Thames & Kosmos Solar Mechanics handleiding

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MACHINES

For something to be called a machine, it has to have

a source of power and a way to transmit power from

one place to another — a transmission. Power can

come from many sources, like heat or electricity.

Power can be transmitted in many ways. Gear trains

like the ones you have just experimented with in Ex-

periments 1–4 are good examples.

This kit contains a special machine called the solar

motor unit. It is a single-piece device that takes light

and converts it into motion. The light source can be

sunlight or even light from a powerful lamp. The mo-

tion is the spinning of an axle that sticks out from ei-

ther side of the unit.

But how exactly does the solar motor unit convert

light into motion? The solar panel on the top — a se-

ries of photovoltaic panels — generates electric cur-

rent when exposed to enough light. That electric cur-

rent in turn goes to powering an electric motor,

which results in the spinning of the motor’s shaft.

From there, a transmission consisting of four gears

carries the motion all the way to the axles on the

sides of the unit, which can be used to activate your

models!

The solar panel and the electric motor will be ex-

plained in the next section. First, let’s look at how

the transmission in the solar motor unit works.

INCREASING

TORQUE

In Experiment 1, your gear

train had a gear ratio of 1:3.

For every one rotation of the

large yellow driver gear, the

small red driven gear rotated

three times.

Inside the solar motor unit,

the opposite happens. A se-

ries of four gears takes a fast-

spinning motor shaft and re-

duces the speed.

But why would you want to

slow it down? The answer is

simple: when you reduce the

speed of an output gear in a

gear train, you increase the

torque of the output gear.

Torque is a measure of the

turning force of a rotating ob-

ject. In this case, you can

think of it as the strength of a

gear to turn another gear.

So, by decreasing the speed,

the solar motor unit has in-

creased the strength of the

motor to turn gears and axles

and power your vehicles and

devices!

teeth

8 teeth

30 teeth

36 teeth

Gear Ratio =

Number of teeth

on driven gear

Number of teeth

on driver gear

CHECK IT OUT

Gearing Up: Transmissions | 9

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