mechanical macroscopification).