AirShip Technologies Group

The Hub’s electromagnets are used to generate electromagnetic force fields that propel the track spheres.  When the current is on, the magnets generate more and more force or velocity.  When you want to reduce velocity, you dial back the power and the electromagnets gradually reduce force (velocity) and eventually are momentarily disabled.

A magnetic field exerts a sideways push on an electric current with the maximum push occurring when the current is perpendicular to the magnetic field.  Currents exert magnetic forces on each other. The forces are attractive when parallel currents are in the same direction and are repulsive when the parallel currents are in opposite directions.

The Track Spheres are also designed to take advantage of an effect of producing an induced current known as electromagnetic induction. The direction of the induced current can be reversed by reversing the motion of the wire or reversing the field direction.  The strength of the current depends on the strength of the magnetic field and the speed of the track sphere motion.

If you look at the Rotary Induction Motor, you can see this concept in action (view in presentation mode and press enter to cycle automatically).  After proceeding to slide 2, we represented electro magnets and magnets in a liner arrangement because a radial arrangement is much too difficult to animate.  Rotation and braking are both represented in the presentation.

This pod design provides for a component-based, recyclable track sphere and essentially a spherical tire that will never go flat.  Each Track Sphere model uses magnetic pods that have a subrack made of a metal housing with spring contact strip for assembling the Delorean ATG Track Sphere.  The spring contact strip is joined to the overall aluminum or stainless steel track sphere housing frame and is shaped such that the pod housing simultaneously makes contact with and is snap-connected to the track sphere frame.

When the magnetic track sphere pod is fastened with its subrack, the subrack frame corresponds to the track sphere frame and its transverse rail. The stress-free snap-connection of the subrack frame and the pod's transverse rail provided by the spring contact strip requires no additional compression.  It is not necessary to screw down the pod’s subrack, unless, for example, increased stability is required.  It is particularly useful that the distal edge of the subrack angled edge region of the subrack frame is recessed into the track sphere housing and does not bend back out from the transverse rail. When all the track sphere's pods are assembled, this avoids having the pod's edge protrude from the housing frame and the finished product sphere is round and magnetically functional.   This produces optimal track sphere hub-to-sphere electro-magnetic interplay for maximum ground transit velocity.

Once the driver's steering wheel and foot petal actions are envoked, the drive-by-wire computer instructions apply electrical current to pre-defined electromagnets for any direction in 360-degrees of travel.  This coordinated PUSH (repulse) and PULL (attract) of coordinated electromagnetic coordinates on the track sphere accounts for the magnetic force that propels the vehicle.  When the vehicle is set in park, all four hubs are allowed to gently come to rest on top of the spheres as the electricity to the hub is reduced and then turned off.