NEOGEN Dynamo Project

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Nikola Tesla on the subject of Dynamos ...

In our dynamo machines, it is well known, we generate alternate currents which we direct by means of a commutator, a complicated device and, it may be justly said, the source of most of the troubles experienced in the operation of the machines. Now, the currents, so directed cannot be utilized in the motor, but must - again by means of a similar unreliable device - be reconverted into their original state of alternate currents. The function of the commutator is entirely external, and in no way does it affect the internal workings of the machines. In reality, therefore, all machines are alternate current machines, the currents appearing as continuous only in the external circuit during the transfer from generator to motor. In view simply of this fact, alternate currents would commend themselves as a more direct application of electrical energy, and the employment of continuous currents would only be justified if we had dynamos which would primarily generate, and motors which would be directly actuated by, such currents.
Adopted from T.C. Martin, "The Inventions, Researches and Writings of Nikola Tesla," New Work: Electrical Engineer, 1894, pp. 9-11.
- DYNAMO
  A device for converting mechanical energy into electrical energy, especially one that produces Direct Current
- DYNAMOTOR
  An electrical machine having a single magnetic field and two independent armature windings
  one acting as a Motor and the other acting as a Generator
  Used to convert Direct Current from an accumulator into Alternating Current

Acknowledgements: To those who inspired me by their diligent work and those who have assisted me in my efforts

Like so many of you ...

I have enjoyed electronics for over 3 decades now
but devices just keep failing predictably day in and day out ... BORING!

It was my good fortune to discover an active underground of new ideas and old ideas resurfacing. Mr Townsend-Brown's asymmetrical capacitance high-voltage lifters are particularly interesting devices.
I never in my wildest dreams imagined a capacitor could fly !!! ...

However, before I could begin a lifter project, I discovered information concerning BILL MULLER and his home-built Dynamo. Quite a massive thing it is. So, I chose to work along his line and attempt to contribute to the design development. For several reasons, I've chosen to work at one-half Bill's original scale, however.

I never gleaned any details of exactly how Mr Muller applied drive with his arrangement of 5 drive coil positions. So, I've illustrated some useful firing patterns as you'll find animated below.

I see such pages as these across the net and thought one more couldn't hurt. I admire the work of so many of you and I sincerely encourage you to continue your efforts. The world needs this technology so desperately.

I've tried to include a clear vision of my efforts here for you.
If you find anything here interesting or see a pitfall ahead of me that I don't see feel free to email me and I will reply as my schedule permits.

And, of course, we all owe humble homage to the greatest mind ever to grace our species, the incredible NIKOLA TESLA himself.

For opening our eyes and minds and changing our world and our lives.
Whose very existence has touched every human life on the planet. Lifting us all from ages of darkness and into light. And for endowing me with a deeper personal appreciation for the creative process.

Having emerged just recently into public view ...
I sincerely appreciate the warm welcome I've received from the web community at large and I wish to extend a very special welcome to Carmen Miller. ... I'm honored by your visits.

REX HEBERT ... 04 / 30 / 2005
I invite Comments, Suggestions, Questions via ... Forum or Email

• On a solemn note •
It has been brought to my attention, so regretfully, that Bill Muller has passed from this world.

Though I was not privileged to know him personally, I truly wish I'd had the opportunity. I believe we'd have been good friends. May I offer my sincerest condolences to his family, friends and loved ones.

Bill's lovely and brilliant daughter Carmen has dedicated herself to continuing her father's legacy and has plans that will bring us all closer to realizing Bill's lifelong dream.

Carmen has graciously allowed me to present these links for all those with continuing interest ...

   •  Muller Power Inc.
   •  Article by Jeane Manning ... PDF
   •  A summary of Bill's Dynamo
         by Dr. Hans Petermann

and Coming Soon ...

