Transport TW: Magnet-powered vehicle promises green commuting
Naresh Chauhan | May 25 2009

Designed by Harsha Vardhan, the “Transport TW” is a futuristic car that generates power from magnetic field generated by on-board electricity powered systems. The Transporter TW (Twin Wheel) is based around an electric engine which produces a magnetic field to drive the large wheels. The wheel rims are suspended over a superconducting fluid where the changing magnetic field produces the motion needed to propel the vehicle. The power generator and motion is thus smooth, nearly noiseless and green. The occupant of the vehicle sits perched in a cockpit and operates the vehicle. Controlling the vehicle from the swivel seat, the rider enters or leaves through a port at the rear of the cockpit.



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Apparently, this is designed for people who have no legs.

More silly ideas that are practically useless.

Correct me if i’m wrong, but i think when the vehicle is parked, its tyres would roll to backside direction until the vehicle is balanced, therefore the capsule would touch the ground, making it impossible to get on or off...

Plus, when the backdoor opens, the chair blocks the passenger to enter the compartment... (In addition to the aforementioned leg problem.)

Lastly, whatever high-tech force it is that drives the wheels, it will also push the cabin in the opposite direction, that is to say, the cabin will circle forward along the wheels, probably stupefying the passenger with the exerted centripetal force...

However, apart from these boring details, i really liked the way it looks...

Two words: ”depleted uranium”. If the forward portion of the ’wheel’ guides are filled with depleted uranium, then perhaps the weight would balance out the passenger and ’pod’ weight....
Also, I think that the rear entrance is dumb from a technical standpoint anyway: At rest, the pod should drop to the bottom, and the front windscreen should open for the passenger to enter and lay down, to be moved to the upright position when the unit powers up (hence the balancing weights).
Maybe I should build one properly and patent it?...naaahhhh: Progress is overrated.

Cool thinking :-)

I think you are referring to a system that automatically slides the position of the d.u. weights, so that the vehicle can be adjusted for different passengers.

Additionally, when the vehicle stops, the pod should lower to the ground, to let the passenger to get off safely. This would also require the vehicle to be able to adjust the position of the weights towards the pod, slowly...

By the way, how much does a kilo of depleted uranium cost? I’m 95 kilos myself :-P
Would a Bugatti come cheaper than that? :-)

Yes, you did understand what I meant: automatic counterweights.

For a security system, the pod could just rotate to be at the top so that a thief couldn’t stay in the seat.

I don’t know what du costs, but it should be free, since the military has plenty that shouldn’t be used, and the nuclear power industry has plenty to get rid of...

If du is too costly, I’m sure there’s a gold asteroid floating up by Mars somewhere....;-)

Let’s think a bit more;

Adjusting the position of the pod a bit towards the centre of the circle (wheels) would ease the amount of counter-balance required... and provide smoother acceleration and stopping...

How does this vehicle steer by the way? Could expanding and shrinking the wheels individually, be a cool method?

Mounting the pod and counterweights on a sliding mechanism could be helpful, or even the pod alone could be mounted so as to move on a geometric chord line, thus eliminating the counterweights altogether.

Steering is usually done by controlling the separate wheel motors, causing one to ’skid’ (thus, the name ”skid-loader” for construction machines). I don’t immediately see how to shrink the wheel diameters, but if it could be accomplished simply, then a differential would be unnecessary and a single drive motor could be used, but with the large diameter to the wheels, turning radius would be very large.
I think a means of tilting the wheels in conjunction with differential drive mechanisms would allow some tight turning as well as better high speed control, and it would be fun to ride (like a motorcycle crossed with a Segway).

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