1. The impact of the collision pushes a rack and pinion. 2. The rack raises a counterweight to signal impact while the pinion gear turns an axle connected to a bevel gear. 3. The bevel gear turns another bevel gear connected to another axle. 4. The axle turns a gear which turns the flywheel.
1. Rocks rolling down gutter paths collide with the steel strike plates.
the tumbling of the rock, ensuring that it does not release its energy outside of the generators in an uncontrolled manner. The moment of each impact is very important to both the function and spectacle of the HILL power generator system. Here the precise transference of energy from matter can be observed by visitors on the device platform. The gutter slopes narrow as they approach the generators, focusing the energy of the kinetic body upon the point of impact and maximizing the probability of an efficient energy transfer between the falling kinetic body and the HILL power generator. At the focal point of the gutter slope, the rock disappears underground where it meets the strike plate. The strike plate, once impacted, transfers the energy of the rock to a rack and pinion system connected to a fly wheel. The rack and pinion is forced away from the impact, and the rotation of the pinion is transferred to the motion of the flywheel. Visitors observe a distinctive ‘shudder and spin’ effect during this sequence. The energy from the rock is now stored in the flywheel, a consistently rotating mass in the centre of the platform. Energy can be removed from the flywheel and fed into the grid at times of need by tapping its rotation with an electromagnetic dynamo. The drive to conceal and forget the reminders of our consumption is the result of an inability to accept the scale and nature of our own geologic force. The Sisyphus Project is an invitation for visitors to remember the tie between work and energy, and reflect upon the scale of consumption which our energy infrastructure allows us to achieve. c
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1. The rocks rolls off the platform and moves to a collection area. 2. The counterweight falls, moving the impact plate back to its initial state. 3. The flywheel continues to rotate, storing the kinetic energy of the impact. 4. The energy stored in the flywheel is converted into power through a built-in dynamo.
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