Future of Maglev in the US Military 268
The Hippy of Death writes "An article at The Weekly Standard discusses the current maglev research being funded by the US military. From the article: 'But what if you could drastically reduce the amount of noise a ship makes directly at the source? ...Vibration & Sound Solutions Limited suggested placing mag-lev sensors at the source of the electromagnetic fields, such as motors. The idea was to actually levitate the machinery with an array of electromagnets while using a small amount of power.'"
Reduce friction? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Reduce friction? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Reduce friction? (Score:2)
Wouldn't they be handy for applications where an extremely long service life is necessary, as there's no physical contact?
Re:Reduce friction? (Score:2)
In addition, there are liquid and air (gas) bearings.
They all have their limitations (I'm sure someone will tell us what they are)
All that aside, that isn't what this technology is really going to be used for.
This isn't directed at the parent or GP, but everyone: RTFA
So (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:So (Score:2)
If your are in a sub 1000 meters under water, and the power fails... I think falling on your ass is the least of your worries.
Doesn't make sense... (Score:2)
Re:Doesn't make sense... (Score:2)
Simple - we're still fighting the last war, which involved an actual nation.
Re:Doesn't make sense... (Score:3, Insightful)
There's a reason they've been working on extending the range of their nukes, and it's not so they can hit farther into Canada. . . .
Re:Doesn't make sense... (Score:2)
Re:Doesn't make sense... (Score:2)
Are you trying to say they can't already hit the US?
At the end of WW2 the Germans were developing missiles that could hit the US from GERMANY. China is much closer and rocket technology has greatly improved since.
German A10 rocket: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aggregate_series#A10 [wikipedia.org]
Re:Doesn't make sense... (Score:2)
Re:Doesn't make sense... (Score:2)
Re:Doesn't make sense... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Doesn't make sense... (Score:2)
Re:Doesn't make sense... (Score:2)
It's not. The domination of space has been on the Project for a New American Centuries list of objectives for a long time. They wish to control space for the strategic and ecconomic betterment of the USA. It's on their website and in many of their publications. For a group which wishes to take over the world, they are surprisingly open. Oh, in case you don't know who they are, the PNAC is essentially the upper e
Pork. (Score:2)
In his defense (Score:2)
Re:Doesn't make sense... (Score:2)
Re:You are a coward (Score:2)
Good luck in the future.
Re:You are a coward (Score:2)
Re:You are a coward (Score:2)
For those of us who aren't American, it seems obvious. Just wait till the next article that mentions India, China &/or outsourcing. Not to mention the regular ID "debates".
Re:You are a coward (Score:2)
Re:You are a coward (Score:2)
Because if we don't, we know what happens.
Anyway, cheap shots aside, Slashdot may be "liberal" on the US scale, but it still pegs pretty far to the right as the rest of the world sees things.
Re:You are a coward (Score:2)
(The rest of Europe doesn't speak english, so doesn't use the word liberal at all - most of the rest of the world isn't very liberal by anyone's definition)
Re:You are a coward (Score:3, Insightful)
Launching a cruise missile instead of challenging people to hand to hand combat isn't brave. It is smart.
As far as the size of the US military goes, the US military is what stood between the USSR and the rest of the world for half a centaury. The sacrifices that the American people made to keep the USSR where it was and hold the line
Re:You are a coward (Score:2)
the soviet army was the only thing that stood between the us military and the rest of the world. as soon as ussr was dissolved the us army has begun to bomb several countries to the stone age.
Re:You are a coward (Score:2)
Re:You are a coward (Score:2)
ussr was invited by the afghan administration to help them against amin who has murdered the prime minister, declared himself ruler of afghanistan and started a reign of terror.
ussr also invested lot of money in afghanistan, building schools, industry and so on.
so no, it is not like the ussr invaded afghanistan and tried to bomb it into the stone age.
Soviet Propaganda succeeded! (Score:2)
The regime changes in Afghanistan were with the Soviet help. The new puppet-ruler then "invited" USSR. If you believe, that was legitimate, imagine your favorite President "inviting" foreign paratroopers to protect himself from impeachment...
Your ridiculous attempt at history revision surprises me — I thought, this Soviet l
Compare the goals... (Score:2)
USSR was actively trying to "export the revolution". USA was protecting the world.
If you wish to look at it "objectively", you'll have to say: "USA is trying to export democracy. USSR was preventing that".
