THE

magnetic force
Awakens

THE MAGNETiC FoRCE AWAKENS

(Mendocino generator)
Student:Faruk Alic
Student:Dino Music
Mentor: Frat Meydan
2

International High School of Tuzla Energy

Table of contents

Abstract

Background research
7
Engineering goal
8
Materials

10

Procedures
11
Formulae, tables and efficiency
13
Conclusion
14
Acknowledgements
15
Bibliography
16

Abstract
Mendocino Generator in The Magnetic Force Awakens
Faruk Alic, Dino Music
International School of Tuzla, Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina
In our world, as is, providing energy for their family is a hard task
for those cut off from the main electricity grid. Many may live too
far away from a strong water stream to harness the strength of
rushing water, and solar panels are still undeveloped to a point
where they are still bulky, heavy, not quite effective and most
importantly, they are expensive. Solar energy may never be able for
us to harness fully and to the point where we managed to use the
power of kinetic energy for mechanical generators, with magnets of
course. We concluded that even though magnetic net force always
amounts to zero, when combined with other methods, even a zero
can make a significantly large number.
The Mendocino Engine/Generator works on a principle of using the
magnetic force generated by coils to turn it, using magnets to
levitate the entire engine shaft in the air, removing any sort of
friction aside from air. If placed in a vacuum tube, even that
problem can be overcome. The rest of the engine/generator is a
classic induction stator and rotor with a little twist, our generator
flips the entire stator-rotor relationship allowing the rotor to move
5

inside the stator rather than beside it. The engine itself is powered
by a set of solar cells connected to copper wire coils around the
shaft, creating a magnetic field as a lever to turn the shaft using the
static magnet below. We first came across the very idea by viewing
footage of the MagLev trains and we figured: Well, there must be
other ways to apply a frictionless system We looked and looked,
and the Mendocino concept came to mind. The idea is to apply solar
panels in the field of converting mechanical to electric energy.
Sounds bizzare, maybe even crazy, but if we just use panels to
power this super low-power generator, the possibilities are endless.
In conclusion, we believe our Mendocino generators could put solar
panels to better use, and allow us to utilize the full potential of
solar energy, regardless of the area being rural or urban. It is finally
time, The Magnetic Force Awakens.

Background research
Our project is a variation on the Mendocino motor, a long forgotten
hybrid engine that missed its first chance to shine, but now, with a
little twist we are trying to raise it from its grave. The engine was
first introduces as a concept in the original science kit from Bell labs
which developed one of the first solar cells. Since then the engine
has been brought back up multiple times, but the proposed idea
7

was shot down every time due to the low strength output that is
required to power a car or a regular mechanical generator. Since the
early 80s the engine is completely forgotten and only fragments of
its original fame remained. We were just browsing the net and
searching for something to do for this years BOSEPO Olympiad and
then we found this nearly ancient little fella. It works on the
principle of using solar power to turn its main shaft, eliminating
most or all friction between the shaft via needles or magnetic
levitation. The real money shot of the engine is that even the
generator part of it can now be made so it works without friction,
and if the shaft is stored in a vacuum tube it would increase the
efficiency of the engine by up to 30%. The magnets regularly used
for the generator and the engine itself are neodymium N52 grade
magnets. Due to N52 grade being very hard to obtain, considering
their price, we just managed to get grade N50 neodymium magnets.
A large and a small scale engine have proportional energy output,
respectively according to the size of the solar cells/panels on the
shaft itself. The only problem that occurs when building a large
scale Mendocino is the human inaccessibility to large amounts of
XXL magnets, and having to synthetize them manually. The
Mendocino needed a bit of improvement as a handicap start, and
thats just what were giving it. As the years pass we predict it may
place itself on the global market.
8

Engineering goal

Through our research into magnetic levitation and Mendocino

concepts and blueprints we have concluded that the final output
generated is substantially larger than the output generated by the
same area of solar panels on their own, due to mechanic energy
conversion into electrical having more efficiency than solar energy
to electrical. Our goal is to present the previously said statement
and fully support it with data and on-hand evidence. We are using
multicrystalline solar cells with 18.5 0.4 % efficiency and we are
expecting an output at least a 100% larger than the output from the
solar panel itself. One more task is to create a motor capable of
spinning freely, regardless of the rest of the shaft, similar to the
levitation effect of the Mag Lev trains currently being used for
transport
Our goal is to create a generator capable of being reliable enough to
be able to one day sustain a smaller home or communitys minimal
electric needs there where it is needed the most. Other uses would
be production of electricity for crop irrigation on outback farms and
fields, storage of electricity for city lighting, and of course the
growing trend of free mobile phone charging stations would become
even more spread-out due to the efficiency and cyberpunkish look of
the engine itself.

