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

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

#291
post #282

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you name a single person you know of with one?

Isn't this called a helicopter? Aside from the noise, etc. issues with them, what would be the difference between a flying car and a helicopter? The need for a pilot's license to fly one?

Price and ease of street parking come to mind!

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

#292
post #263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We do have flying cars.

Can you name a single person you know of with one?

It's amazing what we do have. Just the computers alone are more than anyone could have ever imagined. But as for flying cars, they do exist, but we just don't need them.

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

#293

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a very good question. I have an EV motor control and calibration background so lots to say here. First off, peak efficiency tends to occur at mid to high speed and mid to high torque, in other words high power. Most EVs spend very little time operating anywhere near their peak power. It may take as little as 4kW to drive down the highway at constant speed, but a motor may be capable of 100kW or much more. Effi…

>He also doesn't seem to have a dyno which makes taking data and testing a lot easier. how do you test without a dyno? and isn't it easy to set up a electrical generator tied to a high wattage variable resistor to do it?

We often want the a dyno to maintain a given speed and do torque control with or motor under test. These roles can be reversed too.

When working on water pumps I didn't need a dyno, as the fluid provided sufficient load. It was a bit tricky to make before/after comparisons though be cause getting the exact same operating conditions (torque and speed) was not simple.

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

#294
post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a very good question. I have an EV motor control and calibration background so lots to say here. First off, peak efficiency tends to occur at mid to high speed and mid to high torque, in other words high power. Most EVs spend very little time operating anywhere near their peak power. It may take as little as 4kW to drive down the highway at constant speed, but a motor may be capable of 100kW or much more. Effi…

> Efficiency at 500 to 1000 RPM is important Why is this? Thinking out loud: can't you gear your motor so that it's most efficient at cruising speed for the vehicle? But the problem is that the car still needs to be able to accelerate from zero and some gearings will make that impossible, so having an efficient band at 500—1000 RPM gives you the best chance of being able to accelerate from 0–500 RPM?

I mentioned that efficiency isn't a good measure. We need low losses at all operating point, and the "cruise" points in particular. The problem with measuring efficiency is that at zero speed (starting from a stop) or at zero torque (coasting) your output power is zero (torque times speed) and since there will be at least some input energy that means output/input = 0. Because of this, all motor efficiency maps show poor performance along both axis and a big region of "good" at higher power. There is a steep gradient of efficiency between those extremes and small changes in losses can really shift the "efficiency" a lot.

I like to plot Torque on the X axis and losses (in watts or kW) on the Y axis. Make a series of curves at different speeds (each curve is at a constant speed). These curves intersect the Y axis at zero torque, so friction can easily be seen on the Y axis. The curves have a parabolic shape (I^2 copper loss) forming a sort of butterfly. If the wings spread out at the tips (curves separate more at high torque) there may be magnetic issues. These maps are really nice, are easy to compare, and never mention efficiency at all ;-)

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

#295
post #263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We do have flying cars.

Can you name a single person you know of with one?

I know a person who built one (actually more than one). Issue is that I don't think it's a good idea.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jf3I0ORN3ac

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

#296

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even I retrospect I think of this 2 ways 1. Could I have made that $100 if I did it specifically for the purpose of publishing the app? (For me, the answer is always yes at that amount. I could have easily washed some cars, mowed some grass, etc. I had so much free time) 2. When it comes to business, tech, particularly the early internet boom, probably some other domains; I’m just thankful to be in the minority of th…

It's not about making the money, it's about what you spend it on. If 100$ is a significant amount you're not going to spend it on a frivolous purchase, you'll spend it on the absolute necessities. And if you do want to make a purchase purely because it makes you happy, you're going to agonize over it and feel guilty for a long while. I went on to make 20,000 euros doing freelance over the next five years while in col…

I get that. What works for me, and I tried to point out, is not taking $100 out of my income/savings that is funds for my absolute necessities. It's more so about using the goal as motivation to temporarily increase my income. That extra income is already earmarked for the goal, so it doesn't really take away from necessities.

Obviously, if you're at a deficit on the necessities it will be tempting to use the extra income for those things. That's a different conversation/problem however

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