• http://www.opensourceenergy.org/

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Primary Concerns:

The Temperature of the Magnets must never exceed 150° F ... (note: higher temp NeFB is now available)
The use of Ferrous Metals must be minimized where possible

Identify Losses:

Bearing Friction ... heat expansion and mechanical drag
Pulse Impact Vibration ... conducted from rotor assembly to front and back hex plates by the bearings
Pulse Impact Vibration ... conducted from pulse coils to front and back hex plates by direct contact
Magnetic Drag on Rotor ... cogging against magnetite core slugs ( constant )
Magnetic Drag on Rotor ... increases with current draw on generator output ( dynamic )
Aerodynamic Drag on the Rotor ... manageable via rotor and enclosure design
Heat dissipated in Drive Coil Resistance
Heat dissipated in Generator Coil Resistance
Heat dissipated by MOSFETs and Heatsinks
Heat dissipated by Battery charging / discharging cycles

NEOGEN DYNAMO : DESCRIPTION
CONCEPT :

This dynamo consists of an Axial 5-Pole Pulse Motor integrated with an Axial Permanent Magnet Alternator
on a single 3/4 inch zinc plated steel shaft and within an open Phenolic cage housing.

PASSIVE ANTI-COGGING :illustration

Mechanical Cogging can be a severe problem especially where Neodymium magnets are involved.
An Even / Odd arrangement of 16 Magnets / 15 Coils minimizes physical cogging of magnets against coil cores
by a geometry of progressive balanced cancellation of attractions. A totally passive solution.

MAGNETS :illustration

The magnets are Rare-Earth NEODYMIUM IRON BORON 1" X ½" N45 nickel-plated round discs.
The magnets are embedded flush into the ½" thick Phenolic Rotor plate
and arranged around its circumference with 1" spacing between them.
The magnet polarities alternate with each position: N - S - N - S - N - S - N - S - N - S - N - S - N - S - N - S

COILS :illustration

The Coils are wound on 1" diameter Amorphous Magnetite cores which minimize losses by hysteresis
and heat generated by Eddy currents common in other core material choices.
Resulting in Improved system Power Factor due to minimal phase difference between current and voltage.
The Magnetite is a fine (350 mesh) powder which is mixed in a ratio of 70% Magnetite / 30% Fiberglass Resin
to form solid round rod-shaped core slugs upon which each coil is wound.
All Coils are wound with 52 turns of  #12 Magnet Wire in a conical fashion
    which flare away from the Rotor to minimize the effect of magnetic drag on the Rotor's RPM
    as current draw from the generator increases.
All Drive coils are mounted in pairs - One on each side of the rotor plate and wired in series with matching field polarities.
I will also be testing a BIFILAR design of the conical coil.

CONICAL WINDING as described by Peter Lindermann ... at Keelynet Convergence 2001

A unique zero resistance core design where an increase in the current required by the load results in no resistance to the magnet motion past the coil core, the design for a normal solenoidal coil has the wire wound from top to bottom and as the magnet passes the coil, the resistance to its passage increases as the load current requirements increase

(remember the old army hand cranked telephone field generator -
the more load you hook to it, the harder it is to turn the handle),

This new design has a core where the winding begins roughly 1/3 to 1/2 down the length of the core and the windings increase in turns as it approaches the bottom of the core, taking the form of a cone with the apex pointing up,

This is quite similar to the HomoPolar motor which does not experience any resistance
no matter how much current is extracted by the load devices

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PULSE MOTOR : OPERATION

PDF Resources
•    IRFP3710 MOSFET - Datasheet.pdf
•    Fairchild QVE00112 - Slotted Optical Switch - Datasheet.pdf
•    MOSFET driver tutorial.pdf
•    MOSFETs and MOSFET drivers.pdf

COMMUTATOR :illustration

An opaque 5-pole Photo-Commutator Disc
is attached to one side of a locking-nut steel collar on the shaft and spins with the Rotor.
As it does so, it breaks the IR beam of 5 positions of Slotted Photo-Interrupters mounted around its edge.
The 5 Photo-Interrupters are stationary and aligned with the angular position of the 5 Drive Coils..
Thin radial slots have been cut into the circumference of the Commutator Disc
to mark the angular positions of the rotor's 8 target magnets.
Though only one Photo-Interrupter will trigger at any instant, firing patterns of the 5 will vary. illustration
In addition, the Photo-Interrupter will trigger a monostable multivibrator
to allow dynamic control of firing delay and pulse width.

