On Jun 28, 2009, at 1:38 PM, Harry Veeder wrote:
----- Original Message -----
From: Horace Heffner <[email protected]>
Date: Sunday, June 28, 2009 12:30 pm
Subject: Re: [Vo]:vortex balls!
I've updated:
http://www.mtaonline.net/~hheffner/HullMotor.pdf
to add: "Regarding Fig. 5, a strategy to improve conductivity and
yet
retain some of the effective flux is to construct the driver disk
using a thin copper disk sandwiched between two iron disks. A
further improvement would consist of cutting fine radial groves in
the outer portion of the central copper disk in order to keep the
radial current tightly confined geometrically. It is possible to
construct both the brush disk and active disk in an identical
manner,
and thus obtain two active disks. The control experiment then
consists of replacing the iron disks with copper disks."
Best regards,
Horace Heffner
http://www.mtaonline.net/~hheffner/
I wonder if it would work if the ends of the shaft were connected
to the
leads with brushes, instead of connecting the leads to the bearings.
Harry
If you look at Fig. 5 in the above pdf you will see the brushes are
connected to the shaft and not the ball bearings. This takes ball
bearings out of the picture entirely. Mercury or some other liquid
conductor might be used in place of brushes, provided the shaft in
Fig. 5 is made vertical, and the end of the shaft dipped in the
mercury or other liquid conductor to form the "brush".
Using just brushes on the circumference of the shaft, instead of
connecting the power to the bearings, should work somewhat provided
the shaft is magnetic, and the brushes closely approximate a point.
The problem with brushes in any case is friction. Perhaps graphite
lubricant could help, and provide more of an arc-like contact, at
least briefly. One problem with using the shaft directly is that the
radial path L of the current i is thereby minimized, so the i L x M
force is minimized. That's why I suggest the use of the
comparatively thin wheel conduction path augmented by sectioning. A
solid steel shaft should work better than a hollow shaft, and a large
diameter solid shaft should work better than a small diameter shaft
for that direct contact with the shaft approach.
Best regards,
Horace Heffner
http://www.mtaonline.net/~hheffner/
