[Newsbot]

Title: Aerofex hover bike goes on sale in 2017
Category: Tech
Posted By: wildrosegirl
Date: 2014-05-14 18:43:09

[QBall]

$1:

The company says the current estimated price for the bike is $85,000

Um, no. Also I noticed the range of this machine (an important stat) is conspicuously missing from the article.

[Winnipegger]

You could buy a normal hovercraft, with a skirt. The skirt contains air, to reduce fuel necessary for lift. That extends range. I could link several models, but you can Google as well as I.

If the goal is to make something like Star Wars; that's just a hovercraft with jet engines instead of a push fan, and no skirt. But it reacted as if it had a skirt. So could you make a skirt with a plasma window? That's a real life force field. Its plasma is viscous enough to contain 1.5 atmospheres of pressure against hard vacuum. Yup, it can hold in air.

The plasma window was invented by a researcher in 1995. He was working on an electron beam welder. To make an electron beam, it requires vacuum. But for the beam to be strong enough to weld with, it has to melt metal. So how do you get the beam out without melting the walls of the vacuum bottle? His solution was a plasma window. A small window made of plasma, the beam would shine through. Adding heat to the plasma just makes it stronger. So it works. The catch is plasma has to be at least 12,000°K to be viscous enough to hold air. Most researchers today work with 14,000 to 15,000°K. That way if the plasma cools a little, it'll still be hot enough to remain viscous. And the plasma window created in 1995 only works as a flat window across a circular opening. And requires 20 kilowatts per inch diameter. That's 20,000 watts! That's a lot of heat. And if it requires that much continuous power, then that's how much heat it gives off. Probably as radiant heat. So the question is how to get the window to contain its heat?

For a hovercraft skirt, there's nothing on the bottom side of the plasma. After all, if something were to drag across the ground, you may as well use a normal skirt. So how do you get a plasma window to work with only equipment on top? (Bottom of the land speeder.) A hovercraft skirt doesn't require 1.5 atmospheres against hard vacuum; it requires a lot lower pressure inside the skirt, and one atmosphere outside. So it could be weaker.

Nerd and proud of it.

[DrCaleb]

Winnipegger Winnipegger:

Nerd and proud of it.

There has been a lot of work to make open freezers in grocery stores more energy efficient. Having a -20c freezer missing one side takes a lot of energy, so work has been done on using a current of air from the top of the freezer to the bottom to act as a barrier and keep the cold air from escaping the freezer.

I'd suspect something like that, or just designing the body of the vehicle to act as a wing and provide lift would be much easier than a high temp plasma skirt.

But the plasma skirt would be cool. Till you run over a pedestrian. Not so cool then. (see what I did there!)

[peck420]

$85,000....

To go 45 mph, at a max altitude of 12 feet...

I would almost rather fund this guy...and I am almost certain he's a scam...

http://www.hover-bike.com/

At least his looks like it would actually be a lot of fun.

Barring that, you could spend far less, and go far higher and faster with an ultralight.

[Winnipegger]

Hmm. I described a land speeder. What about a speeder bike?

Again, instead of ducted fans, use a jet engine. Ducts with swivel nozzles like a Harrier jump jet. Start with a Pratt & Whitney Canada model PW610F turbofan engine. That has 900 pound force thrust. Add fuel tank, motorcycle seat, handle bars. And most importantly, a computer to stabilize control. Engine weight 259.3 lb (117.62 kg). Add weight for nozzles, servos, etc. In 2003, I worked for a company that manufactured autopilots for miniature UAVs. The autopilot was 28 grams (1 ounce), and 1" wide by 4" long. That included sensors, processor, servo control. It didn't include batteries or normal radio control to override the autopilot. But that shows how small electronics can be.