Lindemann/Knox AC Homopolar Generator

[phi1.62]

I've just watched Free Energy Research by Borderlands Sciences which was made in 1987. Perhaps the device shown in the film that interested me the most was an AC homopolar generator made by Peter Lindemann and Michael Knox. Rather than a conventional DC homopolar generator which consists of a single permanent magnet rotor, with the magnetic field perpendicular to the direction of rotation, Lindemann and Knox's AC homopolar generator consisted of four magnets with alternating N-S poles, also perpendicular to the direction of rotation. In the first demonstration the brushes were positioned in the same positions as a conventional homopolar generator but in the second demostration both brushes were touching the rotor and spaced out so that they would face different poles when the magnets passed them by; the latter setup generated a higher voltage than the first setup. Also of interest was that while the frequency of the output voltage was dependent on the speed of the motor running the generator the amplitude of the output voltage did not and there was no clear indication as to what governed it.

After a search on Google there seems to be no one who has done any research on this phenomenon. I'd be interested to know if anyone on the forum has tried this setup or if anyone else has seen the video.

[Peter Lindemann]

DePalma

Hi Phi,

Glad you liked that experiment. I was a student of Bruce DePalma at the time. It was his paper, Secret of the Faraday Disc that inspired Michael Knox and I to try the AC experiment. Here's a link to the paper:

http://www.free-energy.ws/pdf/secret...raday_disc.pdf

The paper postulates that every point on the disc acts as an independent reference within the rotating inertia field. The AC experiment, especially when the brushes are close to each other on the shaft, seems to support this thesis. This could point the way to a very low drag AC generator.

Enjoy,
Peter

I've just watched Free Energy Research by Borderlands Sciences which was made in 1987. Perhaps the device shown in the film that interested me the most was an AC homopolar generator made by Peter Lindemann and Michael Knox. Rather than a conventional DC homopolar generator which consists of a single permanent magnet rotor, with the magnetic field perpendicular to the direction of rotation, Lindemann and Knox's AC homopolar generator consisted of four magnets with alternating N-S poles, also perpendicular to the direction of rotation. In the first demonstration the brushes were positioned in the same positions as a conventional homopolar generator but in the second demostration both brushes were touching the rotor and spaced out so that they would face different poles when the magnets passed them by; the latter setup generated a higher voltage than the first setup. Also of interest was that while the frequency of the output voltage was dependent on the speed of the motor running the generator the amplitude of the output voltage did not and there was no clear indication as to what governed it.

After a search on Google there seems to be no one who has done any research on this phenomenon. I'd be interested to know if anyone on the forum has tried this setup or if anyone else has seen the video.

[Slovenia]

Faraday Disk File

Peter,

Thanks for sharing the file. Very interesting stuff.

Best Regards,
Slovenia

[phi1.62]

Thanks for the document Peter. Do you remember what was the amplitude of the output voltage generated by the generator in the video?

[Peter Lindemann]

Low Voltage

Thanks for the document Peter. Do you remember what was the amplitude of the output voltage generated by the generator in the video?

Dear Phi,

As you know, the Homopolar Generator is a very low voltage, high current device. Bruce DePalma's largest units, with specially fabricated Neodymium magnets over 18 inches in diameter, only produced about 2 volts at 4000 rpm.

The test unit of the AC Homopolar Generator was only about 7 inches in diameter and it used very small Ceramic 5 magnets. The unit was not balanced very well, and was turning under 1000 rpm in the test. You saw the wave form on an oscilloscope. The amplitude of the signal was quite low. I don't recall the exact level, but I would guess on the order of 20 millivolts.

For us, the amplitude was not the important factor. What was important was that the SAME amplitude was present whether the brushes were in the classic positions of Center and Edge, or when the brushes were at two Edge positions or two Center positions.

One of the biggest technical problems of Homopolar Generators is maintaining the contact of the perimeter brush. Mechanical contact speeds can exceed 150 feet per second. The AC configuration tests were the first in history to show that power could be withdrawn from a machine like this using two center brushes.

Peter

[RonL]

One of the biggest technical problems of Homopolar Generators is maintaining the contact of the perimeter brush. Mechanical contact speeds can exceed 150 feet per second. The AC configuration tests were the first in history to show that power could be withdrawn from a machine like this using two center brushes.

