now here is an interesting concept.
A man hooked an electric motor metal output drive shaft to a metal wheel
with magnets on the rim. Around the magnet wheel were coils acting as a
generator. he overloaded the generator to created massive back emf. the
driving motor should have been slowed by the load.
The man found though that IF the linking shaft was metal fromt he
electric motor to the braking generator the back emf feed back into the
electric motor as magnetic field through the metal drive shaft speeding
up the driving motor.
If he replaced the metal drive shaft shaft with a non magnetic shaft
like plastic the attached wheel generated the expected braking action on
the motor via the back emf created in the coils ans the magnets passed
them. in other words with a plastic force drive shaft the load slowed
the driving motor as expected.
First time I have ever heard of the possibility of back emf on a driven
wheel being feed back into the driving electrical motor via a magnetic
coupling to boost the driving motor's output.
first story here in the Toronto Star Newspaper. 2nd Followup story below
it as the machine is taken to Massachusetts Institute of Technology
professor Markus Zahn to verify
also complete videos of the device working with and without metal shaft
as back emf is generated
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogLeKTlLy5E`Holy crap, this is really scary,' inventor says of strange phenomenon
http://www.thestar.com/Article/300041Feb 04, 2008 04:30 AM
<
http://www.thestar.com/opinion/columnists/94629>Tyler Hamilton
<
http://www.thestar.com/opinion/columnists/94629>
<
http://www.thestar.com/opinion/columnists/94629>
Energy Reporter
It all began back in 1985, when Thane Heins, having studied electronics
at Heritage College in Gatineau, Quebec, started thinking about how
magnets could be used to improve power generators.
But it wasn't until after the 9/11 attacks that he started seriously
experimenting in his basement, motivated by the desire to reduce our
dependence on oil and the countries that back terrorism.
Heins tinkered away, making what seemed like good progress, until one
day in early 2006 he stumbled on to something strange. As part of a
test, he had connected the driveshaft of an electric motor to a steel
rotor with small round magnets lining its outer edges. The idea was that
as the rotor spun, the magnets would pass by a wire coil placed just in
front of them to generate electrical energy – in other words, it would
operate like a simple generator.
The voltage was there, but to get current he had to attach an electrical
load to the coil – like a light bulb – or simply overload it, which
would cause it to slow down and eventually stop. Heins did the latter,
but instead of stopping, the rotor started to rapidly accelerate.
"The magnets started flying off and hitting the wall, and I had to duck
for cover," says Heins, surprised because he was using a weak motor. "It
was like, holy crap, this is really scary."
By overloading the generator, the current should have caused the coil to
build up a large electromagnetic field. This field typically creates an
effect called "Back EMF," described as Lenz's law in physics, which
would act to repel the approaching magnets on the rotor and slow down
the motor until it stopped. Some call it the law of diminishing returns,
or a law of conservation.
"Lenz's law is essentially magnetic friction, which is a form of
resistance not unlike the wind resistance your car experiences when
driving down the highway," explains Heins. More friction means more
power is necessary to maintain a constant speed.
Instead, the opposite happened. Somehow the magnetic friction had turned
into a magnetic boost. Back to the car analogy, it's like the wind
moving from the front to the back of the vehicle.
Days later, Heins realized what had happened: The steel rotor and
driveshaft had conducted the magnetic resistance away from the coil and
back into the heart of the electric motor. Since such motors work on the
principle of converting electrical energy into motion by creating
rotating magnetic fields, he figured the Back EMF was boosting those
fields, causing acceleration.
But how could this be? It would create a positive feedback loop. As the
motor accelerated faster it would create a larger electromagnetic field
on the generator coil, causing the motor to go faster, and so on and so
on. Heins confirmed his theory by replacing part of the driveshaft with
plastic pipe that wouldn't conduct the magnetic field. There was no
acceleration.
"What I can say with full confidence is that our system violates the law
of conservation of energy," he says.
"Now, is that perpetual motion? Will it end up being that?"
