by Gravityloss on 2/23/17, 10:53 PM
by Animats on 2/23/17, 8:41 PM
by falcolas on 2/23/17, 6:47 PM
I'm naively surprised at the amount of torque and power required to spin the magnet heads. Those are huge motors.
It would require some serious refinement to have benefits over air cushions, but I can certainly see a practical use for moving heavy loads slowly.
by stcredzero on 2/23/17, 6:57 PM
Where Halbach arrays would excel is in levitating fast moving vehicles. Such levitation is passively self regulating, and uses tracks which can be simply manufactured out of bulk materials. (Basically, make a track out of conductive aluminum loops in the cheapest way you can think of.) Contrast this with maglev technologies that require fast reacting active regulation and supercooled magnets.
by neom on 2/23/17, 8:32 PM
Pardon ignorance - why doesn't SpaceX and co use electromagnets to stick the landing of a rocket (in either polarity it seems interesting)?
by exabrial on 2/23/17, 10:55 PM
It seems like an air compressor might do the same thing but more efficiently... But then I remembered they're trying to do this in a vaccuum
by dnautics on 2/23/17, 9:53 PM
I wonder why this hasn't been "invented" yet. Halbach arrays have been around for a long time. My best guess is that the control circuitry to make sure the rotors are spinning in "just the right amount" is not so simple.
by chris_va on 2/24/17, 1:37 AM
This is basically how an EDS maglev train works, though with linear motion instead.
by seltzered_ on 2/23/17, 6:33 PM
Reminds me of the hendo Hoverboard startup, which from looking at some of their prototypes i think used the same principle:
http://hendohover.com/by jacquesm on 2/23/17, 6:53 PM
This technology (Halbach Arrays) has also been used to create passive electromagnetic bearings (a couple of windings of wire sent any field imbalance to the opposite side of the array).
by mrfusion on 2/23/17, 11:03 PM
Would this work over salt water