Heins Effect Gaining Credibility Monday | March 19, 2012
http://evworld.com/blogs/index.cfm?authorid=279 'Don't worry about people stealing an idea. If it's original, you will have to ram it down their throats.' -Howard Aiken, US computer scientist (1900 - 1973) Back in July of 2010 I wrote a story called The Heins Effect. It was a simple story about a self-taught inventor who asked a stupid question and got a stupid answer. 30+ years ago Thane Heins was a young, naive student at Ottawa University when he asked the professor teaching the electric motors/generators class an obvious question about efficiency, 'If you could figure out a way to retard [withhold] the counter-EMF on the advancing magnet by 10% would you not increase its overall efficiency by 10%?'. 'Why even bother answering that question, because if you did you would be violating several laws of physic, so you can't do it' was the reply. And that was that. It may not have been the actual word-for-word conversation that took place, but Thane gave us this short synopsis when asked what sparked the idea for his technology. He had an idea in his mind when he asked that question (a flash of genius you might say) but buried it in his collective and went on with life. I gleaned that little bit of history from Thane last Monday while I was attending the RegenX demonstration in Toronto that he was giving for his investors and technical staff. Fast forward to post-911: Thane, like many other eco-engineers, wanted to stop the oil wars so he started thinking about his ideas again. He grabbed his ideas, some electric motors and headed down into the basement where disaster awaited. I'll spare you the details of the first time he plugged in his Regenerative Acceleration prototype, but suffice to say it got away from him but in a good way. And from that first disaster Thane knew he was on the right track so he has spent the last 10+ years coming to grips with what he discovered and the last few years trying to explain it. And I have spent the last 48 hours doing the same. When I last spoke to Thane several years ago he had come to grips with the mechanics of his technology, but not quite the explanation of it (at least not one that most engineers could understand). He could prove it in the lab to anyone that questioned it but without that basic, rock solid and understandable explanation of how his electric motor can draw less energy, and accelerate at the same time, most of his naive collogues just scratched their heads and walked away. Well, as a mechanical engineer I'm here to explain how it works and why it works. And it does work; over a dozen of us were witness to that last Monday (as well as a film crew--filming in 3D no less!) Let's start with my feeble explanation of the mechanics of how a permanent-magnet electric motor works--then I'll work my way up from there. The coils provide rotational force to the rotor when the coils are energized with current (amps). Energized in sequence they form a rotating magnetic field (the Electro-Motive Force; EMF) that attracts the magnets of the rotor and thus it rotates with force. An opposite EMF is also formed as the magnet approaches the coils and--based on the strength of that back-EMF -- it determines how fast you can rotate the magnets through it before it stops accelerating. The conventional laws of physics (and those governing electric motors/generators) tells us that the faster we pass the magnet through the EMF the more current is needed (or generated) to the point where the magnets cannot go any faster due to back EMF [resistance to the magnetic field]. If you quit supplying electrical current to the coils the rotor eventually freewheels to a stop over time. If you short out those coils (let's say to a battery) then the magnetism in the rotating magnets supply current to those coils the motor, it becomes a generator and slows down even faster because it's under load (via it's self-induced EMF). This is called Regenerative Braking and it can be used to convert the momentum of the vehicle to electricity and [ultimately] to put some of that electricity back in the battery and extend the range of the vehicle. Still with me? I'm almost there... now picture if you will a flywheel attached to the pigtail of this electric motor, and on this flywheel are the same type of magnets. If you were to place some standard coils next to these magnets you have a duplicate of what's inside. Put Thanes proprietary Regenerative Acceleration coils next to those magnets you have something exciting. As Thane has come to understand he has figured out a way to store the latent electrical energy in those rotating magnets as high voltage between the coils (not as magnetic field around his coils) and not in them either; a capacitor of types (if you care to imagine). Since it is current flowing through the coils that causes the magnetic fields around them (and not the volts) Thanes' coils offer no EMF [resistance] as the magnet approaches. Just as the magnets pass top-dead-center to the coils... POW! His coils release the voltage into the coils by shorting them out to the batteries--converting it to amps--and the magnet field is almost instantly created. Since the magnets on the flywheel are now moving past the magnetized coils they accelerate away from it, adding torque to the motors' rotor. This 'assist' helps lowers the amount of electricity needed to drive the motor and the current that is created (from these coils) is fed back into the batteries. How much electricity? Thane claims that if he designs the motor and his regenerative acceleration coils together (as a package) he has seen as much as 200% increase in output. It almost seems like free energy... creepy, huh. By now if you are like me you are asking yourself ìWhere is that free energy coming from?' Thane has his ideas and I have mine, but from where I stand the answer is obvious: the magnets. Just as a permanent magnet motor is more powerful and efficient than an AC induction motor, this extra energy is stored as a magnetic field in the high-density rare earth magnets. True, over time the magnet should lose their magnetism but if that's the case they could be recharged easily enough. Now, let me explain what you see in real life. You see an electric vehicle that--when underway and not under full load--will actually gain in top end and recharge the batteries at the same time. However, if you stop turning the motor you stop the Regenerative Acceleration; and it cannot start the motor up. If you put the pedal-to-the-metal to make it up a steep hill you will start draining the batteries. There's no unlimited free ride here. But if you stay on the flat and level theoretically you could go on until your bladder tells you otherwise. I have tried to describe an electric motor used to provide motive power for electric vehicles and provide extended range as well, but if you think about it, there are some other unique uses for Thanes' generator. Put one between some solar panels & the batteries and you have just doubled the output of the panels. Put one off the end of a diesel generator and you get an increase in output. The possibilities are endless, as are the questions and the skeptics I'm sure. But please, if you're asking me, try to keep the questions limited to mechanical ones. As I stated in my first article, when it comes to electricity I'm lucky if I get the batteries in the right way. If I have sparked your imagination, or you just want to build the next generation mousetrap, then I invite you to contact Thanes' group, Potential Difference, at th...@potentialdifference.ca or, better yet, call him at 613-759-1602. And tell him EV World sent you... it always gives him a good laugh. Opinion pieces denote the opinions of the author, and do not necessarily represent the views of EV World.
