A small U.S. startup is rethinking electric motor design, drawing on centuries-old ideas about friction to eliminate ball bearings and gearboxes. Orhont Magnetics, founded by Alex Dobjanski, provides fabrication services for electric machine prototypes and is developing what it calls a gapless rolling electric motor. Inspired by Leonardo da Vinci’s studies on friction, the design lets the rotor roll directly against the stator using static rather than dynamic friction, while magnetically driving torque multiplication within the same housing in a way that aims to reduce mechanical wear.
To refine the concept, Orhont uses Ansys multiphysics tools, including the Maxwell electromagnetic solver and Mechanical structural software, accessed through the Ansys Startup Program with support from SimuTech Group. Coupling electromagnetic and thermal analysis lets the team trace how EM losses translate into heat, guiding design decisions before prototypes are built.
With backing from the Department of the Navy’s Small Business Innovation Research program, the design could eventually find use in defense, aerospace, and industrial machinery—showing that an old idea about friction may still have something to teach modern engineering.
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