AESI Business Outlook 2008

last updated on: Sept. 18, 2007

AESI Business Outlook 2008

* * * * *

While our prior Business Plan is being updated for 2008, I am pleased to release this "AESI Business Outlook 2008" to hopefully put the company's real plans and prospects into better perspective for all of our faithful web visitors and supporters! This document will be added as an Appendix to both of our Offering Memorandums and to a 'new' AESI "Primary Business Plan". The latter will differ from the former BP 2006 mainly in that our humble financials will be suitably updated and I will emphasize one of the most important and exciting findings to come out of this year's difficult proof-of-concept work for the EDF Generator: that prototyping the device's stationary-armature variant should be only about half as expensive and involved as was expected (and outlined in that earlier BP) for a rotating armature device!
Some people have hinted that Archer Energy Systems, Inc. might be better off keeping "all our eggs in one basket" (i.e., focusing solely on developing the EDF Generator technology), and that ancillary projects are unnecessary and perhaps undesirable, while others (I hope) will see the logic of having multiple but very select projects going in tandem! Thus, whereas our 'primary' project focus is and must (of course) be the EDF Generator, we do have a few other very good "irons in the fire", and in fact have two exciting new inventions in the works that haven't been disclosed on our website before...
Indeed, some of AESI's "other projects" – like the patented Syntrefoil Aeroturbine – represent technologies that might be much easier and less expensive than our prototype EDF Generator to develop and introduce commercially, as products which are nevertheless also just as excellently engineered. Therefore, the synopsis which follows will briefly describe each of the several Projects that AESI has actively under way, all of which could benefit greatly from better funding yet already involve a feasible energy system product in planning or development.

– 'StarDrive' (EDF) Generator 24kW Prototype Project

I am within just a few short weeks of wrapping up all of the proof-of-concept experimentation that I can possibly do at our present modest level of funding and equipment, and everything I've learned so far supports the feasibility of the awesome Electrodynamic Field Generator technology – especially the relatively simple stationary-armature variant (having no magnets, coils, or any moving parts at all!). The p-o-c assembly's stator circuit, with its unique input plasma discharges, is now functioning beautifully, and in the next few weeks I expect to fire the armature load circuit's radial discharges successfully in final confirmation of the EDF Generator as a viable electrical power output device.
Nevertheless, I must again emphasize that the p-o-c assembly only constitutes a fair simulacrum of roughly two-thirds of a complete 24-kW (30"-dia.) air-cooled Generator prototype, the funding and final construction of which we feel is even now obviously warranted! And while it's entirely possible that I can demonstrate an input COP greater than unity with this p-o-c setup, we really can't expect to show an over-unity output COP* without the heated primary cathodes which the full prototype will incorporate, and the unquestionable "free" thermionic amplification of output current and power they will provide.
*[ref.: www.stardrivedevice.com/over-unity.html#definitions.]
Assuming the successful completion and documentation of the 2nd PoC Experimentation before the end of 2007, which we fully expect to achieve, AESI will then need reserve project capital of at least $125,000 before we can fully commit to completion of the EDF Generator 24kW Prototype Project in 2008. This is because prototyping the stationary armature variant with solid-state power supply (as we intend to do initially) will quite likely require a minimum of $125,000 to $250,000 max. and about 6 to 8 months. [However, the same-size prototype of a rotating armature variant with magnetic rings and coils, as discussed in our old Business Plan, would probably take about $250,000 to $500,000 max. and 8 to 12 months to build.]
Thus, while it is still too early to talk about the availability of any EDF Generator production model, at this point we hope to have the 24kW air-cooled prototype model [for light commercial and certain residential applications] completed within one year. The installed price of this unit (with custom inverter) will probably be near $30,000, yet its output will be much greater than that required by any typical single-family American residential unit. It will therefore be much better suited for multi-unit housing applications where the goal is to offset a very large monthly power bill, than for single-unit net metering situations (in which the objective would be to sell the excess power).
I believe we will ultimately be able to build stationary-armature air-cooled EDF Generators of up to 300 kW (+ ~1,000,000 btu/hr) in capacity. Larger "StarDrive Dynamo" units [for power/utility plants] will almost certainly need to have a liquid coolant (even if it's only 50/50 glycol-water), and require a much greater commitment of time and money to prototype [see: www.stardrivedevice.com/plant_specs.html].