MOSFET SWITCHES:

Each Photo-Interrupter triggers a High-Speed Power MOSFET Solid-State switch.
delivering a short, sharp, high-current pulse to its associated Drive Coil.
Each Power MOSFET is fed by a Maxim MAX628 High-Speed MOSFET Driver IC.
    This interface device accepts the Sensor-level trigger pulse and sharpens it using an internal Schmidt Trigger
    before feeding an internal complimentary MOSFET 2 ampere current sink / source
    to charge / discharge the Power MOSFET's heavy input gate capacitance at maximum speed
    thus assuring the Power MOSFET's reach their lowest ON-Resistance and dissipation.
The Power MOSFET devices chosen for this project are the IRFP3710 HEXFET ® produced by International Rectifier.
These devices are rated at 100 Volts 57 Amps with an ON resistance of 0.025 ohms.
They are enclosed in a plastic TO-247AC case with metal (Drain) backplane and insulated mounting hole.

FIRING PULSE:

A Firing Pulse creates a strong burst field around a Drive Coil
that is polarized to repel the Rotor magnet lying between the Drive Coil pair.
Only one polarity of Rotor magnets are repelled
• as viewed from the front panel, the NORTHs are repelled
• viewed from the rear panel only the SOUTHs are repelled
Firing against one polarity of Rotor magnets eliminates the need
    to reverse the Pulse polarity on the Drive Coils.
    Simplifying the Drive electronics significantly.
    Therefore, this should be regarded as a  Unipolar Drive System.
The Drive Pulse causes the coils to repel BOTH faces of the Rotor magnet simultaneously.
Since the Drive coils are stationary,
this repulsion forces the magnet to be ejected with great force in the direction of Rotor spin.
The Drive Pulse timing and duration are critical dynamic factors
which are best optimized in real time by a microcontroller.

FIRING ORDER:illustration

Firings opportunities occur every 9°, 18°, 27°, 36° and 45° of rotation are illustrated
90°, 180°, 270°, 360° are also possible, though with diminishing energy delivery - ( useful as Coasting Modes )

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PULSE MOTOR : MICROCONTROLLER

I believe active real-time optimization is a critical factor in pulse-motor design
While, as a fail-safe,
    the motor should function without any Microcontroller at all,
    insertion of a Microcontroller between the Commutator and the
    MOSFET Switches allows dynamic control of firing aspects in real-time.
After construction and physical optimization are completed the geometry is fixed
and dynamically invariable. What remains a dynamic variable is RPM
which should be optimized. As RPM = Output.
Altering the firing angle by inserting a variable time delay loop
that changes dynamically with RPM can compensate for
physical construction tolerances and dynamic drag.
Dynamic control of drive-pulse power minimizes drive power consumption
and allows for coasting in times of reduced output consumption
The Micro will receive the trigger pulses from the Commutator
and make adjustments in delay and duration before releasing them
to the MOSFET Switches.
The Micro allows for on-the-fly optimization and regulation of RPM,
drag compensation, and allowing for corrections of angular and radial
inaccuracies of both magnets and coils due to construction tolerances.
The BasicX-24 by NetMedia Inc. of Tuscon, Arizona is the Micro I've chosen
    for my initial efforts due to its significant speed and memory,
    floating point math, interrupts, timers and 10 bit ADC's on-board.
    It programs in a very fast proprietary BASIC
The BASIC Stamp 2 by Parallax lacks the features and speed this project requires.
I plan to use a Stamp as an LCD display handler in the controller.
I haven't warmed up to PICs and their Assembly code yet.
With the Micro removed the Commutator must be able to fire the MOSFETs directly,
though with reduced efficiency, to allow for failure of the Micro.

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GENERATOR : RECTIFICATION / CAPACITOR BANK

By its geometry, this device produces 15 distinct Phases of AC at its output with no perfectly matching opposing phases.
Therefore, in order to merge the outputs together, the AC PHASE differences must be eliminated by rectification to DC.
Each generator output must be Fullwave Rectified to DC before being merged with the other outputs
to charge a bank of electrolytic capacitors which accumulate the total generator output.
Rectifier bridges utilize Schottky Diodes for their High Efficiency, High Amperage, High Speed and Low-Voltage-Drop.
Capacitor Bank consists of several Low-ESR High Value, Computer Grade Electrolytics
connected in parallel and housed in screw-terminal radial cans.

