new stator design?

[ejl7007]

Instead of using traditional coils, why not use a sheet or two of copper or aluminum?  you can say make that sheet 1" thick and as wide as the rotor diameter.  After all the bigger the conductor the less resistance, and there is no loss of flux right?  Help.

[ChrisOlson]

What you're building there is an eddy brake.  You wouldn't be able to turn it, much less make any voltage with it.

If you don't know what an eddy brake is, perhaps this will help:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddy_current_brake

--

Chris

[Flux]

Yes indeed it will make a fine brake.

It is perhaps a little strange that Faraday's original dynamo was a homopolar machine based on a similar concept. He laid the foundation on which others built successful machines but the original disc concept has never been developed into anything useful. Homopolar machines in general have not had much success but even those that work have had to be adapted to solve the eddy problem.

There really has been very few original ideas for over 100 years, basic concepts were sorted out at a time when the world's best brains were interested in electrical machines. Changes in technology mean that there is a case for going back and having a new look. The axial flux air gap alternator is in fact a good example, it was abandoned by the electrical pioneers very early on but the introduction of new magnet materials has made it a practical proposition for some applications.

You can apply new technology to ideas that work but you can't defeat the laws of physics.

Flux

[ghurd]

If you want to 'see' how it would work,

put a neo and a similar size coin on an AL cookie sheet, tip and shake the cookie sheet so they slide around.

G-

[TomW]

Everything everyone said above! Plus:

It could work as in if it was a loop instead of a full disk and the magnets crossed over the loop not around it like a CD or record plays. The voltage is determined by the number of such loops in series. The eddy currents would eat the power as stated earlier. This is current that circulates inside a thick or wide conductor [coil].

If you run the magnets around the circle of your disk [think record or CD] it is just an eddy brake and will produce only heat no useful electric power.

Eddy current brakes [linear] are used on roller coasters and the like because they are non contact ways to brake high speed heavy devices. It is a very well understood phenomenon. Google is your friend.

DanB and his guys did a stress test on a ribbon wire stator, I believe it was, using a tractor PTO it went up in smoke quite fast mostly from eddy currents if I recall right. The story is here someplace.

When the new board goes live these searches will actually work. This place is packed with so much great information a search will be all most questions need. Might get actually boring around here.

Sadly there are very few truly new ideas and mostly improved materials will drive innovation.

All fun stuff. Good luck sorting out how these beasts work.

Tom

[ejl7007]

wow.....i'm impressed.  Thanks for your help and support.  At least it was a thought and worth a try.  That Faraday comment really shook me up.  I had to actually look it up.

E