To equate the two, you must equate the Soviet regime with ours. I have seen fools (most of them never exposed to one or the other) trying to do that, so I'll just point you at the objective facts: forget t
Re:You are a coward (Score:2)
One of the main goals of Wiston Churchill's second tenure (1951-1955) was to bring about peacefull negotiations between the USA and USSR. He managed to get the USSR to agree to negotiations, but the USA (President Eisenhower) refused.
The source for this was a TV documentary on the BBC.
The only reference brought up by Google is this:
http://www.winstonchurchill.or [winstonchurchill.org]
Re:You are a coward (Score:2)
It was tense, but the US and Russia didn't directly come into conflict. The whole point of the airlift was to avoid a ground-level confrontation.
Re:You are a coward (Score:5, Informative)
Measured as $ per capita the US is #3 (behind Israel and Singapore):
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph-T/mil_exp_dol_f
Measured as a percentage of GDP the US is #36:
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/rank
Random countries that spend more (as a % of the GDP): Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, Singapore, China, Greece, Chile, Egypt
US Defense spending as percent of GDP [d-n-i.net] from 1940-2000.
But I'm sure whatever you've learned in school (in whatever country you're from) doesn't cover these sort of things. Your ignorant leftist teachers just point out the the US is evil because it spends more money than other countries, as if that has a thread of logic to it.
Re: (Score:2)
Re:You are a coward (Score:2)
Re:You are a coward (Score:2)
Random countries that spend more (as a % of the GDP):
Do you know what random means? It means I just went through the list of countries and randomly grabbed selected ones. The "list" that the US is part of with these countries is the complete list of the world's nations and their military expenditures as a percentage of their GDP.
Here's a shocker: your country is on that list too (unless you live at the vatican)!
Re:You are a coward (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re:You are a coward (Score:2)
Vast number of countries out there? What are there, 200 or so?
You've been made to look like an ass. Just stop.
Re:You are a coward (Score:2)
Re:You are a coward (Score:2)
Public benefits of military research. (Score:5, Insightful)
While applying magnetic levitation technologies to engines is a rather roundabout solution, the research will improve humanities knowledge of such technologies in general, potentially expediting the timeframe in which you and I can reap the benefits. Who knows what the future will be? Perhaps we will see MagLev public transportation soon? Or perhaps air travel will be much quieter (now that would be enjoyable)... nevertheless research into the field is necessary.
One interesting note is that MagLev technologies are NOT that difficult to implement. It's really just a control system of an electromagnetic field. OK, so it is difficult, but its nothing new. What advancements we really NEED have to do with:
1.) Efficiency. Superconductivity will reduce the overall power / energy demands of the system.
2.) Reliability. What happens when the power goes out? Does the train / engine / whatever just fall to the ground? This is a BIG consideration.
3.) Safety. Does exposure to such large EM fields cause cancer?
4.) etc.
Despite all of the these concerns I am REALLY excited that this type of research is getting funding... at the very least it is a very practical application!
Well, thats enough for now.
Matthew Wong
http://www.themindofmatthew.com [themindofmatthew.com]
Re:Public benefits of military research. (Score:2)
Re:Public benefits of military research. (Score:2)
Actually, I suspect large scale mag-lev for public or private transportation will never really be that workable.
But, using mag-lev type technologies for shock absorption is really interesting and novel. It has a lot more potential because it doesn't require some huge infrastructure be built. The systems can be installed one vehicle at a time.
Now, if the Navy starts trying to use fine-grain control over EM fields to attempt to shield steel hulls from magnetic detection, I'm going to be in awe. That does
Re:Public benefits of military research. (Score:3, Interesting)
I know it's not fine-grained, but shielding steel hulls from magnetic detection is old news. The British used degaussing techniques to counter German magnetic mines in WW2.
Modern warships usually carry a complex arrangement of degaussing coils to reduce as much as possible their magnetic profile.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Degaussing [wikipedia.org]
Re:Public benefits of military research. (Score:2)
Re:Public benefits of military research. (Score:2)
You can do it with diamagnets (but they aren't very strong) or superconductors (but they need cooling, currently).
Earnshaw's Theorem doesn't apply to article (Score:2)
Re:Earnshaw's Theorem doesn't apply to article (Score:2)
How would you interpret that?
Re:Public benefits of military research. (Score:2)
You probably never heard of Halbachs arrays before this slashdot article - particularly as you don't appear to understand them
Re:Public benefits of military research. (Score:2)
Part of the MagLev design is that the levitating system is also the propulsion system. By switching the magnets on and off in rapid succession it is possible to control both the degree of levitation as well as travel in
Submitter should RTFA (Score:4, Informative)
This technology was originally designed to dampen mechanical vibration in ships like the submitter said, but the Navy wasn't interested (probably because while that would be useful in a cold war, it's not too helpful in the war on terror).
What they're doing now, is using to cushion seats. The article claims some of the speedier boats they use to put marines ashore can pull 8Gs hopping over waves. So they use this technology along with wave height sensors and a fast processor to reduce it to 2-3Gs. Although this sounds new, it's basically the same technique as those active noise cancellation headphones only for lower frequencies and higher amplitudes.
Then the company is trying to expand by putting this into other vehicles like humvees and helicopters. (why in a helicopter?)
Re:Submitter should RTFA (Score:2)
I would guess crash safety: A crashing helicopter tends to put down quite hard on the ground. Also, there are usually [ejectionsite.com] no provisions for ejection seats in helos.
Re:(why in a helicopter?) (Score:2)
Why in a Helicopter? (Score:2)
Re:Why in a Helicopter? (Score:3, Funny)
However, since his exact words were "Helicopters are flying vibrators", the point was largely lost on us at the time, and it took several minutes for the lecture hall to calm down enough for him to continue...
Re:Submitter should RTFA (Score:2)
Then the company is trying to expand by putting this into other vehicles like humvees and helicopters. (why in a helicopter?)
Did /you/ RTFA? :) This is the helicopter bit from the article:
"Instead of having these bench seats, we'd have a light seat but have a battery pack like from a motorcycle, a squib, and an acceleration sensor. What would happen would be as the helicopter were falling out of the sky, and you sensed this high rate of acceleration, the squib would fire and . . . the seat would pre-positi
Shocked! (Score:2)
But seriously, ya guys should be reading them whether you agree or disagree with the policies they advocate because they are influencial in Republican politics. Much like I follow the NYT editorial page and the network tv sunday morning yak-yak shows, becaus
Re:Shocked! (Score:2)
Re:Shocked! (Score:2)
How about magnetic bearings? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:How about magnetic bearings? (Score:2)
Re:How about magnetic bearings? (Score:2)
But in regard to engine noise being transferred to the vehicle... I can see maglev being used on just the mounts themselves with a reinforced harness of some sort that improves the distribution of torque and up/down external vibration. So a series of mounts placed in a spherical grid or maybe a semi-sphere (think cutting off the top
The 'Gud Smurt' Solution: (Score:2)
(I'm kidding, obviously.)
Rig for silent running. (Score:3, Interesting)
In the ocean there are two types of vessels. Submarines and targets.
Re:Rig for silent running. (Score:2)
For the collins class submarine project here in Australia the navy specified a quietness standard for the screws which everybody agreed was unachievable. If they had not built slack into the contract I doubt anybody would have agreed to tender. As it is they are having to go back to the drawing board on the screws because they are too noisy. Guys like you could still pick them up.
Apart from using
MagLev Train (Score:2)
Be Vewy, Vewy Quiet (Score:2)
"Stealth" is a buzzword these days, but the reality is decoys. Radar and other detection systems work excellently when shooting down flying things.
A 4 million dollar missile wasting itself on an air-launched, $5000 decoy is a good investment. That is one way the US defeated the Iraqi air defense. Pretty easy, actually, if you think about it.
Perhaps spread to civilian life? (Score:2)
An advantage of the military trying to make something work long-term and heavy-duty-scale is that the developments for the military could probably trickle down to use in civilian life. Many technologies have taken just such a development path. Especially those where bus
Other consequences (Score:2)
1) I've never been in combat, but I'd expect that damage enough to cause power failure is rather common. With everything else, it's 'repair the damage and start her up again'. With motors mounted on 'maglev' shocks, what happens if you don't have the supplemental power to start with?
2) IMO one of the most impressive things about the modern military is their sensor suites at all lev
power requirements, to say the least (Score:2)
Old - cheap, zero power requirement, silent, no additional support/control systems needed, simple maintenance by minimally skilled techs, pretty effective
New - expensive, lots of power required, non-silent, lots of additional support/control systems needed, complex maintenance by highly skilled techs, super-duper-extra effective (as soon as they get it to work, which will be Real Soon Now)
All of this... f
Magnetic bearings for rotating machinery are real (Score:3, Informative)
They're useful in situations where lubrication is difficult or the lubricant has to be sealed away from the environment. Clean rooms, vacuum systems, food and drug processing, cyrogenics, and pressurized gases qualify. They're also useful for large diameter bearings.
