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Humans are said to have evolved from an ancestor that once swung through the trees to get about, free to move through the environment in almost any direction. But today, in our modern high-rise environment, if you simply want to go up or down, it's probably fair to say we've actually devolved. Stairs, elevators, and lifts all take up precious space within buildings, and they're expensive, complicated, or require endless maintenance. Now a new human-powered system prototype dubbed Vertical Walking has been developed that requires just ten percent of the effort needed to climb stairs, but can easily move a person up a vast number of floors.
[...] Designed by the Rombaut Frieling lab in Eindhoven, Netherlands, Vertical Walking uses a system of upright rails that incorporate pulleys and a clever gripping system to allow a user to incrementally move between floors in a building. Claimed to require less than 10 percent of the effort needed to climb stairs, and with no other external energy input needed, the creators assert that the prototype has been successfully proven by a wide range of people, including an amputee and an MS sufferer.
A novel way to move between floors.
(Score: 2) by bradley13 on Thursday October 27 2016, @06:29AM
I had the same thought: Not possible to reduce energy requirements. But - it look to be true. Consider:
- The system is pre-loaded (on the lowest floor) with potential energy stored in the elastic ropes.
- As you move upwards, you are adding your own energy input, but mostly your are using the stored potential energy.
- When you move downwards, your descent stretches the elastic ropes, putting potential energy back into the system.
The problem would seem to be: Even with pulleys to artificially lengthen the ropes, they are still subject to the spring constant: they will help less and less as they shorten. Hence, as you ascend, you will have to add more and more energy yourself. Those last few floors are likely to be a bitch.
There are obviously problems, not least is convincing some people to expend *any* physical effort. But the 10% energy claim is actually believable.
Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Thursday October 27 2016, @07:24AM
Maybe if all your trips are upward, and someone else takes it back down and re-loads the spring tension for you, you might do it for 10%.
But that's the logical equivalent of only going down stairs, or only sliding down a firepole, and
returning to the second floor via magical thinking.
Back to physics class for you.
TNFL.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by urza9814 on Friday October 28 2016, @02:02PM
Just sitting on the thing will reload the tension. Of course, you aren't going to be able to get near that 90% reduction from springs alone unless perhaps you tune it for a very specific weight, which would be useless any kind of public building. But just think of it like bungee jumping. You get on at the top, the cord stretches as you fall, and just before you slam into the pavement it slows you to a stop. At the bottom it clicks into a latch and locks, and when the next person gets on they unlock that and it yanks them back up!
(Score: 2) by frojack on Sunday October 30 2016, @08:57PM
when the next person gets on they unlock that and it yanks them back up!
There is no free lunch.
You do not get back anywhere near enough energy to take you back up.
Little Jimmy asked the same question [illinois.edu].
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Thursday October 27 2016, @12:19PM
Thanks for reading TFA... so, pre-loaded rubber bands - great... no maintenance problems there (o.k. metal springs would last a little longer, but...)
This amounts to a pre-loaded counterweight system - maybe you consider that innovative, I toured a hand-built historic house from the early 1900s that did the same thing for their single-hung windows.
The problem becomes: during morning rush, all the mass is going up - so you have to have a lot of preload ready and waiting to move everybody into the building. Then, if you've got all that energy storage capacity, you can re-load it in the afternoon when everybody goes home. Same thing in reverse for residential buildings full of working people.
I'm envisioning a water based system where there are two big pools, one on the roof, one in the basement. Step into the elevator on the ground floor and a corresponding counterweight car is filled with water from the roof until it begins to descend. Then, to recover the energy, when an elevator is filled on a high floor, the counterweight car is filled with water from the bottom pool. Tall buildings would likely have intermediate pools along the way up. Complicated, but could be entertaining to watch if you make the counterweights clear and visible.
🌻🌻 [google.com]