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BATTERY : MANAGEMENT

The Battery Bank consists of a minimum of two 12 Volt Deep Cycle Lead Acid Batteries.
a "RUN" Battery and a "CHARGE" Battery.
The required Amp / Hour rating of the batteries is yet to be determined.
As the Motor depletes the "RUN" Battery, the "CHARGE" Battery is being recharged by the Generator / Charger.
The Charge Rate must exceed the Discharge Rate, so that Battery B will be ready when Battery A is depleted.
Battery Lifetime is not in my control but may be extended by regular electronic or chemical de-sulfation process.
May consider trying ... "BATCAPs" made by Xstatic ... Link

BATTERY CHARGER :

A High-Frequency Capacitive-Discharge Pulse Charger is planned but not yet designed.

BATTERY SWITCH OVER :

Since Battery Switching will be an infrequent event,
a simple High-Current DPDT Power Relay should suffice for now.
Optional Power MOSFET Solid-State switching may be added later.

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PERPETUAL MOTION : The Inevitable Question

How this notion haunts us all ... our primary ridicule from the shortsighted
Let me be absolutely clear on this point, this is NOT, in any way, a Perpetual Motion Device. Thank you.
Perpetual Motion implies eternity.
Nothing manmade is eternal. Neither will this device run forever. This is the way of all technology.
Eventually, some component will breakdown or wear physically or fail electrically
resulting in enough down time to replace or repair the component.
Afterwards, the device may be restarted and run until the next failure.
HOWEVER, the recent availability of affordable Rare-Earth Neodymium Iron Boron permanent magnets
brings us closer than ever to achieving such a device.
My main goal is to maximize energy output and RUN time and minimize the DOWN time
by minimizing energy losses wherever possible such as heat, wear, friction, drag, vibration, etc
and by choice of materials for extended life.

The usefulness of such a device in rural or desolate areas of the world should be obvious to anyone.

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3D CAD Renderings All data and images are Copyright © 2005 REX HEBERT ... All Rights Reserved

- Click the thumbnail images below to enlarge them -

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Photographs All data and images are Copyright © 2005 REX HEBERT ... All Rights Reserved

- Click the thumbnail images below to enlarge them -

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NEOGEN Mechanical 1 Return to Menu

NEOGEN Mechanical 2 Return to Menu

NEOGEN Mechanical 3 Return to Menu

NEOGEN Mechanical 4 Return to Menu

NEOGEN Mechanical 5 Return to Menu

NEOGEN Mechanical 6 Return to Menu

NEOGEN Mechanical 7 Return to Menu

NEOGEN Mechanical 8 Return to Menu

NEOGEN Mechanical 9 Return to Menu

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Electrical Illustrations    All data and images are Copyright © 2005 REX HEBERT ... All Rights Reserved

NEOGEN  Electrical 1   Return to Menu

First thoughts on Driver Layout and Construction

NEOGEN  Electrical 2   Return to Menu

NEOGEN  Electrical 3   Return to Menu

NEOGEN  Electrical 4   Return to Menu

NEOGEN  Electrical 5   Return to Menu

NEOGEN  Parts List   Return to Menu

Even / Odd Passive Anti-Cogging

Examining the Anti-Cogging method ... I produced this animation
in which an interesting aspect emerges into visibility.
The cogging balance spins 16 times for each rotor spin.
Resembling a set of equal yet opposing progressive eclipses

Pictured here are only Dark Magnets and White Cores.
The commutator is included for visual reference of rotor rotation.

An EVEN number of MAGNETS
produces continuous sinusoidal generator output.

An ODD number of CORES
creates a set of opposing attractions with the magnets.

I dont believe cogging can be fully defeated by this scheme without serious precision, but the notion of passive cancellation by simple geometry is crucial.

If I'm not mistaken, this method dates into the late 1800's
but I've no idea who to credit it to.

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