THINKING BIG
TheStar.com | sciencetech | Turning physics on its ear
Turning physics on its ear
SEAN KILPATRICK/TORONTO STAR
Inventor Thane Heins with his electric motor invention, which he has
dubbed the Perepiteia, in lab in the basement of his home in Almonte,
near Ottawa.
Has college dropout done the impossible and created a perpetual motion
machine?
http://www.thestar.com/sciencetech/article/300042Feb 04, 2008 04:30 AM
<
http://www.thestar.com/opinion/columnists/94629>Tyler Hamilton
<
http://www.thestar.com/opinion/columnists/94629>
<
http://www.thestar.com/opinion/columnists/94629>
Energy Reporter
Thane Heins is nervous and hopeful. It's Jan. 24, a Thursday afternoon,
and in four days the Ottawa-area native will travel to Boston where
he'll demonstrate an invention that appears – though he doesn't dare say
it – to operate as a perpetual motion machine.
The audience, esteemed Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor
Markus Zahn, could either deflate Heins' heretical claims or add
momentum to a 20-year obsession that has broken up his marriage and lost
him custody of his two young daughters.
Zahn is a leading expert on electromagnetic and electronic systems. In a
rare move for any reputable academic, he has agreed to give Heins'
creation an open-minded look rather than greet it with outright dismissal.
It's a pivotal moment. The invention, at its very least, could
moderately improve the efficiency of induction motors, used in
everything from electric cars to ceiling fans. At best it means a way of
tapping the mysterious powers of electromagnetic fields to produce more
work out of less effort, seemingly creating electricity from nothing.
Such an unbelievable invention would challenge the laws of physics, a
no-no in the rigid world of serious science. Imagine a battery system in
an all-electric car that can be recharged almost exclusively by braking
and accelerating, or what Heins calls "regenerative acceleration."
No charging from the grid. No assistance from gasoline. No cost of
fuelling up. No way, say the skeptics.
"It sounds too good to be true," concedes Heins, who formed a company in
2005 called Potential Difference Inc. to develop and market his
invention. "We get dismissed pretty quickly sometimes."
It's for this reason the 46-year-old inventor has learned to walk on
thin ice when dealing with academics and engineers, who he must win over
to be taken seriously. Credibility, after all, can't be invented. It
must be earned. "I have to be humble. If you say the wrong thing at the
wrong time, you can lose support."
The creation in question is a new kind of generator called the
Perepiteia (read related story "Holy crap, this is really scary
<
http://www.thestar.com/Article/300041>"), which in Greek theatre means
an action that has the opposite effect of what its doer intended. Heins
torques up the definition to mean "a sudden reversal of fortune that's a
windfall for humanity."
Deep down, Heins has high hopes. But he also realizes that merely using
those controversial words – "perpetual motion" – usually brands a person
as batty. In 2006, an Irish company called Steorn placed an
advertisement in /The Economist /calling on all the world's scientists
to validate its magnet-based "free energy" technology.
Steorn was met with intense skepticism and accused of being a scam or
hoax. Seventeen months later the company has failed, despite worldwide
attention, to prove anything under scrutiny. Well-educated people, from
Leonardo da Vinci to Harvard-trained engineer Bruce De Palma (older
brother of film director Brian De Palma), have made similar claims of
perpetual motion only to be slammed down by the mainstream scientific
community.
Heins has an even greater uphill battle. He isn't an engineer. He
doesn't have a graduate degrees in physics. He never even finished his
electronics program at Heritage College in Gatineau, Quebec. "I have
mild dyslexia and don't do well in math, so I didn't do very well in
school," he says.
What he does have is a chef's diploma, and spent time as chef at the
Canadian Museum of Civilization before launching his own restaurant in
Renfrew called the Old Town Hall Tea Room. He has also had political
ambitions. In 1999 he ran unsuccessfully as a candidate for the Green
Party of Ontario, deciding a year later to run as an independent in the
federal election.
