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Flotor

 Motor driven by floatation.
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This is a very lightweight motor. It is mostly hollow and submerged in a tank of water. When air fills an inflatable bladder it floats to the top and surfaces above the water line, in another part of the cycle a deflated bladder is submerged because it sinks when empty. These two components counterbalance eachother.

When the inflated bladder is pulled into the water as the deflated bladder fills with air, the inflated bladder deflates as it presses against the surface of the water. When the once inflated bladder is flattened and empty of air, the once deflated bladder is inflated and just below the surface.

The now deflated bladder sinks below the surface and the inflated bladder floats above the surface. The motor is powered by the rocking of a boat on waves which cause bellows on the water line to force air through the motor.

—rcarty, Jan 22 2014

Wave powered boat http://liquidr.com/...gy/wave-motion.html
[goldbb, Jan 22 2014]

subnautical hullaballoon Underwater_20Hullaballoon
[spidermother, Jan 23 2014]

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       This has the potential to be expanded into a subnautical hullaballoon.
—mitxela, Jan 22 2014
   

       Right, well quasisubnautical If the floats have to surface like the hullabaloon balloons.
—rcarty, Jan 22 2014
   

       What is the energy input? The waves?   

       What is the energy output?   

       If you can use the waves to give mechanical power to the bellows, why not cut out the bladders and make that mechanical power the output?
—pocmloc, Jan 22 2014
   

       This converts that energy to rotational motion.   

       The way I see it the float can't sink with air inside, so it gets squeezed on the surface of the water, pushing air into the empty bladder which increases the force to sink applied on the former by leverage.
—rcarty, Jan 22 2014
   

       You got a vote for the name. I think Flotor was one of Skeletor's buddies; pals with Beastman and Spikor, hitting on Teela, all that.   

       But re the device - a diagram would help me. I am envisionally impaired. But I like anything "subnautical" because it could be on American TV.
—bungston, Jan 22 2014
   

       Ok this is a edging little too close to a prototype I am working on. Since it's so close I'll give you a hint; use the bladder or lose the bladder. (+)   

       //why not cut out the bladders and make that mechanical power the output //   

       Here's an example implementation contrived to make sense of this:   

       Rather than a typical set of bellows that might end up having moving components in or near the water, you could make a wave powered air pump with one or more buckets inverterted partially below the water surface. An air hose with a check valve is attached to the bottom of each bucket (now the top since they are inverted). You could send this air to a standard air motor, but maybe this flotor could be slightly more robust with salt water spray in the air supply.
—scad mientist, Jan 22 2014
   

       Yes that makes sense. So the water-bellow inflates the bladder at the 7 o'clock position, while the one at 3 o'clock has its valve open to vent to the atmosphere.   

       Actually I think you need 5 bladders minimum.
—pocmloc, Jan 22 2014
   

       A google search for wave powered boat comes up with 2.5 million results. No bladders are involved, though.
—goldbb, Jan 22 2014
   


 

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