Floating in Air

Terry Costlow, Contributing Editor -- Design News, January 7, 2008

A great thing about college demonstration projects is they don't have to have any commercial prospects. That's a good thing for students at the Milwaukee School of Engineering, who call their model an anti-gravity device. Despite that moniker, the machine uses the same principles that let high-speed magnetic levitation trains float above their tracks. The MSOE levitator uses analog instrumentation amplifiers donated by Analog Devices, a pulse-width modulated H-bridge from National Semiconductor, a coil, a feedback control compensator and Allegro MicroSystems Hall-effect sensors to magnetically suspend an object in mid-air.

related stories
resource center
by this author

View more articles by Terry Costlow

Technology Marketplace

Article tools sponsored by

Talkback

We would love your feedback!

» View All Talkback Threads

» Submit talk back

DN's Resource Center Get Free Information, Made Easy

Friction, Wear and Lubrication Info from Society
Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers | Design Guide
Request Item
Best Practices for Green, Energy, and Supplier Challenges
Dell Computer Corp. | Web Event
Request Item

View all DN resources >>

Design News Partner Zones

CAD/CAE Model Clean-Up: Reduce Iterative Cycles
This webinar featured research and survey results related to problems associated with preparing CAD geometry for CAE applications. We discussed how Recipe-Based Automation can help create "just-in-time" CAE-ready geometry each time a cad model is updated. Watch the Presentation

Light Matters: A High-Performance, "No-Compromise" Solid State Lamp?
First, let's define "no-compromise". In an ideal configuration, this lamp would use a high-brightness LED (HBLED) that is built into a small, integrated package, and is able to produce a large quantity of focused light, operate with a high level of reliability and generate no audible noise. Is this difficult? Yes, but it is possible.
Read More

Design Engineers' Portal for Sensing and Machine Safety
Whatever industry you're in, or whatever product you manufacture, the right sensors to automate your plant, and to improve your overall efficiency, quality and safety are a must. You'll find Banner Engineering to be an amazing resource of products, training and people with expertise.