# Dyson's new motor



## Salty9 (Jul 13, 2009)

That hand dryer looks like it would be efficient in spreading the norovirus around.


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## shortbus (Sep 27, 2011)

It is a SRM switched reluctance motor. And uses sensor less commutation.


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## Ziggythewiz (May 16, 2010)

mizlplix said:


> I wonder how to hook up 80 of these togather?


Just mount them in an array facing backward, or forward with a sail!


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## Caps18 (Jun 8, 2008)

I've always wondered why you couldn't use the power going into the motor to create an electromagnetic field first.

I wonder if the motor could be made a lot more efficient, then the batteries that we have today could go a lot farther.


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## Ziggythewiz (May 16, 2010)

Caps18 said:


> I've always wondered why you couldn't use the power going into the motor to create an electromagnetic field first.


You don't get free fields. It you're using something it's costing you.


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## dougingraham (Jul 26, 2011)

Caps18 said:


> I wonder if the motor could be made a lot more efficient, then the batteries that we have today could go a lot farther.


They can't be made a lot more efficient. Motors have been improved for over 130 years. The typical motors we use have a peak efficiency of around 90% although when you stress them the efficiency drops to as low as 60%. There isn't much room for improvement. And a lot of the things you need to do to improve it are known but too costly. One is using silver for the windings instead of copper. Another is special materials for the laminations. I remember the hot ticket being some sort of nickle cobalt laminations that were very thin. The company I did work for made a few little specialty motors with these and they could turn 60k rpm without problems with eddy currents. The regular lams would turn red hot at those speeds. Even if you could get a motor that was 100% efficient this will only improve your range by at most around 10%. So only a little more efficient is possible and that would come at a rather large cost.

The fact that the power system is already pretty efficient is what makes electric cars so sensitive to outside influences. There are no places where you can make large improvements. All you can do is make little ones.


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