10

The engine would work best in a vacuum tube, on a shaft as light as

possible, consisting of minimum thickness plastic, rigid enough to
withstand the centrifugal force which may be generated in direct
sunlight. The vacuum tube allows the engine to further explore its
limits with the factor of air resistance and relative position of the
engine affecting the quality of the output. The original design could
only work horizontally or vertically, depending on how it was made,
but even that comes with some advantages. In the original model
(which we made and tweaked a bit) the engine shaft can easily be
removed for repairs and just as easily returned into its original
position, much like you would replace or charge a battery in a
battery operated device. This allows for additional repairs, upgrades
and panel replacement in a very convenient way where the shaft is
the only moving part and basically the only part which would need
repairs, aside from magnets which can live for a very long and
extensive period of time. The vacuum version of the engine exerts
far greater energy output efficiency and dons a slightly better and
user friendly cool look it requires the entire engine to be torn
apart to get to its solar core, forcing a reset of the vacuum inside
the tube and requiring more time for repairs. A typical solar system
with an inverter and a battery is recommended due to solar energy
only being available during daytime, so that Induction Mendocino

11

generator users would have access to electricity during night time

as well.
Other ideas also came to mind, such as utilizing the Mendocino
concept in a whole new way, eliminating the solar power source and
going for wind or geo-thermal power sources, but neither of those
are available for small scale use as the solar panel versions are, so
the initial ideas of hybridization were thrown away. We are not
saying they cannot be implemented or manufactured, far from it, we
just do not have the engineering capabilities needed to synthethise
a magnet large enough to hold a large wind turbine in a state of
levitation.
A Mendocino has many traits, and it is only waiting in ambush to
strike the mind of the next engineering developer ready to pick it up
from the X-files of engineering. A cyberpunk future awaits, The
Magnetic force has awakened.

Materials
The materials we used for the manufacturing of our Mendocino
generator are:

40 2.5x0.3cm disk shaped grade N50 magnets

20 1.5x0.5cm ring shaped grade N50 magnets
4 15x15cm multicrystalline solar cells
1m of industrial cardboard
50m 0.25mm copper wire
12

The

Plastic/aluminum rod
Industrial press sheet of tin
Hot plastic glue/ epoxy resin glue
Insulated wire
Wooden board
Black/silver spray paint
tools used are:
Hot glue gun
Soldering iron
Circular saw
Angle grinder

Procedures
1. The first thing we did was determining the size of our shaft
and creating the basic shape from interlocking pieces of
industrial cardboard. They are glued together with hot glue to
prevent them from falling apart.
2. Due to our shaft being four sided we cut out/broke 4 equal
sized pieces of our multicrystalline solar cells to fit straight
onto the cardboard shaft. After applying a thin layer of glue to
attach them to the shaft, we wound copper wire around the
edges of it so the solar panels can produce a magnetic field to
turn the motor.

13

3. The ends of the wire are then soldered to the

solar cells to ensure there arent any short
fuses. On the remaining part of the shaft we
glued the disk shaped magnets which will be
used as the rotor for the generator later on.
4. The base of the engine is simple, consisting
only of 4 ring magnets to keep the shaft in air,
and a stationary magnet to keep the motor
running, providing it with a constant magnetic
field.
5. We carefully positioned the magnets so that they are perfectly
aligned with the magnets on the shaft, allowing for complete
balance of the entire engine rotor. The magnets are glued in
place and the base is spray painted.
6. The shaft is a plastic/aluminum rod that we pushed through
our rotor allowing it to have an axis to turn around. The rod is
0.5 cm in thickness and it fits right through our ring shaped
magnets.
7. We started off from 1 on each end but finished with a total of
6 on the entire shaft due to achieving a more balanced rotor
8. The main part is the induction generator. From the tin sheet we
bought at our local press, we fashioned a ring like structure to
hold our second set of coils set up on the inside of the ring.
After winding each coil we covered it in clear lacquer to
prevent any short fuses.

