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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

#41

Post by callumprentice »

johnohara wrote: post #35
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.

My experience teaching high school kids was just the opposite. Quite a few will stay with a problem long after most so-called "prudent" adults have moved on. As adults, we forget that 17 year olds are still living their lives in a world of what they don't know, not in what they know. And once they do know they can be very insistent about being right. Because, it's all they know. It's also how a team of 16-17 yr olds…

Interesting, thank you. My assertion was based on my own 17 year old self, my peers at that time as well as people that age now. Sounds like the opposite could be true. I find that quite heartening.

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

#42

Post by mhh__ »

johnohara wrote: post #35
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.

My experience teaching high school kids was just the opposite. Quite a few will stay with a problem long after most so-called "prudent" adults have moved on. As adults, we forget that 17 year olds are still living their lives in a world of what they don't know, not in what they know. And once they do know they can be very insistent about being right. Because, it's all they know. It's also how a team of 16-17 yr olds…

It's a somewhat common joke in physics departments to compute something up to (say) N=3 then say "Well if we were undergraduate students we might compute this up to N=100"

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

#43

Post by justsocrateasin »

jwitchel wrote: post #26

Robert Sansone, great job! So many young prospective engineers read HN every day. Let's find comments that are encouraging or thought provoking or point readers in helpful directions Like @londons_explore did. Bringing the beatdown is bad for everyone. Especially bad for young engineers. This kid is impressive, straight up impressive. Let's encourage him and others like him. HN shouldn't someone's supervillain origin…

I had a hunch this would link me to The Incredibles. Great reference and I totally agree with the sentiment.

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

#44

Post by [deleted] »

ordu wrote: post #27

> If his motor continues to perform with high speed and efficiency, he says he’ll move forward with the patenting process. Is it a wise move? Shouldn't he just file a patent application instantly? (It is not a kind of a sarcasm or something. I really do not know, and I'd like to hear from people experienced with patent applications.)

[deleted]

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

#45

Post by sebastianconcpt »

melony wrote: post #29
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.

He is from an upper middle class family at the minimum. Hardware projects at his scale is not exactly a low cost expenditure, even with AliExpress and cheap Asian parts of questionable quality. I doubt he even needs the winnings to pay tuition.

In what all that resentment towards him is helping you or anyone?

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

#47

Post by throw_m239339 »

jwitchel wrote: post #26

Robert Sansone, great job! So many young prospective engineers read HN every day. Let's find comments that are encouraging or thought provoking or point readers in helpful directions Like @londons_explore did. Bringing the beatdown is bad for everyone. Especially bad for young engineers. This kid is impressive, straight up impressive. Let's encourage him and others like him. HN shouldn't someone's supervillain origin…

> Bringing the beatdown is bad for everyone.

It's healthy to question media narrative as the media tend to sensationalize and embellish stories for clicks or views. It's disingenuous to try to make people feel guilty about it arguing if we question that story that child will turn bad or something, in an post-truth era. Nobody is attacking that kid, just how the media cover these stories with a template.

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

#48

Post by todd8 »

c22 wrote: post #10
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.

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

Back before the internet, in 1964, I read a brief Scientific American column on laboratory glass blowing (for making condensers and so forth). This set me on a quest; and I acquired supplies and primitive homemade equipment. I was years away from being able to drive so I took the bus downtown to the Detroit public library where I found several books devoted to the subject. I studied these for hours. I worked on this project for many days.

I ended up being able to make a few primitive items from my tubes of glass, but of course, it was a silly pursuit that led nowhere. So I moved on to my next project, making a solid fuel rocket from scratch, then an arc furnace, then gunpowder, then a homemade gas-mask, etc. So it was for a curious kid in the 60's. I'm lucky I didn't burn down the house. This of course was made possible by the lack of an internet (and of course periodicals like Scientific American back when it was great and really about science).

I admire the 17-year old in the article for coming up with something in this age when it is so much easier to entertain oneself by surfing the net.

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

#49

Post by viggity »

b3nji wrote: post #12
londons_explore wrote: post #2

A tesla Model 3 motor already is partially a reluctance motor. This youtube video describes it rather well, and I'd recommend giving it a watch [1]. Notice the air gaps - thats the reluctance part of the rotor. [1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esUb7Zy5Oio

> A tesla Model 3 motor already is partially a reluctance motor. This youtube video describes it rather well, and I'd recommend giving it a watch [1]. Notice the air gaps - thats the reluctance part of the rotor. > [1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esUb7Zy5Oio I dont think he's using air gaps? "Instead of using air gaps, Sansone thought he could incorporate another magnetic field into a motor."

if you watch the video, tesla puts the magnets in the air gaps. (around 6m 40s)

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

#50

Post by WarOnPrivacy »

mrexroad wrote: post #19
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.

Only if their parents have blocked TikTok, most of YouTube, and PlayStation.

What kids do depends on lots of things, including the makeup of the kid.

None of my 5 were heavy into social media, even tho I was for 15 years.

One followed my skillset and became heavy into computers/electronics (8y-now) and old cars (19y-now).

The other 4 didn't pickup strong hobbies. I believe it's because there weren't available examples that fit their abilities.

Two settled on gaming (one now a technician tho). One does music and graphic art.

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