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The Techno Maestro's Amazing Machine - Japan - Article - J@pan Inc Magazine
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Features
Section:
Features
(click here for
more)
Issue: March
2004
The Techno Maestro's
Amazing Machine
Kohei Minato and the Japan Magnetic
Fan Company: a maverick inventor's
breakthrough electric motor uses
permanent magnets to make power -and has investors salivating
by John Dodd
Send feedback to
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4 5 >>
When
WE
first
got
the
call
from
an
excited colleague that he'd just seen the
most amazing invention -- a magnetic motor
that consumed almost no electricity -- we
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The Techno Maestro's Amazing Machine - Japan - Article - J@pan Inc Magazine
RESOURCES
Daily Headlines
Japan.com
Tokyo.com
were so skeptical that we declined an
invitation to go see it. If the technology was
so good, we thought, how come they didn't
have any customers yet?
We forgot about the invitation and the
company until several months later, when
our friend called again.
"OK," he said. "They've just sold 40,000
units to a major convenience store chain.
Now will you see it?"
In Japan, no one pays for 40,000
convenience store cooling fans without
being reasonably sure that they are going to
work.
The maestro
The streets of east Shinjuku are littered with
the tailings of the many small factories and
workshops still located there -- hardly one's
image of the headquarters of a world-class
technology company. But this is where we
are first greeted outside Kohei Minato's
workshop by Nobue Minato, the wife of the
inventor and co-director of the family firm.
The workshop
itself is like a
Hollywood set
of an
inventor's
garage.
Electrical
machines,
wires,
measuring
instruments and batteries are strewn
everywhere. Along the diagram-covered
walls are drill presses, racks of spare coils,
Perspex plating and other paraphernalia.
And seated in the back, head bowed in
thought, is the 58-year-old techno maestro
himself.
Minato is no newcomer to the limelight. In
fact, he has been an entertainer for most of
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The Techno Maestro's Amazing Machine - Japan - Article - J@pan Inc Magazine
his life, making music and producing his
daughter's singing career in the US. He
posseses an oversized presence, with a
booming voice and a long ponytail. In short,
you can easily imagine him onstage or in a
convertible cruising down the coast of
California -- not hunched over a mass of
wires and coils in Tokyo's cramped
backstreets.
Joining us are a middle-aged banker and
his entourage from Osaka and accounting
and finance consultant Yukio Funai. The
banker is doing a quick review for an
investment, while the rest of us just want to
see if Minato's magnetic motors really work.
A prototype car air conditioner cooler sitting
on a bench looks like it would fit into a
Toyota Corolla and quickly catches our
attention.
Seeing
is
believing
Nobue then takes us through the functions
and operations of each of the machines,
starting off with a simple explanation of the
laws of magnetism and repulsion. She
demonstrates the "Minato Wheel" by kicking
a magnet-lined rotor into action with a
magnetic wand.
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The Techno Maestro's Amazing Machine - Japan - Article - J@pan Inc Magazine
Looking carefully at the rotor, we see that it
has over 16 magnets embedded on a slant -apparently to make Minato's machines
work, the positioning and angle of the
magnets is critical. After she kicks the wheel
into life, it keeps spinning, proving at least
that the design doesn't suffer from magnetic
lockup.
She then moves us to the next device, a
weighty machine connected to a tiny
battery. Apparently the load on the machine
is a 35kg rotor, which could easily be used
in a washing machine. After she flicks the
switch, the huge rotor spins at over 1,500
rpms effortlessly and silently. Meters show
the power in and power out. Suddenly, a
power source of 16 watts or so is driving a
device that should be drawing at least 200
to 300 watts.
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Upfront | Features | Blowfish
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