Hotwired wrote:boyntonstu wrote:A 150 pound crossbow pushing a .25" diameter piston 24" iwould create a a fairly high pressure.
BoyntonStu
Of course if the purpose is to have a pulse of pressure to fire something... just use the crossbow itself, conversion doesn't improve efficiency.
The string has mass. After the crossbow itself fires the projectile, the string continues indicating not all the energy transfered to the projectile. In an ideal spring, air, projectile setup, it is possible to transfer all the bow energy to the air such the bow comes to a stop with no left over energy, which then transfers all of it to the projectile, which then reduces to atmospheric pressure as the projectile is ejected, giving all the energy to the projectile for a higher overall energy transfer efficiency.
Building it with everything the right mass, etc is another story.
Hotwired wrote:Would you drive the piston and move the projectile immediately, or would suggest compressing the air and releasing the final pressure?
Higher efficiency can be obtained without a valve by simply using the air as an efficient spring.