– Syntrefoil Aeroturbine Residential Wind Power Project

Now that Jay Leno has brought small-scale "VAWTs" (vertical axis wind turbines) into the public eye (in a recent Popular Mechanics article), the time has probably never been better to introduce a novel high-capacity residential wind power system of competitive vertical-axis design. And, AESI's unique and patented Syntrefoil impeller shape is designed to extract as much energy from the turbine's input profile as possible. In fact, I believe the Syntrefoil Aeroturbine's inherent efficiency to be as great as that of any other horizontal- or vertical axis wind turbine on the market today!
[see: www.stardrivedevice.com/wind_power.html].
Just as novel as the turbine design itself is the windmill fluid drive transmission concept developed by Pneu-Hydro Energy, Inc. (PHE), our business affiliate in Maine. Typically, a wind turbine transmission is the most problematic part of the whole system. In the PHE concept prototype designed specially for the Syntrefoil Project, a high-ratio planetary speed increaser is coupled to a special "two-speed automatic" hydraulic pump and driven from the turbine main shaft, with dual link belts, in a rectangular enclosure to which the turbine is mounted (at the top of the tower).
Then, we simply run two hydraulic lines down the tower so that the fluid drive output motor and the generators themselves are in the battery bunker on the ground! By carefully designing the planetary differential and hydraulic pump/motor combo so that all of the equipment stays "in spec" (within the system's rated wind speed operating range), we can get warranty coverage from the respective OEMs and provide a wind power plant that should almost never need to have the tower mast lowered once the turbine is installed and winched up!

AESI has now developed full sets of blueprints and specifications for both 12-ft.- and 16-ft.-diameter Syntrefoil Aeroturbines, and we're all set to build and install the smaller system this fall (with a simple mechanical transmission) to derive all-important test data pertaining to the inherent efficiency of the turbine design. But the smaller Aeroturbine is intended only for flat-roof mounting or ground-pedestal mounting (at from 10´ to 30´ in elevation), and the system will have a modest 2.8 kW peak rating. The 16-ft.-dia. Syntrefoil Aeroturbine's output will be more than 77% higher than that of the 12-ft. model, and the new 16´ Syntrefoil Aeroturbine system specs are:

(a) for 2-generator "Standard Output", nom. rating = 3.0 kW at 28 mph, 4.3 kW peak at 31.5 mph; and

(b) for 3-generator "Peak Output", nom. rating = 4.3 kW at 31.5 mph, 6.4 kW peak at 36 mph.*

The 'two-speed' feature of the hydraulic pump automatically reduces the ratio of the output motor's speed to the turbine RPMs whenever the wind speed exceeds 20 mph, allowing us to extend the 16´-dia. Syntrefoil system's electrical output rating as shown above without exceeding the drive train subsystem's specification speed ratings!
It should be noted that most other residential wind power plants have only one output rating, usually 3 kW at 28 mph for a 12´-dia. horizontal prop, and it's a peak rating. But with our Syntrefoil system and its PHE transmission, we can recover otherwise wasted power over and above that rated limit all the way up to wind speeds of 36 mph! And any wind turbine can make more power in an hour at 36 mph than it can in a whole day at 12 mph! *[Please note that relatively few siting locations would actually justify the added cost of the three-generator system.]
As it happens, we have just secured a new Syntrefoil Aeroturbine Project sponsor, who will be providing the funding, materials, and fabrication services necessary to build the complete 12-ft.-diameter prototype Aeroturbine, with construction to commence in September! A more formal and complete announcement will be made on our News page, once the terms of the associated business development agreement have been finalized.

– Neoclassical Disk Dynamo Project

Few pivotal inventions in history have been the subject of more widespread and intensive efforts at continued development and refinement than the original Faraday disk induction dynamo. Our own neoclassical disk machine incorporates certain of the many different possible design improvement parameters first suggested by Nikola Tesla, and shows the influence of Adam Trombly's later "closed path" magnetic shielding concept. And, while our 18" Disk Dynamo prototype embodies no revolutionary new developments in this early technology, it not only just might constitute a feasibly marketable electric power supply system for residential customers but should also be essentially production-ready if it proves successful during future testing! According to the rigorous theoretical and mathematical model from which its design was developed, this intriguing device could exhibit a "net input COP" of 1.49 or more, in which case it would be sufficiently over-unity that it could operate "closed-loop" as driven by a high-efficiency electric motor and custom inverter!
The theoretical proof sheets developed in our Disk Dynamo Project Manual, wherein the performance potential of the 18"-dia. prototype model is carefully assessed for such an electric motor drive scenario, are both sobering and exciting! They provide very clear insight into just how difficult it has been for experimenters and prior art inventors to unlock the latent over-unity potential of the Faraday disk dynamo, as well as how difficult it will be to develop a marketable residential power plant from it.

