Hitachi unveils motor without "rare earths"

Anarchist420

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Feb 13, 2010
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http://phys.org/news/2012-04-hitachi-unveils-motor-rare-earths.html

This is part of why I've always loved made in Japan tech. They will always be the world leaders in technology.

It would be great if the amount of copper and other rare earths could be significantly reduced in the making of devices without any sacrifices.

On a somewhat relevant note, what many thought was science fiction is actually not fiction at all.
 

Red Squirrel

No Lifer
May 24, 2003
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I always wondered why most motors were not already magnet-less. Not too hard to do.

China is trying to control the market of permanent magnets so it's definitely a good thing to find ways to not need them.
 

Red Squirrel

No Lifer
May 24, 2003
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Umm...explain to me how you would make a brushless motor without any magnets.

Replace permanent magnet with electromagnet. Not really that hard. The tricky part is getting power to the rotating electromagnet if you don't want brushes but there are ways using induction and so on. Plenty of motors out there have brushes anyway, so while it's usually less desirable to have brushes, some motors do have em, such as vacuum cleaners. (typically)
 

RavenSEAL

Diamond Member
Jan 4, 2010
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Umm...explain to me how you would make a brushless motor without any magnets.

tumblr_lz0f657gu31qhvtgno1_400.jpg
 

jagec

Lifer
Apr 30, 2004
24,442
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Replace permanent magnet with electromagnet. Not really that hard. The tricky part is getting power to the rotating electromagnet if you don't want brushes but there are ways using induction and so on. Plenty of motors out there have brushes anyway, so while it's usually less desirable to have brushes, some motors do have em, such as vacuum cleaners. (typically)

Sure, brushes are fine if you don't care about efficiency or reliability. Inductive power transfer is also a huge hit to efficiency.
 

SagaLore

Elite Member
Dec 18, 2001
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Rare earths are used to make a wide range of high tech products, including powerful magnets, batteries, LED lights, electric cars, iPods, lasers, wind turbines and missiles.

LOL I like how they had to throw in a popular consumer product in order to get people to relate to the article.
 

randay

Lifer
May 30, 2006
11,018
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And what exactly would that be? The article has exactly 0 details on what they did... why didn't I think of that?!

wrong, the article clearly states that they made a motor which contains no rare earth elements. think of the simplest possible explanation...
 

Rubycon

Madame President
Aug 10, 2005
17,768
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That's easy...

Many a motor has been made without "rare earths".
Ceramic magnets are in millions of PM motors for decades! :p

If a motor could speak ever wonder what kind of question it would ask?
I believe it would say to the controller "Watts for lunch?" :biggrin:
 

ElFenix

Elite Member
Super Moderator
Mar 20, 2000
102,374
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That's easy...

Many a motor has been made without "rare earths".
Ceramic magnets are in millions of PM motors for decades! :p

If a motor could speak ever wonder what kind of question it would ask?
I believe it would say to the controller "Watts for lunch?" :biggrin:

MAKE IT STOP!

caps
 

Red Squirrel

No Lifer
May 24, 2003
69,230
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That's easy...

Many a motor has been made without "rare earths".
Ceramic magnets are in millions of PM motors for decades! :p

If a motor could speak ever wonder what kind of question it would ask?
I believe it would say to the controller "Watts for lunch?" :biggrin:

Hmm, if you were to hook up the motor to a PA system, it could perhaps talk. :awe: