Magnetically Levitated Ducted Fan as an aircraft Propulsor

[fastship]

NASA GRL are investigating this concept but I would welcome your insight.

Assuming a fan diameter of around 5 metres and a rotation up to a tip speed of 340 metres per second and a power output of 45 mega watts, what are the design issues here?

The levitation is a given and easily understood but what I can't understand is, how might it be possible to generate that power from the stators around the circumference of such a motor. What design issues arise and how might they be solved?

link: **broken link removed**

 

[The Mad Professor]

:roll: Well folks it does make a change from most first postings..


Ok , for what it's worth here's my 2 cents worth

Use as an aircraft engine is technically posibble , but sadly not politically possible. For there are only a few ways to get that kind of electrical power aboard an airframe, and not one of them falls into the scope of hobby electronics... though I personally and many here I suspect would like to play with some of the equipment required.

Good luck with the homework

 

[fastship]

thanks for that Mad Proff but you misread my question; the power aboard the airframe is a seperate question. The issue here is what would be the basics in terms of design i.e. coils, configuration etc etc that would be needed to make the engine produce this kind of power.

From the simple design given by NASA I can see one immediate, perhphaps deliberate error but I don't know enough about hte various types of electric engine configurations to understand what other design issues the would be with it.

Anyone else got any views?