A needle bearing for a magnetically supported rotor shaft in a measuring instrument, such as a watt-hour meter, having a thin metal bearing needle projecting into a plastic needle guide having good wear and friction properties is provided in a manner advantageous from a production point of view, while providing high guidance accuracy and good cooling of the structure, by means of a coating on the needle having good sliding properties in the region interacting with the needle guide. The coating takes the form of a sleeve which can be slipped onto the bearing needle and replaced in a most simple manner.
An apparatus for rotatably journaling a rotor of a spindle motor about a shaft comprising a plurality of annular ring multipole magnets, each ring comprised of a plurality of axially aligned magnets whose polarity is alternated along the radius of the ring. The annular ring multi-pole magnets are disposed on both the rotor and stator of a spindle motor in opposition in attraction mode, or a complete offset repulsion mode with like poles facing one another with an full offset, thereby forming a radially stable magnetic bearing for maintaining rotor displacement about a shaft in conjunction with a conventional axial pivot.
A structure flywheel energy-storage device is disclosed comprising a rotatable flywheel mounted on a vertical shaft and provided with a bearing. The flywheel is in the form of a magnetic ring structure with a spacing element disposed between the ring structure and the shaft and with magnetic supporting structure to support the rotary magnetic ring structure. The use of the magnetic supporting structure enables the flywheel, once set in rotation with a given quantity of delivered energy, to rotate much longer than if purely mechanically supported.
An apparatus for rotatably journaling a rotor of a spindle motor about a shaft comprising a plurality of annular ring multi-pole magnets, each ring comprised of a plurality of axially aligned magnets whose polarity is alternated along the radius of the ring. The annular ring multi-pole magnets are disposed on both the rotor and stator of a spindle motor in opposition in attraction mode, or a complete offset repulsion mode with like poles facing one another with an full offset, thereby forming a radially stable magnetic bearing for maintaining rotor displacement about a shaft in conjunction with a conventional axial pivot.
An apparatus for supporting in a housing, a mount adapted to carry a transducer, the mount having a predetermined positional locus, the apparatus comprising: cooperating sets of magnets attached to the mount and the housing, respectively the sets of magnets acting to positionally bias the mount toward an equilibrium position within the predetermined locus and freely of housing vibration transmittal to the mount.
An intriguing and educational display structure (1) appears to be spinning upon itself without any apparent drive mechanism, power supply or bearing. The structure comprises two concentric hollow spheres (3, 5) spaced apart by a transparent fluid (6). The outer sphere is totally transparent, immobile and may rest on a tripod (2) or other type of support. The inner sphere may be partially transparent or translucent and carries over its surface, a design such as a map of the world (7). The inner sphere rotates within, and independently from the first outer one. The internal, that is self-contained drive mechanism is referenced to either a compass, a light angle detector, or a gravity sensor, and uses either a conventional electrical motor with its own internal field winding and communitator, or one made of a rotor comprising a cross-array of electromagnets (AC, BD) that interact with the earth magnetic field.
