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A 17-year-old designed a novel synchronous reluctance motor

smithsonianmag.com

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Re: A 17-year-old designed a novel synchronous reluctance motor

#151

Post by marginalia_nu »

bckr wrote: post #84

This is inspiring, and let's look at why so many of us have the impulse to figure out what the flaw or missing part of the story is. For me, it's because I hadn't done something so cool at 17. That makes me think, huh, I wonder if I'm not a "natural born engineer". I start going through my life story so far and beating myself up for playing too many video games, or not going deep enough on my interests. Then I start…

What irks me is the inappropriate focus on the who over the what.

I'd in all honestly be similarly annoyed if the headline said "57 year old stamp collector from Yorkshire designs a novel synchronous reluctance motor".

Re: A 17-year-old designed a novel synchronous reluctance motor

#152

Post by zzzeek »

happyopossum wrote: post #17
zzzeek wrote: post #7

> Instead of using air gaps, Sansone thought he could incorporate another magnetic field into a motor. This would increase this saliency ratio and, in turn, produce more torque. His design has other components, but he can’t disclose any more details because he hopes to patent the technology in the future. ah well great, we'll all just twiddle our thumbs waiting on that then instead of collaborating on how to integrat…

> ah well great, we'll all just twiddle our thumbs waiting on that then instead of collaborating on how to integrate the good ideas here into existing large scale manufacturing. So what's your alternative? Inventors are required to share everything freely, and never profit from their work?

Firstly, I didn't indicate anyone is required to do anything. Secondly, you present a false choice. I innovate with software every day, have published millions of lines of code with almost no restriction on re-use, I certainly "profit" via my employment and donations; I'm just not a billionaire. This inventor is certainly in a great space to get incredible, lucrative job offers via his fame and notoriety.

put another way, what if instead of him inventing a novel way for a motor to be enhanced, he instead were a physicist who discovered some new property of physics that basically allowed the same thing to occur? Do scientific discoveries get "patents" that prevent anyone else from making use of that new information for 20 years?

Re: A 17-year-old designed a novel synchronous reluctance motor

#153

Post by prvc »

ekianjo wrote: post #58
c22 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really? In my observations only 17 year olds have the time and patience to do crap like this.

Most 17 years old don't have access to 3d printers. Equipment is a big factor in making something tangible.

They're common in public libraries in many major cities, so quite a few do.

Re: A 17-year-old designed a novel synchronous reluctance motor

#154

Post by wyre »

jedberg wrote: post #122

As a parent, my first question is what did his parents do to foster this and enable it, and can I do it too? I know my kids may not be interested in engineering, but I want to at least give them the chance. And I suspect whatever his parents did is applicable to other interests too.

I’m not a parent, but I had a less-than-supportive teenagehood. I think an unconditional support of your child’s interests and growth will go a long way. Be a yes man/say no as little as you can. I imagine this kids parents provided a lot of financial support from his parents too.

"Nothing has a stronger influence psychologically on their children than the unlived life of the parent." — Carl Jung

Good luck! I wish you the best!

Re: A 17-year-old designed a novel synchronous reluctance motor

#155

Post by diego_sandoval »

callumprentice wrote: post #6

Inspiring story all round but this paragraph stood out for me: “I didn't have a mentor to help me, really, so each time a motor failed, I had to do tons of research and try and troubleshoot what went wrong,” he says. “But eventually on the 15th motor, I was able to get a working prototype.” I imagine most 17 year old would not have kept going 15+ times until they arrived at something which worked.

Makes me realize that it wasn't lack of opportunities or lack of mentorship that stopped me from achieving what I wanted when I was a teenager, it's just that I didn't want it bad enough.

Re: A 17-year-old designed a novel synchronous reluctance motor

#156

Post by deepspace »

ad404b8a372f2b9 wrote: post #133
PaulHoule wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you want to be cynical about it see https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/03/why-sc... (of course that is another clickbait article from a magazine that was good before the web but now specializes in clickbait)

I remember when I was in high-school agonizing for over a year over the 100$ fee to publish an app on google play. Ultimately it's hard to ignore the pattern when you see the stories about these precocious kids on the news, they always come from wealth.

Agree, I was very interested in electronics as a teenager, but had no money for tools, instruments, or components. I had to scavenge components from discarded radios, used my dad's plumber's iron for soldering and saved up for months for decent wire and a wire stripper.

I did eventually end up getting a scholarship to study engineering, but I cannot help feeling a tiny bit resentful when seeing kids in the news who obviously had a lot of support from a wealthy family.

Re: A 17-year-old designed a novel synchronous reluctance motor

#157

Post by hosh »

moffkalast wrote: post #142
mortenjorck wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this is the right angle to take. Unlike a lot of breathless "engineering breakthrough" stories, this piece, as well as young Mr. Sansone himself, readily acknowledge that this is a work in progress and may not pan out. Even if it doesn't, what an incredible achievement for a high-schooler – and just imagine the great contributions to the field this kid is poised to make in the coming decades.

> and just imagine the great contributions to the field this kid is poised to make in the coming decades Well let's curb the expectations for now, it can be quite damaging for a kid be held forever to an potentially unrealistic standard just because they did something great once. I mean sure for the occasional genius it turns out fine because they live up to it, but for the rest it's a self hate and imposter syndrome…

I think this person has a strong intrinsic motivation to contribute innovations. He has already worked on other projects before this one. We don't have to have any expectations or setting up any extrinsic motivations or even to be cheerleaders, and instead, we can honor and respect him for who he is, and his chosen purpose. And for those with the capability and availability, act as resource if he needs it. (In the article, he says he was working without a mentor and had to figure a lot of stuff out himself).

Re: A 17-year-old designed a novel synchronous reluctance motor

#158

Post by hnaday »

eternalban wrote: post #98
zackmorris wrote: post #64

This is great, I'm happy for him! But I miss the creative aspect in myself. I used to be so creative like him, with so many half-finished inventions scattered around the house. Today there's nothing. I finally managed to carve out a day or two per week away from my job to work on personal projects after many years of failed attempts to get away at great personal expense. But the last 3 days that I went to work on som…

> Does anyone know a way to truly rekindle the creative spark after it's completely died? I don't know about a "way" but falling in love definitely kicks things back in gear. Go and get yourself a muse .

For me, falling in love became a distraction, sadly.

You have to ask yourself what's my goal? And what's my reward function? Very different for everyone.

Re: A 17-year-old designed a novel synchronous reluctance motor

#159

Post by aaaaaaaaaaab »

perf1 wrote: post #21
vidanay wrote: post #8

"I heard some guy invented a car that gets 100mpg and lasts for 30 years, but the auto industry and oil industry had him killed."

Aren't most anti aircraft missiles heat seeking? Could also be a reason why 60% of the engine energy need to go into creating heat. Otherwise cheap gas engine drones that can't be intercepted and can fly thousand of miles could be really dangerous.

Yes, it's called Carnot's conspiracy.

Re: A 17-year-old designed a novel synchronous reluctance motor

#160

Post by Double_a_92 »

idiotsecant wrote: post #134
causi wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Frankly you could filter out every HN submission with the phrase "-year old" and miss absolutely nothing of value.

Yeah, stupid kids learning about things with real world projects. They aren't state of the art at all!

The kid is absolutely not stupid. But the media sensationalizing trivial stories is.

Most likely this is an already existing design, which is rarely used because of something that makes it impracticable on a bigger scale.

But because some smart kid happened to toy around with it, it's suddenly the new technology that will revolutionize the car business.

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