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From: Jeroen Belleman <jeroen@nospam.please>
Newsgroups: sci.electronics.design
Subject: Re: Solar powered electrostatic motor drone ??
Date: Fri, 19 Jul 2024 00:42:05 +0200
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On 7/18/24 23:59, john larkin wrote:
> On Thu, 18 Jul 2024 21:49:14 -0000 (UTC), Phil Hobbs
> <pcdhSpamMeSenseless@electrooptical.net> wrote:
> 
>> john larkin <jlarkin_highland_tech> wrote:
>>> On Thu, 18 Jul 2024 19:21:23 +0200, Jeroen Belleman
>>> <jeroen@nospam.please> wrote:
>>>
>>>> On 7/18/24 18:42, Liz Tuddenham wrote:
>>>>> Jeroen Belleman <jeroen@nospam.please> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> On 7/18/24 07:46, Jan Panteltje wrote:
>>>>>>> Researchers build ultralight drone that flies with onboard solar Bizarre
>>>>>>> design uses a solar-powered motor that's optimized for weight.
>>>>>>> https://arstechnica.com/science/2024/07/researchers-build-ultralight-dro
>>>>>>> ne-that-flies-with-onboard-solar/
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Well, ehh, unlimited flight time if any sun..
>>>>>>> Looks funny.
>>>>>>> 4.5V to 9 kV power converter...
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I wonder if electrostatic motors would have been as practical
>>>>>> as electromagnetic motors if the history of motor design had
>>>>>> taken a different turn a century or two ago.
>>>>>
>>>>> I think Philips dabbled with them many decades ago.  A report will be
>>>>> somewhere in the Philips Technical Review.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Thanks for that hint. The Philips Technical Review is a treasure
>>>> trove of interesting stuff.
>>>>
>>>> I found a paper by B. Boll¥ on electrostatic motors:
>>>> <https://pearl-hifi.com/06_Lit_Archive/02_PEARL_Arch/Vol_16/Sec_53/Philips_Tech_Review/PTechReview-30-1969-178.pdf>.
>>>>
>>>> Jeroen Belleman
>>>>
>>>
>>> I wonder how many orders of magnitude an electrostatic motor is worse
>>> than a magnetic motor, in some criterion like power per volume or
>>> power per dollar. 6 maybe?
>>>
>>>
>>
>> The main problem for outdoor use is going to be leakage, I expect.
>>
>> Could be useful if you forget where you parked your car at the airport. ;)
>>
>> Cheers
>>
>> Phil Hobbs
> 
> Seems to me that an electrostatic motor will need switching of many
> kilovolts into the electrodes. Charging and discharging, efficiently.
> 
> https://www.c-motive.com/
> 
> That alone seems messy to me.
> 
> 


I was thinking of stacks of many stator disks with conductive sectors,
interleaved with as many rotor disks. Running voltage would be a few
hundred volts, maybe up to a kV. Commutation can be mechanical or
electronic. If fed with AC, commutation is implicit, but some tricks
would be needed to create a starting torque.

Leakage in humid condition can be dealt with by covering the disks
with an insulating coating. The problem is not so different from
magnetic motors.

Jeroen Belleman