STEORN is NOT DEAD!!! Go check their website NOW !!! WWW.STEORN.COM

[0c]

Oc can have the last word,

OK, here's my last word: I have no idea what Al's true intentions are. He seems to keep that pretty much to himself. My intentions are to continue investigating the possibilities of the WhipMag concept.

[esaruoho]

So Steorn make a total failure because of bearings in July 2007 in London, and now they have/market under their enterprise the Zerof  friction-free magnetic bearings, .. cause and effect? If so, it is a very clever way of writing that can be turned to generate positive attention, i.e., we botched our first demo attempt, now we've gotten totally rid of the friction/heat issues with bearings altogether, here, have our bearings, we'll be using them too as you know.

friction/heat losses in rotation efficiency are always going to matter - thats why we see this security firm / IT / IP company getting them out.
thats also why Jay Leno recently featured this Magnetic Wind Turbine http://www.jaylenosgarage.com/video/video_player.shtml?vid=913522&dst=nbc|widget|Jay%20Leno%27s%20Garage%20Video&__source=nbc|widget|Jay%20Leno%27s%20Garage%20Video  that his garage has. interesting.
"Magnetically levitated wind turbine technology - reducing friction, noise, vibration and energy loss"  says the vid. ohwell.

[PaulLowrance]

The Zerof bearings appear to use magnetic materials to levitate / cause a separation to cause no appreciable friction. It is reasonable that such bearings could be sensitive to strong magnetic fields that are in the wrong polarity such as from another PM, which could change the bearings natural magnetic polarization, and thus permanently damage the bearings. I wouldn't be surprised if the Steorn Orbo demonstration used similar types of magnetic lift bearings.

PL

[esaruoho]

I for one can't wait to find out how much that USB hall probe will cost and can that data be mapped out into other things...
I think a combination of the USB hall probe, and the Magnetostatics lens that allows for seeing the field  surrounding magnets,   and the wonder-magnet  papers that you can look through to get a vague view of the magnetic field..

all of these flux mapping methods and field measuring techniques will amount to something, for sure.

[PaulLowrance]

If one of the 300 engineers wanted to make his or her own hall probe (very easy and inexpensive), then perhaps Steorn should allow that.

PL