[strider3700]

I helped build an expansion at the local hospital that was specifically constructed to hold the MRI machine.

I don't remember the power cables going to the unit as being all that impressive.

The room was entirely lined in a copper sheeting to block outside electronic noise.

There was a big red emergency shut off on the wall. We where told unless someone is dying you don't go near that button, what it did was vent the helium through the roof to the outside.

This was the only way to shut down the magnet in a reasonable timeframe.

It would also cost about $100,000 to restart the machine everytime it happened.

Overall the machine was pretty boring looking, but walk into that room with your keys in your pocket and you knew it was there once you got within 5 feet.

What I remember the most was how peacefull the room itself was before the power got run into it. You could close the door and instantly have no cell reception and everything just seemed quieter, it was very calming. It really made me start wondering just what the constant bombing of radio and other electronic waves is doing to us.

[TorrKing]

A person I "knew" a few years ago. A selfconsumed asshole really. Anyway, he had patented a generator which used magnetite he said. When put in a custom made dynamo he claimed it could be used to generate electricity for 200 years or so before the magnetism was lost. He also claimed that the generator made a lot of electricity from a relatively small piece of magnetite.

I was sceptical. Many should have thought of this a long while ago. The thought has even crossed my mind from time to time. But he claimed he was the first one to actually do it.

Personally I don't think this was anything much. I doubt that magnetite is strong enough to generate any large amounts of electricity.

What do you think of his idea?

Torjus Gaaren

[cr0bar]

In order to generate electricity you have to move a conductor in a magnetic field, such as that produced by a permenant magnet. I'm currently optomising a permanent magnet generator (for a masters project) which uses neodinium magnets (very strong and quite expensive). Unlike his generator however mine is a wave power generator. I don't understand where this person would be getting his power from. Sounds like a perpetual motion machine to me. If this existed I would not be working on my project as there would be no need for it.

[NeoPeasant]

A person I "knew" a few years ago. A selfconsumed asshole really. Anyway, he had patented a generator which used magnetite he said. When put in a custom made dynamo he claimed it could be used to generate electricity for 200 years or so before the magnetism was lost. He also claimed that the generator made a lot of electricity from a relatively small piece of magnetite.

I was sceptical.

A friend of mine recently told me that winged simians often emerge from his rectum and fly away..

I was sceptical.

[mrflora]

I'm currently optomising a permanent magnet generator (for a masters project) which uses neodinium magnets (very strong and quite expensive)

Do you mean neodymium magnets?

There are lots of devices out there that claim to "use up" magnets in order to extract energy. One of the latest is the Paul Sprain motor. These devices always end up being just novel electric motors. The Sprain motor uses a helical arrangement of permanent magnets on a rotor. The thing actually rotates but what's happening is that the rotor is just "falling" to a lower potential than what it was set up with. It will not keep rotating of itself, so the Sprain design uses an electromagnetic coil to push the rotor over its "sticking point". But this takes energy and means that the motor cannot rotate by itself without an external power source.

M.R.F.

[thor]

When put in a custom made dynamo he claimed it could be used to generate electricity for 200 years or so before the magnetism was lost. He also claimed that the generator made a lot of electricity from a relatively small piece of magnetite.

Static magnetic fields are conservative, so are gravitational fields. You are not going to extract energy from them without putting some energy in them in the first place. Whatever this nutjob is doing, it ain't gonna power your dryer. Walk away from this nonsense with dignity.

[sch_peakoiler]

This is a well known perpetual motion engine debunked many times. The idea with permanent magnets was explored many times and it was found out that in NO COMBINATION is such a device possible which would draw power IN ANY WAY, BE IT THROUGH ROTATION OR THROUGH DEFE...TION from a magnet. This device may indeed work 200 years, provided an external energy supply would be available:) On the net there is a famous scam site, http://www.perendev-power.com - have a look and say maybe that guy spoke of something like that? Any way, this is a NO GO, at best it is IGNORANCE, at worst, A SCAM.

[TorrKing]

Perhaps that is why they have discontinued this engine.

Torjus Gaaren

[cr0bar]

yep, Neodymium, spelling's not my strong point.

[small_steps]

S***, I was about to write that you should go over and visit Prof Nilsen over at NTNU, but just checked and he has just went elsewhere. Anyways, about any washing machine, furnace, and of course the hybrid vehicles that are sold today have a pm machine (or some sort) for the motor.

