PERMANENT MAGNET PROPULSION DOESN'T USE MUCH ELECTRICITY

        PERMANENT MAGNET PROPULSION DOESN'T USE MUCH ELECTRICITY


     I am once again working with permanent magnets since it may be some time before I would be able to build a nice model with electromagnets that rotates on a needle point axle/bearing.

     The advantage of permanent magnets is that they don't required very much electricity except for a motor to turn them. The motor uses very little electricity compared to a 30 to 70 watt electromagnet.

     So first let me show my device and then discuss it. Here it is:

     The red turning thing in the middle of the aluminum pan is a HexBug spider toy robot. I am using it as a remote controlled 360 degree servo. I have taped 14 0.5 inch diameter neodymium magnets to its rotating head as well as 94 grams of inexpensive clay (blue) to counter balance it. For it to work either it needs to be off center or the aluminum pan underneath needs to be out of balance.

    Again it works because the center of the magnetic torque from the magnet interacting with Earth's magnetic field is at a different point from the center of mass where the device will tend to turn at. Since they are not in the same place the device will rotate around a third point and one side of that point will have more mass than the other side so momentum or if you will centrifugal force will move the device in a line.

     Next we added an outer aluminum pan to rule out water current that might be generated as the device rotates a lot (Also this means it does not need to turn the whole craft to work) as seen below:

     In this model of my device the clay counter balance has been removed from the top of the HexBug and the magnet has been centered. To arrange for it to still work the clay square weights around the inner aluminum pan are unbalance with three spread out around 180 degrees of the circumference of the pan and one missing from the opposite side. The inner aluminum pan is connected to the outer one with a washer and a thumb tack both embedded in clay. The washer is on the bottom of the inner pan and the thumb tack is pointed up on the outer pan so the point goes into the hole in the washer. The inner pan is filled with just enough water for the link to work and the friction to be very small. The inner pan floats in the water in the outer pan. The outer pan is floating in the water tank (a plastic storage container with about 5 inches of water in it.)

    I have no doubt this is working. My issue is how could it be scaled up? Well I have a hunch that I will explore in a future post.