Levitating light motor

The idea of a “solar motor” was born in 1962; later in 1992 a horizontal design was developed by Larry Spring, a physicist and professor in Mendocino north of San Francisco, hence the name – Mendocino Motor. The principle has now been perfected in Germany: the levitating light motor. A combination of solar energy and magnetism makes the Mendocino motor spin freely in mid-air. A tea light is enough to drive it and bright sunlight causes the motor to rotate faster and faster, with amazing precision and smoothness.

Only the high-quality materials are used: mirror-polished aluminium, an octahedral solar rotor and a strong neodymium magnet in a connecting tube. Over 40 threaded holes per motor are bored before polishing. The windings are inside the rotor. That is why it is not immediately apparent why the rotor levitates.

The solar cell generates electric current when exposed to light, which is then conducted inside the rotor via a coil. The strong magnetic field causes the Lorentz force, a very small physical variable, resulting in partial rotation of the rotor so that the first solar cell moves out of the light and the next solar cell into the light. Then the Lorentz force, which very rarely used for motion applications such as the Mendocino Motor, acts on the next coil, and this repetitive process results in a constant drive.

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