Peter

Peter,
I'm kinda new here and have not said much, but reading this comment I would like to pass on a thought that I have had some success with on two simple and quick trials (no pictures).
Using brass stranded brushes typical in gun barrel cleaning, I made a spinning contactor out of copper tubing for the two input leads, this fit over the twisted wire shaft which is cut just long enough to have an insulating tape and chuck into a drill. The drill motors I used were variable speed and mounted so the brushes just made contact with the comutator pads of the DC motor, adjusting the speed of the drills so that the bristles are rotating in the same direction as the comutator and slightly faster or slower, produces a nonsparking contact and at the same time creates an air movement that keeps the temperature of the brushes quite cool, one other advantage is the continual polishing of the com pads and because of the small difference in speed, very little wear of either.

I thought I might have a patentable idea, but found something simular already in the patent office, so I let it go.

Anyone having a problem with sliding speed of brushes (or heat) might want to think about this.

Ron

[vrand]

I've just watched Free Energy Research by Borderlands Sciences which was made in 1987. Perhaps the device shown in the film that interested me the most was an AC homopolar generator made by Peter Lindemann and Michael Knox. Rather than a conventional DC homopolar generator which consists of a single permanent magnet rotor, with the magnetic field perpendicular to the direction of rotation, Lindemann and Knox's AC homopolar generator consisted of four magnets with alternating N-S poles, also perpendicular to the direction of rotation. In the first demonstration the brushes were positioned in the same positions as a conventional homopolar generator but in the second demostration both brushes were touching the rotor and spaced out so that they would face different poles when the magnets passed them by; the latter setup generated a higher voltage than the first setup. Also of interest was that while the frequency of the output voltage was dependent on the speed of the motor running the generator the amplitude of the output voltage did not and there was no clear indication as to what governed it.

After a search on Google there seems to be no one who has done any research on this phenomenon. I'd be interested to know if anyone on the forum has tried this setup or if anyone else has seen the video.

Hi Phi

I just saw that video today and also was searching the net and found this link LOL

Here is the latest link to that video for those that have not seen this unknown (to me a least) Borderland Science Research 1987 video:

Free Energy Research with Eric Dollard, Peter Lindemann and Thomas Brown on Vimeo

The AC Current HPG starts at 45 mins into this 2 hr video.

I am also surprised that no one else is researching this design as it looked promising.

Cheers Mike

[vrand]

Dear Phi,

As you know, the Homopolar Generator is a very low voltage, high current device. Bruce DePalma's largest units, with specially fabricated Neodymium magnets over 18 inches in diameter, only produced about 2 volts at 4000 rpm.

The test unit of the AC Homopolar Generator was only about 7 inches in diameter and it used very small Ceramic 5 magnets. The unit was not balanced very well, and was turning under 1000 rpm in the test. You saw the wave form on an oscilloscope. The amplitude of the signal was quite low. I don't recall the exact level, but I would guess on the order of 20 millivolts.

For us, the amplitude was not the important factor. What was important was that the SAME amplitude was present whether the brushes were in the classic positions of Center and Edge, or when the brushes were at two Edge positions or two Center positions.

One of the biggest technical problems of Homopolar Generators is maintaining the contact of the perimeter brush. Mechanical contact speeds can exceed 150 feet per second. The AC configuration tests were the first in history to show that power could be withdrawn from a machine like this using two center brushes.

Peter

Hi Peter

Your demonstration showed that the AC output also worked when the brushes were touching on the rotor shaft at 90 degrees from each other. So the brushes are then mounted similar to regular brushes for motors and generators that are mounted on slip rings on the rotor shaft.

Have you thought of using a Cockcroft-Walton voltage multiplier to raise the AC voltage from 20 millivolts up to say 12 to 48 volts DC?

Then one could convert back the DC into AC thru standard inverter technology.

This would solve the problem one has with low voltage and huge currents to one with standard DC voltages and very large currents.

Also would supermagnets like NIB magnets create higher AC voltages?

Has anyone tried using NIB magnets?

Cheers Mike

[vrand]

Here are some still photos from that video of the PM Faraday disk generator:

In the 1987 Santa Barbara video, 45 min's into it shows a PM Faraday AC disk device. Here are some a snap shots:


- Diagram showing a metal Disk with N-S-N-S magnets.
- The 2 arrows are the typical carbon brush electical connections in a Faraday Disk on the outer edges of the disk.
- The 2 Red Dots brush locations on the rotor shaft (9 & 12 positions) shows one of the breakthroughs in this design.




- Photos of PM Disk with DC motor on left and pillow block holding the 2 metal disks with PM between.
- The brush electrical connections are held by a C-clap for the outer disk edge and the other electrical location is on the rotor shaft.







- AC Waveform on Scope:



- Carbon Brushes with torroidal Current Transformer used on the rotor shaft takeoff position, to measure the 100 amps AC output current:




Cheers Mike