Today, Heins is focused on showing his invention to anybody willing to
see it, in hopes that somebody smarter than him will give it
credibility. His long-time friend, Kim Cunningham, manager of
communications and government relations at the Ottawa Centre for
Research and Innovation (OCRI) is working part-time with Potential
Difference to help get the message out.
Together, they have demonstrated the Perepiteia to a number of labs and
universities across North America, including the University of Virginia,
Michigan State University, the University of Toronto and Queens University.
"It's generally always the same reaction," says Heins. "There's a bit of
a scramble on the part of the observer to put what they're seeing into
some sort of context with what they know. They can't explain it. They
don't know what it is."
He'd be happy if somebody did, even if the news was bad. His wife has
kicked him out. He doesn't earn an income. He can't pay child support.
The certainty would be welcome. "I've tried to quit many times, and
thought if I could just be a normal guy I would have a normal life ...
But I had this idea and I believe it works."
Others want to believe – or at least help out. Cunningham, whose brother
is general manager at Angus Glen Golf Club, introduced Heins to the
club's president, Kevin Thistle. For two years Thistle has acted as
angel investor, providing start-up capital needed to incorporate
Potential Difference, file patents and continue research.
Cunningham's boss, OCRI president Jeffrey Dale, helped open doors at the
University of Ottawa and make introductions to its dean of engineering.
As a result, Heins teamed up last fall with Riadh Habash, a professor at
the university's school of information technology and engineering.
"Dr. Habash has essentially rolled out the red carpet," says Heins,
explaining that he now has access to a university lab and all the
equipment he needs to test and simulate his generator.
In an interview with /the Toronto Star/, Habash was cautious but
matter-of-fact with what he's seen so far. "It accelerates, but when it
comes to an explanation, there is no backing theory for it. That's why
we're consulting MIT. But at this time we can't support any claim."
In the meantime, Heins has been on a letter-writing campaign to raise
money for his mission. He's written former U.S. vice-president Al Gore,
Virgin Group founder and billionaire Richard Branson and John Doerr at
venture capital powerhouse Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. He's also
tried to contact entrepreneur Elon Musk, chairman of electric car
upstart Tesla Motors, and the "ReCharge IT" project run by Google's
philanthropic arm.
So far no bites, though there have been nibbles. Heins has had
discussions with a well-known investor in Oregon, known to many as the
"godfather of start-ups," who is apparently flirting with the idea of
investing in Potential Difference. "We got the impression ... he's not
necessarily interested in making a tonne of money, he just wants to see
us succeed."
Just before the big day at MIT, /the Star /spoke with professor Markus
Zahn about what he expected to observe.
"It's hard for me to give an opinion," said Zahn, who admitted he was
excited to see the demonstration. "I don't believe it will violate the
laws of physics. You're not going to get more energy out than you put in."
He said it's easy for people to set up their tests wrong and
misinterpret what they see. "You've got to look closely."
It's now Jan. 28 – D Day. Heins has modified his test so the effects
observed are difficult to deny. He holds a permanent magnet a few
centimetres away from the driveshaft of an electric motor, and the
magnetic field it creates causes the motor to accelerate. It went well.
Contacted by phone a few hours after the test, Zahn is genuinely stumped
– and surprised. He said the magnet shouldn't cause acceleration. "It's
an unusual phenomena I wouldn't have predicted in advance. But I saw it.
It's real. Now I'm just trying to figure it out."
There's no talk of perpetual motion. No whisper of broken scientific
laws or free energy. Zahn would never go there – at least not yet. But
he does see the potential for making electric motors more efficient, and
this itself is no small feat.
"To my mind this is unexpected and new, and it's worth exploring all the
possible advantages once you're convinced it's a real effect," he added.
"There are an infinite number of induction machines in people's homes
and everywhere around the world. If you could make them more efficient,
cumulatively, it could make a big difference."
Driving home – he can't afford to fly – Heins is exhausted but
encouraged. He says Zahn will, and must, evaluate what he saw on his own
terms and time. What's preventing the engineer from grasping it right
away, he says, is his education, his scientific training.
Step by step, Heins is making progress, but where it will all lead
remains uncertain.
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