This motor uses ELECTROSTATIC FIELDS...
A tabletop motor using an entirely new driving principle is under development at the headquarters of C-Motive Technologies, a startup business that is commercializing technology from the College of Engineering at UW-Madison.
"We have proven the concept of a new motor that uses electric fields rather than magnetic fields to transform electricity into a rotary force," says company co-founder Dan Ludois, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at the UW. The distinction may sound minor, but it could solve a number of practical problems while saving money, he explains.
(http://cdn.phys.org/newman/gfx/news/2014/atabletopmot.jpg)
A prototype electric motor that uses a new principle for transforming electricity into rotary force is being developed at C-Motive Technologies, a company co-founded by UW-Madison assistant professor Dan Ludois. Credit: Dan Ludois
In the motor on display, nested stationary and rotating plates are held hairs-width apart by a unique air-cushioning strategy. An electric voltage delivered to the fixed plates creates an electrostatic field that attracts the rotating plates in a way that forces them to spin.
"A charge builds up on the surfaces of the plates, and if you can manipulate the charge, you can convert electricity into rotary motion or transfer electric power from one set of plates to the other," says Ludois.
This type of coupling can be used "to power things that move without touching," Ludois adds.
The breakthrough relies on electronics that precisely control a high-voltage, high-frequency electric field and fluid mechanics to keep the surfaces close without touching. "Nothing is touching, because you are using electric fields to couple the stationary and rotating parts," Ludois says. "There is no contact, and no maintenance."
Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2014-09-tabletop-motor-principle.html#jCp
I wonder what other applications this may have?
Cosmo
Interesting Cosmo,
I was trying to envision what or how the Unique air-cushioning strategy is or works...
I was thinking like magnets with the same pole repel each other...if you had three close together with say fixed outer magnets poles facing or opposing one magnet in the middle say that may be on a spindle somehow where its allowed to spin principle, if you could keep them all apart from each other...
I was wondering if you can also do similar with electricity somehow as its said electricity and magnetism are connected in someway..
Maybe by applying various current to each of the plates that would normally rotate a motor in one direction...and another in the opposite direction somehow if that may be possible to create a type of magnetic flow in the plates that create a electo-static effect charge in the plates ..one positive another negative, or whatever each plate would need to produce a repel effect , if say two had to have the same charge to repel each other..so they act in a similar way to magnets..
QuoteIn the motor on display, nested stationary and rotating plates are held hairs-width apart by a unique air-cushioning strategy. An electric voltage delivered to the fixed plates creates an electrostatic field that attracts the rotating plates in a way that forces them to spin.
or is this statement below explaining how the principle works..
Im not sure about the fluid mechanics, is that in terms of liquids or gases or a term of fluidity with electricity...that maybe some electronic/electrical engineers may use, I wonder !.
QuoteThe breakthrough relies on electronics that precisely control a high-voltage, high-frequency electric field and fluid mechanics to keep the surfaces close without touching. "Nothing is touching, because you are using electric fields to couple the stationary and rotating parts," Ludois says. "There is no contact, and no maintenance."
good catch cosmo; will have to read the link...
keep up the good work, sir 8)
seeker