Thus, we will consider this Project to be a gratifying success upon any of these probable outcomes:

(1) we just might meet Dr. Hal Puthoff's "1-watt challenge", as-yet-unachieved so far as we know, and demonstrate true self-sustaining (closed-loop) operation of a device that can also power at least one (1) watt of additional load;
(2) failing that, we may well still be able to demonstrate electrical output from an all-electromotive device at a verified over-unity COP – if only for the academic accomplishment of it; or
(3) we may find that, because of its particular low-voltage/high-current output characteristics, we can in any case feasibly manufacture and market it as a near-perfect direct-connection power source for water electrolyzer cells used in the commercial production of gaseous hydrogen!

We expect to see the latter of these likely Project outcomes to be realized at the very least, which means we should have a viable disk dynamo product at some point! It remains to be seen if the modular 5-stage motor-driven Disk Dynamo system we'd like to build – which should if successful provide enough output on continuous duty to offset the electric power requirements of the average American home – could be made cost-effective enough in production for the consumer market.
Be that as it may, even if we cannot verify OU operation during our initial testing, our 18" Faraday Disk Dynamo prototype is a beautiful piece of unconventional equipment which will teach us a great deal, which expresses some very adroit engineering, and which just may prove to be a very significant and newsworthy scientific achievement.

– Reciprocating Roller Shunt Generator

I also have an exciting new invention and unique portable power supply product on the drafting table, called the "Reciprocating Roller Shunt Generator": a permanent magnet device with stationary armature and fields that uses rolling steel shunts to magnetically commutate the field induced in the armature winding (by the stator magnets). This intriguing device also uses mechanical springs, to recover and store the motion-aiding magnetically-produced kinetic energy of the roller shunts on their forwardly-attracted "input" stroke and then release that energy 'for free' on the magnetically-resisted "output" back-stroke, in a way that actually cancels most of the normal magnetic generator loading by aiding the reciprocating motion of the shunts (on alternate half-cycles)!
Given the over-unity potential inherent in its advanced design, I believe this novel form of flux switch alternator in fact has the capability to serve as a fuel-less recoil-start remote power supply of 2 to 3 kW "free" output capacity! I owe the inspiration for this new planned product (a form of magnetic current amplifier, as used on grid power) to magnetic engineer John W. Ecklin, whose permission and guidance we were privileged to have many years ago to build and test one of his several patented devices that exemplify pioneering over-unity concepts. A good introduction to some of his relevant prior art can be seen at: www.rexresearch.com/ecklin/ecklin.htm.

- Electromagnetic Ball Mill

Finally, as a joint venture with our affiliate in Echo Bay, ON (Algo Machine Shop Ltd.), we are now developing a revolutionary new electromagnetic ball milling device, which uses a stationary drum and a charge of small steel balls that are vibrated and rotated by alternating axial and radial magnetic fields to quickly pulverize fine secondary ore materials down to a 5- to 10-micron powder. In doing so, no mechanical work is done against the force of gravity, and thus the micro-mining and reclaiming of certain precious metals may be much less energy-intensively and more cost-effectively accomplished.
The frequency and current in the device's axial and radial windings can be modulated separately to control the rate and intensity of both the grinding media's vibratory and rotational motions. With the cost of both energy and precious metals guaranteed to escalate steadily (and perhaps fiercely) in the 21st century, we feel that this planned product has a solid niche market with assured potential for expansion!

In closing, I'd also like to announce that the remodeling of our 'new' 500 sq.-ft. corporate office suite (under lease from Archer Enterprises) is very nearly complete, and my EDF Generator proof-of-concept experimentation – which was sorely interrupted during the interim – will resume shortly in a dedicated lab room adjacent to the main office. This great commercial headquarters facility, in a semi-rural area with a beautiful view, will open in October (and include overnight accommodations for two visitors).
With our fourth corporate anniversary coming up (in March), it would seem that Archer Energy Systems, Inc. is no longer now a "start-up company". Therefore, our foremost goal in 2008 must be to introduce at least one new saleable product from our existing repertoire of unconventional technologies, and successfully make the difficult transition from a primarily R&D and IP holding company mode of operation to that of an original equipment manufacturer generating revenues from the public sale of its products. And I am certain we will be able to do just that.

With best regards,

Mark R. Tomion
Pres.
Archer Energy Systems, Inc.

* * * * *
Have any comments or questions you'd like to submit?: feedback@stardrivedevice.com

‹‹‹ back to News page to Energy Systems page 'StarDrive Engineering' page