Frictionless magnetic bearings.

[broli]

I just felt like sharing a design I had in mind for completely passive frictionless bearings that use radially magnetized magnets for repulsion. To prevent the inner or outer piece from jumping out I added standard axially magnetized ring magnets on their perimeter to stabilize it. I also have to state that this is NOT tested but a mere concept that can be freely used.

Frictionless bearings are nothing new. But this is a passive setup meaning no need for electricity like some type of magnetic bearings need.

[theremart]

Hi,

I just bought 3 enlobal magnetic bearing fans from ebay for $10.00 each... I wanted to see how well they do if I do an imhotep conversion. May just plug them into the Plego self runner circuit for a whirl...

Mart

[broli]

Yeah that's very close to my posted concept. They use a flexible magnet bent into a circle for the rotor to achieve that radial field and four other magnets on the stator.

What I don't get is that their bearing is also an induction motor at the same time...



It seems like they're using the PM stator as the core for the coil as well. This is a clever thing to do for a small application like this. But if you want all purpose bearings you don't need the coils.

A very small disadvantage is that both they bent flexible rotor magnet and the stator magnets are not uniformly radial. So at very high speeds IF the magnets are conducting this will produce eddy currents and cause a back torque. For small applications like this one this doesn't matter at all. But when you plan on high torque/high rpm rotation this might become a limiting factor.

[theremart]

Completed..

I just completed the mod on this to an Imhotep type fan. Was a bear to take apart even though it is advertised that it is made to come apart for cleaning. Anyway it is so quiet I don't even know it is running!...