Linear Permanent Magnet Generator

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the design and efficiency of a linear permanent magnet generator, with participants exploring different configurations and components, including AC and DC outputs. The context includes personal projects and comparisons to existing products like the ForeverFlashlight.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Technical explanation
  • Conceptual clarification

Main Points Raised

  • One participant inquires about the most efficient way to build a permanent magnet linear generator, expressing uncertainty about where to start.
  • Another participant describes a potential design involving a conducting loop moving between the poles of a permanent magnet to produce AC, which can be converted to DC for various applications.
  • A participant mentions the ForeverFlashlight, suggesting it likely uses a permanent magnet and a coil, with one component moving, and includes an AC/DC converter and an accumulator.
  • There is a discussion about the principles behind the ForeverFlashlight, with one participant questioning whether it operates on the Faraday Principle or induction.
  • Participants express curiosity about the components of the ForeverFlashlight, noting its use of an LED and a capacitor instead of a traditional bulb and battery.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants do not reach a consensus on the specifics of the ForeverFlashlight's operation or the best approach to building a linear permanent magnet generator, indicating multiple competing views and unresolved questions.

Contextual Notes

Some assumptions about the operation of the ForeverFlashlight and the efficiency of different generator designs remain unverified, and there are references to specific components that may not be universally understood.

Syed F. Karim
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What is the most efficient way to build a permanent magnet linear generator--AC or DC, it makes no difference. I'm working on a personal project but don't know where to start. I'm assuming that a generator similar to the one inside of a ForeverFlashlight is probably the best way to go, but I'm not real sure, so I'm asking.
 
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Greetings !

Frankly, I don't know what a ForeverFlashLight is
but it probably uses a permanent magnet and a coil
with one of them moving (probably when you shake the thing ?),
an AC/DC converter and an accumulator.

In a car for example, a conducting loop is
turned between the poles of a permanent magnet thus
producing an AC in the loop (which you can then of course
transfer into whatever "form" you like depending on the
purpose of your generator, like DC to charge your accumulators).

The circuilar motion of the loop is of course due to
the chemical energy of the internal combustion reaction
in the car's engine which is transferred into mechanical
energy of the turning loop which, in turn, converts it into
electrical energy (abviously though, in a car most of that
mechanical energy is used to turn the wheels and thus
increase the kinetic energy of the car or maintain it since
energy is constantly lost to friction with the road and air resistance [zz)] ).

Live long and prosper.
 
Originally posted by
The Forever Flashlight uses the Faraday Principle
of Electromagnetic Energy...
Wasn't it induction ? Or did they just decide to skip
the whole story for the average buyer...
I suppose that someone spending that much on that thing
wouldn't know the difference...
 
Haha, yeah, I never bothered to read the article 'cause I was trying too much to find a close-up image of the thing.
 
Thats a cool flashlight! It has an LED instead of a bulb, and I think it has a capacitor instead of a battery.
 

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