Linear Labs' "Honey Badger" HET Motor Hits Kickstarter as "the Highest-Torque Motor Alive"
Linear Labs claims a lot of firsts for its Honey Badger, including the ability to operate with multiple shorted coils and run underwater.
Linear Labs has launched a crowdfunding campaign for what it claims is "the highest torque motor alive:" the "Honey Badger" Hunstable Electric Turbine (HET), claimed to offer power and efficiency even underwater.
"The Linear Labs HET motor is not a traditional motor," claims chief executive and co-founder Brad Hunstable, whose name graces the Hunstable Electric Turbine (HET) motor design. "The best method today to achieve high torque output is a high speed motor with gear reduction or a large-diameter motor. Therefore the industry goals have been to develop solutions to achieve ever-higher and higher RPMs by various methods.
"Hub motors are a brilliant idea. Unfortunately the current motors on the market have not prove to be the ultimate solution for the industry, neither the radial or axial flux hub machines have delivered on their promises. The HET motor is the new paradigm in volumetric torque direct-drive motors.
"Our motor is a three-dimensional circumferential flux four-rotor machine," Hunstable continues. "The HET motor is a new class of motor and these new motors currently produce torque up to an 8:1 gear ratio for the same size permanent magnet machine used today. This produces unprecedented high torque and very high efficiencies at low RPMs."
According to Linear Labs, the in-house design has a range of benefits beyond high torque: For the electric automotive industry, the company claims it can offer up to a 20 percent boost in range while using simpler power electronics and without a gearbox; for the micro-mobility sector, it is claimed to boost range between 50-100 percent; the HVAC industry could enjoy physically smaller units and an unspecified reduction in electricity usage; turbines could see a 15-30 percent increase in output power.
Linear Labs' design is also fully-potted, meaning that the motor is waterproof and — the company claims — more durable than conventional electric motors. To prove it, the company submerged an unsealed Honey Badger motor in water — and demonstrated that it continues to run without difficulty.
The company has turned to Kickstarter for distribution of its motor to individuals, offering the HET MM17555 "Honey Badger" for $695; those who are looking to integrate the motor into a design have the option of a $1,000 pledge level which includes a technical meeting with the company's vice president of technology.
More details are available on the Honey Badger campaign page.
