To anyone who wonders about the Werjefelt Magnetic Battery device, I can fill you in - now that I spent time and money to try and reproduce it. On paper it sounds very simple with attraction balancing out repulsion but in practice it is nearly impossible. Apparently, the attraction and repulsion forces of magnets do not manifest themselves in the same way, nor with consistency across a curved path. You can easily end up balanced as pole faces meet but then fight cogging only a few degrees of rotation later. You can't check the splay of magnetic lines in repulsion with any sort of iron filings in a clear plastic container because they ARE in repulsion! So, trying to figure out how to widen one pole to even out the force developed ends up being 'cut n' try'.
I also don't know if the magnets in repulsion wear out or get their domains splayed out and distorted over time. Anyway, it's an interesting idea but needs better development to even out the forces involved somehow. Reciprocating action maybe? Arghhh!
Quote from: Eighthman on March 17, 2016, 12:38:44 PM
To anyone who wonders about the Werjefelt Magnetic Battery device, I can fill you in - now that I spent time and money to try and reproduce it. On paper it sounds very simple with attraction balancing out repulsion but in practice it is nearly impossible. Apparently, the attraction and repulsion forces of magnets do not manifest themselves in the same way, nor with consistency across a curved path. You can easily end up balanced as pole faces meet but then fight cogging only a few degrees of rotation later. You can't check the splay of magnetic lines in repulsion with any sort of iron filings in a clear plastic container because they ARE in repulsion! So, trying to figure out how to widen one pole to even out the force developed ends up being 'cut n' try'.
I also don't know if the magnets in repulsion wear out or get their domains splayed out and distorted over time. Anyway, it's an interesting idea but needs better development to even out the forces involved somehow. Reciprocating action maybe? Arghhh!
"I also don't know if the magnets in repulsion wear out or get their domains splayed out and distorted over time."
Not neodymium magnets. Only under unusual conditions of high heat or with being subjected to fields that are many times greater than the magnets field.
Also samarium cobalt is very resilient to losing or having its fields permanently altered. I believe thats the one. Its in a book at home. It describes the use of them in magnetically biased inductors and transformers claiming it couldnt be done before stating issues that you have brought up here. ;)
Mags