A NEW 'MAGNETIC-BEARING', INVENTED TODAY

[guest1289]

The following is just for your information .   Your answers have cleared alot of confusion I have had.

(  But since I will not be building anything,  at any stage at all,  your typing is wasted on too many of the  lethargy-heads  in this site with their heads stuck in  conceptual dead-ends  etc,  by definition,  I may be one as well  )

So there's an equilibrium position of the rotor magnets that will not cause any rotation.

The  stator  could have a  'very-fine  permanent-adjustment  extension piece' ,  to make it get as close as possible to the next  magnet on the  rotor  incoming to the very end of the  stator. 
(  Although,  I have an alternative idea,  which is something like a commutator( cog-wheel ) which is part of the  stator  and designed to break that equilibrium,  even though it's movement would mirror that of the rotor  )

Furthermore, the system will actually act as a brake, due to eddy currents that are generated in the stator as the fields of the rotor magnets are dragged through the stator material.

The stator could be the magnet ( and changing it to a wedge shape could improve it's performance  ),  and the magnets on the rotor could be   replaced  with pieces of metal.

People have tried using magnets on one or the other or even both ends of the axle to attain this fixed position, but it has never worked because of the "springiness" of the magnetic attraction or repulsion. The rigid point-contact is the only way that has been discovered so far to make the suspension stable.

I was going to attach the diagrams I've made for a  'provisional patent application'  for this  magnetic-bearing,  but I had better wait until I have actually sent it.
     In my  image  of this,  I have put  4  cylinder magnets around the   central-spinning-magnet  of  the  magnetic-bearing ,    to me,     'That Would Stabilize'    the   central-spinning-magnet   sufficiently  to then try putting different types of   smaller-magnetic-bearings   on the ends of the  axle  to prevent  the   central-spinning-magnet   from slipping out  of the  magnetic bearing  .
      (   One design for the   smaller-magnetic-bearings   on the ends of the  axle,    is a  magnetic-dome  or  magnetic-ball  on the end of the  axle,   and that   magnetic-ball  is repelled  by  either,  '3 or 4'  even   smaller  magnetic-balls or  magnetic-domes,   or,   by 2  or  4  cylinder-magnets  facing  perpendicular  to it   )

[TinselKoala]

Any time you have relative motion between a magnet and a conductive metal piece you will have eddy currents generated in the metal, and this will act as a brake. It doesn't really matter which is "rotor" and which is "stator". You can get around some of this eddy current brake phenomenon by using nonconductive magnetic materials like certain ferrites, or by laminating with thin, insulated laminations in the proper orientation.

It's too bad you are prevented from building anything. I don't know of any basic full-motion magnetic field simulators that you could use to "virtually" test your ideas, maybe someone else does. I understand your idea as described, but I'm still afraid it won't work, for the reasons I've already stated.

Just so you know that I'm not totally full of "hot air" ... here are some things that I was experimenting with some years ago:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyPYBJfRVQ4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3JHdIzPmfk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZhljtwJHKw

[guest1289]

THE   'ROTATING-MAGNET'  IN THE MIDDLE OF THIS   'MAGNETIC-BEARING'  WOULD NOT JUMP OUT OF THIS   'MAGNETIC-BEARING'  ALONG THE  AXIS  OF  IT'S  AXLE  .
The  'rotating-magnet'  in the  middle  of this  magnetic-bearing( in the Diagram below ) is prevented from jumping out of the  'circle of magnets'  along the  axis  of  it's  axle,   by a  'repelling-magnet' right on the end if it's  central-axle.

______________

I HAVE BEEN TRYING TO THINK OF  ANY  REASON WHY THIS  'MAGNETIC-BEARING' MIGHT NOT WORK
The only way that I could think that this   'magnetic-bearing'   could fail,   would be if the   'rotating-magnet'  in the  middle  of the bearing,  would  'lean'( diagonally, or otherwise)   to one side within the circle of magnets. 
      The reason that might happen is because physical objects are not 100% symmetrical ( and their field would not be 100% symmetrical ).

THE SOLUTION TO THE ABOVE HYPOTHETICAL PROBLEM
     SO,  I think that if more than one of these   Magnetic-Bearings  was placed  along  the  'Same-Axle' ,  then any  'imperfections'  in the  'physical objects'( the magnets and their fields ) would be evened-out( balanced out ,  spread out ) among  'ALL'  of the  Magnetic-Bearings  placed  along  the  'Same-Axle'.   
      It's possible,  that the more  'Magnetic-Bearings  placed  along  the  'Same-Axle',  then the more effective that this solution would be.
        (   A solution to a  hypothetical problem  )

[TinselKoala]

No, it will not work. Yes, without a point of contact for stabilization it will "jump out" and crash. The reason for this is contained in Earnshaw's theorem and has to do with the 1/r and 1/r² relationships between force and distance between magnets.

You might be interested in studying this patent application:
http://www.google.com/patents/US20110001379

Note that they use ring magnets to completely surround the shaft magnets, performing the same function as your outside rods but going continuously around, as if you had a large number of rods. Also note that their system _requires_ axial restraint, which, in the embodiment used in the famous "plinth" Orbos demonstrated years ago, used a single hardened ball on the top end of the axle that bore against the hardened platen of a micrometer adjustment screw which allowed precise control (and restraint) along the axial direction.

[nonlectricfltn]

The  first  Diagram  Below  is the reason why  'The Rotating Magnet'  will not jump out of the   'Magnetic Bearing',  along the  axis  of the central  axle .

The second   Diagram  Below,  shows a version which would maximize stability if this is needed .

( This is me  guest1289,  this is my other account I have   )

(  Note :  This design preventing  'The Rotating Magnet'  from jumping out of the   'Magnetic Bearing'  is just a simple example,  an actual working example would possibly be more complicated,  but still be based on the same principles in the  diagrams  below  )