home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
- Newsgroups: sci.electronics
- Path: sparky!uunet!usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!ames!biersch!jru
- From: jru@Comtech.com (Jimmy R. Upton)
- Subject: Re: Magnetic Levitation - How do I do it?
- Message-ID: <1992Sep2.000152.29861@Comtech.com>
- Organization: Comtech Labs Inc, Palo Alto
- References: <1992Aug27.032614.29039@Comtech.com>
- Date: Wed, 2 Sep 1992 00:01:52 GMT
- Lines: 64
-
- After this restatement of my orginal post is a summary of the
- responses I received.
-
- In article <1992Aug27.032614.29039@Comtech.com> jru@Comtech.com (Jimmy R. Upton) writes:
- >Several years ago I but some energy into researching a particular
- >"brand" of magnetic levitation and did not really get the answers
- >that I was looking for. Maybe someone on the net can point me in
- >the right direction.
- >
- >I would like to magnetically levitate an object by using only apparatus
- >which is underneath the object to be levitated. The object to be
- >levitated, therefore, must not require wires to be connected to it
- >or a pole to run up though the center of it. The demonstrations that
- >I have seen always have a pole or rod going up through the center in order
- >to keep them from "falling off" the magnetic field.
- >
- >Any pointers on where to find information on this subject would be
- >greatly appreciated.
- >
- >I attempted to build such a device about 4 years ago using a large
- >electro-magnet fed with ordinary (U.S.) household A.C. (60 hz, 120V).
- >I tried levitating several types of materials - metal washers, disks,
- >etc made of several different materials but nothing worked (i.e. no
- >repulsive effect was observed).
- >
- >Specific Questions:
- >
- >1. What is the correct material to use for the levitated metal?
- >2. What is the correct material to use, if any, for the electro-magnet
- >core?
- >3. What is the optimum frequency to use for alternating the magnetic
- >field?
- >4. Will this approach work at all (maybe this should be question 1 :-)?
- >
- >Reply to the net if you wish, however to save bandwith I will be happy
- >compile Email responses and post a follow-up to the net.
- >
- >Thanks for your assistance.
- >
- >Jimmy
- >jru@Comtech.com
- >
-
- The responses I received were split between people telling me it could
- not be done and others telling me how to do it! I LOVE the internet :-).
-
- I received lots of suggestions but no pointers to specific literature that
- deals with the problem I described. If anyone has any such material, I
- would still like to know about it.
-
- There were a few responses that described something quite similar to my
- contraption but used three or four magnets focused toward a point at which
- the metal object was levitated. Having several magnets makes it possible
- to create what is essentially a magnetic bubble or bowl which contains
- the object.
-
- If someone is especially interested in this subject and want some more
- detail on the responses I received or better yet would like to help
- figure some of this out - contact me by Email and we can go from there.
-
- Thanks for all the help,
- Jimmy
- jru@comtech.com
-
-