New Project: Lifter Technology
Since I was a kid, I’ve always been fascinated with flying. I had Microsoft Flight Simulator 5 on our 386 (and later our 486) that I would play a lot, and was always fascinated by flight. Since then, I realize that unless you happen to be a professional pilot, the opportunity to fly an aircraft yourself is limited to either the rich hobbyist, or the model hobbyist.
However, I’m also interested in new technologies that show promise, especially if building them is simple enough for me. Enter…the lifter. These “toys” (for that is all I’ve seen of them in my research so far) are effectively small triangular structures with electrodes running on the top and bottom of them. The largest one I’ve stumbled across in research was 5 meters across, and was made at a college in Japan. Here’s a picture of a lifter:
Image from http://www.rense.com
Effectively, once a high voltage electric charge is produced across the air gap, the device begins to float. The upward motion of the device is stopped by tethers that keep it from floating out of reach of the electric wires that bring power to it.
Now, there seems to be a ton of controversy over these devices. There are the non-scientific nuts out there claiming this is some sort of gravity distortion, and the super-scientific people who claim it’s a simple wind generator (through ion charges, similar to an Ionic Breeze system). Frankly, based on what I’ve read, not enough research has been done to verify what’s going on. I personally do not feel there’s gravity manipulation…a few thousand volts of electricity isn’t going to undo the Earth’s tremendous pull…however I’m anxious to see what can be done with this phenomonon.
Obviously, since the best these experimenters have done is life a mouse in one of these machines they must be extremely inefficient. It seems to me that time has to be taken to determine what construction methods work best, and thoroughly document as many observable results as possible to get a feel for how these devices work.
Having said that, I find it interesting that much research and internet news on these systems stopped around 2003 or so, with some sporadic pieces of information until 2005. Now the only website that seems to have any semi-complete information is the page of Jean-Louis Naudin which has attempted to document many successful lifters made around the world, with pictures and video. This site was last updated in July of 2008.
Since the materials commonly used to build lifters (balsa wood, foil, and thin gauge wire) are more than readily available, I see no reason why (once a suitable power source is procured) I can’t make my own investigations into the forces behind electrokinetic flight.
Hopefully as I learn more, and start building, I can bring the results to light here in as credible a fashion possible…and if improvements can be made, this same technology that allows a small electric craft to take flight could eventually cause a much larger vehicle that can carry a person aloft.