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9. After 8-10 coils being connected together we mounted them to

our ring shaped stator and glued them using hot glue. The
wires were then connected to insulated wire so we can show
the amount of electricity produced with a voltmeter.
10.
The stator is screwed onto the base and decorated with
silver spray paint to give it a more hi-tech look. Our rotor is
carefully then placed into the magnetic field and it levitates
without a problem.
Some issues are still at hand, such as balancing the rotor a bit due
to one side swaying, most probably caused by the weight of the
magnets for the generator and the overall problem of presentation
due to the absence of direct sunlight in the conference hall where
the competition is being held, both of which can be solved easily
with some creative thinking.
We hope to manage to upgrade our engine even further and put it
to better use there where it is needed.

Formulae, tables and efficiency

The efficiency of a solar cell is determined as the fraction of incident

power which is converted to electricity and is defined as:

15

Pmax =V OC I SC FF

V OC I SC FF
P

where Voc is the open-circuit voltage;

where Isc is the short-circuit current;

and

where FF is the fill factor

where is the efficiency.
TYPE OF
ENERGY
CONVERSIO
N
SOLAR
MOTION

EFFICIENCY

VOLTAGE (V)

(%)
~27.5 %
~96%

WATTAGE
(kWh)

0.5 V
Ranges
depending
of wire
length and
thickness

1.75 per m
Directly
proportional
to rpm
amount

GENERATOR
TYPE

Solar cell
Induction
generator

This generator abuses the idea that motion converts to electricity

better than solar power, considering the resources we have today.
The movement and rotation generated by the solar cells gives us an
efficiency boost of almost a 100%, indirectly using the solar cells to
their full potential.

Acknowledgements
We would like to thank our parents who fully supported us and
helped us fund this project through and through, our teacher and
mentor for helping us understand our project and the necessity of
teamwork as a factor of success, the kind Chinese people at eBay
16

who were nice enough to be timely with the shipping of our items,
and finally we would like to thank one another for just working on
this project together, never faultering, and strengthening our
friendship every step of the way.

Conclusion

17

Our final word about our project is that we hope you liked our
presentation and that we managed to pique your interest. It is truly
a marvel what the odd natural elements we call magnets can do. A
resulting force always amounting to zero yet being able to power
such huge structures is a miracle of natures engineering. The
Mendocino just managed to don those natural strengths of the
magnets and utilize them to their full potential. For the past couple
of years we have tried to bring back these dead, almost ancient
engines back from the dead on such Olympiads and it made us very
happy that people are actually interested in a combination of old
and new. The Mendocino itself isnt much of a thrill currently and
there should be invested a lot of money into research and material
production for it to actually reach some commercial use, but then
again which engine didnt have to go through all of that before it
got its fame. Much like the Stirling steam engine, the Mendocino
just needs a little push, and the possibilities are endless. If we
utilized magnets to their full potential we could have made a huge
leap in space travel, let alone simple energy generators. The world
needs an awakening, the oil companies are burning the competition
down to the ground, much like their resources are slowly burning
out, and the future will rely on solar energy to feed our daily
electricity needs, so why just wait for the last moment, why not
explore something new and make a hybrid stronger than any that
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came before. Giving something a second chance may actually help

us understand that all of us make mistakes, and misjudge and throw
away perfectly good ideas just because they are ahead of their time.
A not so long time ago, in our galaxy filled with solar radiation ready
to burst, the Magnetic Force Awakened.

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Bibliography

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mendocino_motor
http://www.beatriceco.com/bti/porticus/bell/belllabs_kits_se.ht
ml
http://makezine.com/projects/make-31/mendocino-motor-2/
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/pip.2573/pdf
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ncx2eVpWUzw
http://www.chessplayingrobot.com/id4.html
https://www.kjmagnetics.com/blog.asp?p=mendocino-motor-2
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Induction_generator
http://www.instructables.com/id/Magnetic-Wire/
http://akce.fs.vsb.cz/2012/stoc2012/soutezniprace/novak.pdf

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