Dale.Amon%CMU-RI-FAS@sri-unix.UUCP (08/12/84)
Item #1: The solar electric car may well be an idea whose time is coming. I can name two other recent MAJOR contributing breakthroughs: 1) Polyacetylene batteries 2) The new magnet materials The batteries should be available fairly soon; I think Allied Electronics is supposed to market them. They have about an order of magnitude imporvement over lead-acid in kw-hr/lb, and are at least as rechargeable. The new magnetic material is about double (?) the field strength of the current best available, and is not expected to be terribly expensive. It is expected to lead to improved starter motors. I suspect it may also improve good old electric motors for the wheels. I do wonder if anyone has a solution to the low end torque problem; maybe a flywheel? I do enjoy taking out a sportscar and laying rubber in the first three gears... We'll know it's really here to stay when an elcetric car beats an Offie at Indy. Item 2: The russians may finally be considering serious use of women astronauts, but I can't help feeling a nagging doubt when I look at the originally published NASA launch schedule for this year and notice that an american women was scheduled for a spacewalk in August, and Sally Ride was scheduled to go up again. Funny thing that the Russian's did both so shortly before those original dates... #Item 3 I wonder if it has crossed anyone else's mind that if the Russians are indeed going for a full year, then April of this year may just be one of the most significant dates in the history of the earth: The last day in history when human life was not present in space.
ksbszabo@wateng.UUCP (Kevin Szabo) (08/14/84)
....I wonder when the low end torque problem will be addressed... Low end torque is one thing an electric motor should have lots of. A series wound motor (like one in your electric drill) create highest torque when stalled. An induction motor ( clocks, pumps, anything that is basically A.C. only ) generate very little low end torque, with maximum torque occurring at ~90% of no-load rpm's. I remember an article in a Popular Science of a few year ago. This fellow had an electric car with a gas turbine that recharged the batteries whenever they needed it. One of the things that impressed the reporter type the most was the LOUD screech, blue smoke and the black left on the driveway when the inventor pulled out..... (hopefully the blue smoke was not from the windings!). Kevin -- Kevin Szabo watmath!wateng!ksbszabo (Elec Eng, U of Waterloo)
wls@astrovax.UUCP (William L. Sebok) (08/14/84)
My father had many electric motor patents to his name. The last project my he
was working on before he died last month was an electric motor which used
a custom VLSI chip to operate the motor at an optimal point at various load
and speed conditions. Thus one could make a much smaller motor of the same
power. I am not sure but I think it was basically an induction type motor
and the circuitry delivered an AC with (at least) the frequency tweaked for
optimal operation. I am not sure what other parameters the circuitry adjusted.
Work on this motor continues as AMETEK/Lamb Electric, in Kent, Ohio.
--
Bill Sebok Princeton University, Astrophysics
{allegra,akgua,burl,cbosgd,decvax,ihnp4,noao,princeton,vax135}!astrovax!wls