[small_steps]

In order to generate electricity you have to move a conductor in a magnetic field, such as that produced by a permenant magnet. I'm currently optomising a permanent magnet generator (for a masters project) which uses neodinium magnets (very strong and quite expensive). Unlike his generator however mine is a wave power generator. I don't understand where this person would be getting his power from. Sounds like a perpetual motion machine to me. If this existed I would not be working on my project as there would be no need for it.

How many kilos of neo are you looking at for your project?

I can't even find the remanence of magnetite, and the coercivity? obviously too damned low to be useful.

[Dan998]

http://www.rexresearch.com/johnson/1johnson.htm

Whats people's opinion of this

[grabby]

When you build one and it doesn't run they can blame:

"The entire process is still very meticulous, and assembly and adjustments are extremely critical. "

He's making 13 bucks every sale, why not?

[gg3]

This sort of thing is supposed to be a-priori impossible, as a kind of "perpetual motion machine." On the other hand, Johnson apparently has good credentials in science & engineering including his track record working for government & industry, and a decent history of patents.

So, who knows?

A few years ago I was involved with a working group on sustainable energy systems that investigated a number of claims of anomalous or beyond-cutting-edge devices. Another member of the team who traveled all over the US looking at these things said he saw some indication that a few of them "worked" as experimental models but not reliably or with usable outputs of energy. I was not satisfied that any of this was viable to the degree that it could be taken into commercial production.

Bottom line is, if we want "miraculous" power sources, we have two right now: nuclear fission and the photovoltaic effect are direct outcomes of Einstien's physics, and we've barely gotten started on either of them. So let's get going there, making these particular miracles happen on a large scale. Maybe later we'll have viable nuclear fusion reactors, zero-point energy systems, and other things that are at or beyond the cutting edge of theory and current practice, but "later" is no excuse to be ignoring the technologies we already have.

[EnergyUnlimited]

I have a very great difficulty to accept as real devices working in breach of conservation rules. OK may be in immediate vincity of quantum singularity perhaps...but I think nowhere else.
Possibly slow demagnetisation of permanent magnets will make working mentioned device for certain period of time.

[gnm]

Possibly slow demagnetisation of permanent magnets will make working mentioned device for certain period of time.

Yup... fairly fast actually. Roughly equal to the amount of energy which went into magnetizing the material to begin with...

-G

[strider3700]

Possibly slow demagnetisation of permanent magnets will make working mentioned device for certain period of time.

Yup... fairly fast actually. Roughly equal to the amount of energy which went into magnetizing the material to begin with...

-G

any idea on how the energy density of a strong magnet compares to a battery?

[small_steps]

Funny, a picture of his "motor" driving a conventional generator to generate electricity, why not cut out the generator and do it directly from the "motor" [sic]



Max energy product of Neo:
http://www.vacuumschmelze.de/dynamic/do ... 56MGOe.pdf


Energy densities of other stuff:
http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?nod ... %20density

This will help with your conversions:
http://www.vendian.org/envelope/Tempora ... other.html

It makes hydrogen look like a good energy medium at standard temp and pressure. (cough)

You may also want to look up what it takes to magnetize one of these neos...

[EnergyUnlimited]

Possibly slow demagnetisation of permanent magnets will make working mentioned device for certain period of time.

Yup... fairly fast actually. Roughly equal to the amount of energy which went into magnetizing the material to begin with...

-G

any idea on how the energy density of a strong magnet compares to a battery?

Miserably (unless magnet is very large).

[ChumpusRex2]

Possibly slow demagnetisation of permanent magnets will make working mentioned device for certain period of time.

Demagnetisation of permanent magents is pretty slow, unless you can completely overcome their field (with a much stronger magnet).

2 similar magnets, if held in an unstable formation (e.g. 2 north-seeking poles next to each other) will gradually lose their magnetism - but this process will take months. This is why magnets should be stored in a stable position (i.e. north to south, with metal 'keepers' to complete the loop).

Attempting to extract the stored energy in a permanent magnet will likely result in most of that stored energy being released as heat within the magnet, with only a little getting returned to the demagnetising field.

The reason that there is a common misconception that permanent magnets can store lots of energy, is because they can seemingly pick up objects over and over and over again. In fact, this is an illusion. If you hold a magnet over a ball bearing and the bearing jumps up and sticks to the magnet - you are only getting a loan of energy from the magnet. If you want to get the magnet back to its original state, you need to pull the bearing off the magnet - repaying the loan.

I commonly see this idea of magnets 'discharging' as a reason why perpetual motion devices aren't perpetual. I hope I've explained above, why this concept is totally wrong.