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By Penny
Robins
Cairns Post Newspaper
This article courtesy of "It's Time"
Newspaper, issue No. 89, released early 2001.
Two Cairns inventors
yesterday unveiled a world first commercial machine which can
power a house from a permanent, clean, green and virtually free
energy source. The machine, developed by Brinsmead mechanical
engineer John Christie and Edge Hill electrician Lou Brits, has
an international patent pending and is expected to go on the market
for $4000-$5000.
Relying on the attraction and repulsion of internal magnets, the
Lutec 1000 operates continually on a pulse-like current 24 hours
a day - producing 24 kilowatts of power - once it is kick started
from a battery source. The device is more than 500 per cent efficient,
compared to a car which is less than 40 per cent efficient and
loses power through heat and friction. No powerlines would be
needed to distribute energy from the individual power sources.
There is no heat, harmful emissions or airborne matter in the
transmission. If it were not for the magnets, which have a life
of 1300 years, and the battery pack, which has a life of about
five years, the machine would be in perpetual motion.
A demonstration of the motor from the carpeted study of Mr Christie's
Brinsmead home revealed the device in all its glory bigger than
the average cyclone back-up generator but much less noisy.
Mr Christie and Mr Brits have been tinkering together on the motor
in their spare time since they met in a Sheridan Street cafe five
years ago and began sharing ideas. One and a half years ago, the
design was perfected and the pair lodged a patent with Brisbane
patent attorneys Griffith Hack.
Mr Christie
said "The next step was to develop a small-scale pilot
plant in Cairns to begin distributing the motors to the places
they were needed most - such as shops and homes in the power-starved
Daintree region and the Torres Strait." He said "the
price tag for the devices could vary in remote locations depending
on government rebates, freight and installation costs". "The
beauty of the device was that it was transportable and could be
packed in a removalist van along with other earthly possessions
when moving house," he said.
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The only problem
the pair now face is in raising $500,000 to start their production
plant. "We're trying to keep it local, and trying to
keep it in Australia, but it's hard because, offshore, they are
more aggressive in taking up new initiatives," Mr
Christie said. Already, the invention has received interest from
the United States, China, Japan and Indonesia. "But
we want to set up here and put the product on the market first,
and then we take it to the world,” he said.
Mr Christie
said it had been hard to keep a lid on the invention which had
such a huge potential in the quest for clean, green, energy production.
He said he and Mr Brit also feared the worst once they realised
the significance of their invention. "We were afraid
the kids would be kidnapped or we'd be shot, I'm not kidding,"
he said. - "You hear horror stories about people running
up against fuel companies, but it's all hogwash - people in the
main are desperately looking for technologies that will help our
environment."
The pair have begun discussions with Ergon as there is also the
opportunity of selling energy back to the grid. Mr Christie said
the average home with a pool needed only 14kW of energy per day
which meant a 10 kW daily excess would be left over during the
generation process.
Griffith Hack
partner Cliff Carew, who was speaking from Brisbane, confirmed
the device was genuine and unique. "An international
application has been lodged, they've conducted an international
search and haven't come up with anything similar, so it would
seem to be a new concept," Mr Carew said. He said
it would be another two and a half years before the patent was
recognised in 140 countries around the world - the usual length
of time for an international patent to be processed.
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