Japan is developing a strong hydrogen industry led by Toyota, but has now taken an unexpected turn by developing a new magnetic levitation engine and ignoring hydrogen altogether.
Researchers at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) in Japan have unveiled a new type of engine based on magnetic levitation (maglev) technology.
The engine uses a thin graphite plate that is levitated and stabilized in a vacuum chamber using magnetic fields and a feedback system. This allows it to “float” without touching any surfaces.
It has potential advantages over traditional combustion engines in terms of power efficiency, stability, scalability, and sensitivity. However, more work needs to be done to refine performance metrics.
Some key challenges included overcoming “eddy damping” effects. Inspiration also came from quantum mechanics principles since it was developed by the OIST Quantum Machines Unit.
Applications could extend beyond transportation to areas like ultra-sensitive sensors and active control of oscillating platforms. But more testing is still needed to see if it can be developed beyond an experimental prototype.
The magnetic levitation engine represents a major departure from hydrogen fuel cells and electric vehicles, which had been thought to be the future of transportation. It remains to be seen if it will actually replace existing technologies.
Source: ECO News
