Projects:2020s1-2430 The Ball Bearing Motor Mystery

Project team

Honours students

• Fengyuan Zhan
• Liam Martin

Supervisors

• Prof Derek Abbott

Advisors

• Dr Andrew Allison

Project guidelines

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General project description

The ball bearing motor is a mystery because to this day no engineer knows how it works! No one understands the physical principle at all. Doing some experiments is necessary to investigate this motor and why it is that it rotates. Understanding the principle is important. It may not be useful for large motors, but it may be interesting for micromotors and micropumps that have numerous applications.

Abstract

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Method

The principles of the motor are still a mystery in academia. There are still many disputes on how the motor works. Three main theories are the most popular and all of Them will be shown below.

Electromagnetic effect

Thermal expansion

Plasma discharge