These things look and work much like an electric motor. They're not that exotic.
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Its a roundabout solution. (Score:2)
Do you think the navy hasn't already spent billions on just that? They've been doing this since sonar was invented, 70 years ago.
Not a solution at all (Score:2)
It's time we started working towards peace [peaceforge.org] rather than war.
Re:Not a solution at all (Score:3, Insightful)
War has solved some of the greatest problems in history. War is the biggest motivational force in innovation.
War is a tragic thing, but don't you dare let me hear you say it isn't useful.
Re:Not a solution at all (Score:2)
Re:Not a solution at all (Score:2)
Re:Not a solution at all (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Not a solution at all (Score:3, Funny)
Nice idea, but someone's gotta play with all that shiny new machinery from Lockheed Martin.
Re:Not a solution at all (Score:2)
This is silly. One of the sides in a war usually achieves the main objective the war was fought for (defending one's sovereignty, for instance). Given the costs of the war this may not seem very much to many of its victims, but it is simply untrue that it "never solved anything".
Every war has its roots in previous hostility and violence and disrespect for others. World War II for instance, was largely a result of World War 1.
True. And the griefs of the German people at their treatm
Re:Not a solution at all (Score:2)
No, that's short-sighted. No one actually fights over concepts like sovereignty. If you look a little deeper, you'll see that human, personal issues like fear and disrespect are at work. THAT is what needs to be solved, and that is precisely what war will not solve.
Re:Not a solution at all (Score:2)
Re:Not a solution at all (Score:2)
I haven't seen two siblings that never thought, what do you expect from 6+ billions that have to share the same planet...
Re:Not a solution at all (Score:2)
Assuming you meant "fought"... yes, of course that's the norm as children grow up. However, it's also true that most people learn to get along as they mature. There is no reason the relationships between larger organisations of people cannot mature in the same way as interpersonal relationships.
Quiet Engines? (Score:2)
Simple: It's easier to hide if you're quiet.
Many of the military forces on our planet now have the capability to destroy any vessel or vehicle. The difficult part is locating them closely enough to hit them before being detected and destroyed themselves.
When you're fighting sonar, this would allow a vessel to maintain greater speed for less noise, improving their chances for survival.
It has been tried. (Score:2)
The best current solutions are gas turbines combined with direct drive electric motors. The gas turbines are mounted of "rafts" that are isolated from the hull.
Your ultimate solution is about as easy as the ultimate solution for an auto engine. One that runs for ever and uses smog for fuel while exhausting clean air. Yea it would great solution now tell me how to do it.
On potential solution for ships would
Re:Noiseless, Vibrationless? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Awesome! (Score:2)
I mean, half the country openly dissents from the ruling party.
You can't turn around without bumping into somebody voicing their opposition to the regime.
It's getting to be so that a guy has to re-read The Gulag Archipelago, just to get a feel for the real thing anymore.
Re:Awesome! (Score:2)
You can only say that if you seriously think that the democrats and the are not part of the ruling party. The ruling party has a duopoly, they trade places in power once in a while to make you believe that there really is a democracy, and to keep you from voting for a real alternative with fear that the worst of two evils might get elected.
Wake up!
Although I do have to say that there have been worse Totalitarian societies, but wait.... our r
Re:Awesome! (Score:2)
Re:Awesome! (Score:2)
Re:Awesome! (Score:2)
Although a communistic economy often leads to such corruption in the society+government because nobody really wants equality.
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Awesome! (Score:2)
I also was unaware that being captured on a battlefied while practicing warfare in violation of the Geneva conventions was now considered kidnapping.
It appears also that you lend some credence to the idea that adding swearwords to one's post increases it's impact. So, here goes: Damn, fuck shit fuck!
Hope that helps.
Re:I'm going to say to you what other /.rs told me (Score:2)
Einstein had a few things to say along the same lines, for example, when we were developing nukes. There was also a good line in Jurassic Park that encapsulated this idea well, referring to recreating dinosaurs of course, that went something like, "just because you can do something, doesn't mean you should."
This idea
Re:civilian applications (Score:2)
There already is a commercial Maglev line, from Shanghai to the airport. A few days ago they announced they want to e
Re:I don't get it (Score:2)
So isolate noise + nullify EM fields = longer life in a war
Also the original use was not to trip mines in world war two, as far as I recall...