Thor Power: Revolutionary Electric Motor Design Cuts Energy Use in Half
Date: Thursday, July 24, 2008 @ 22:00:42 UTC
Topic: Devices
 Traditional electric motor designs (left) haven't changed substantially since 1906. Thor Power's technology uses rare earth magnets, resulting in a motor that generates twice the power at half the weight and double the efficiency (right).
Electric motors consume 67 percent of the energy produced in the United
States, yet their fundamental technology hasn't changed much in the
past 100 years. Thor Power, a resident company in the Ben Franklin
Business Incubator, is well on its way to commercializing an entirely
new electric motor design that could have a dramatic impact on nearly
every sector of society.
Alternating current (AC) motors are used extensively in many products,
including refrigerators, air conditioners, power tools, washers, dryers
and computers. The basic design, perfected in the late 1800s, involves
supplying an external stator with an electrical current to produce a
rotating magnetic field. This electromagnetic field spins the rotor
that rests inside the stator. Such a design is only 47 percent
efficient in its use of electricity, according to Dave Bonner, CEO of
the Bethlehem-based company...
More: Thor Power
Site: http://www.thor-power.com
(Via http://peswiki.com/energy/News)
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