據俄羅斯衛星通訊社2021年3月5日莫斯科報道，微軟公司(Microsoft)創始人比爾· 蓋茨、《鋼鐵俠》男主角小羅伯特·唐尼(Robert Downey Jr.)、亞馬遜氣候承諾基金(Amazon Climate Pledge Fund)以及iPhone的聯合創始人托尼·法德爾(Tony Fadell)日前都投資了總部位于加州的高科技電動馬達初創公司Turntide科技公司。因此，Turntide科技公司成功籌集了8000萬美元的資金。

Turntide科技公司已經將一種新型的電動馬達商業化，這種馬達可以使馬達內部的磁鐵每秒轉動2萬次，這一過程可以減少30%的電力消耗。

Turntide科技公司首席執行官瑞安·莫里斯說，這款發動機的設計可以追溯到1838年，但要想有效地運行它，必須等到廉價的電腦芯片問世。

莫里斯還將該產品描述為“包在金屬里的軟件”，這使該公司能夠控制運行電機所需的知識產權，但將制造外包到海外。

好萊塢明星小羅伯特·唐尼在一次采訪中說，“他們想出了如何利用19世紀的技術，用軟件讓它做它一直有潛力做的事情。”

Turntide科技公司目前專注于更換大型建筑通風系統中的舊電機——它在2020年已經更換了5000個這樣的電機，并計劃在今年總共更換5萬個。

提高電機的效率可以減少溫室氣體的排放——蓋茨說氣候變化是人類面臨的主要威脅之一。

蓋茨最近警告說：“每年溫室氣體排放導致的死亡人數甚至會超過這次新冠肺炎疫情大流行。”

李峻 編譯自 俄羅斯衛星通訊社

原文如下：

Bill Gates and Iron Man actor invest in hi-tech electric motor startup

Microsoft founder Bill Gates, Iron Man actor Robert Downey Jr., the Amazon Climate Pledge Fund, and co-creator of the iPhone Tony Fadell have all invested in California-based startup Turntide Technologies Inc. The company has managed to raise $80 million of funding as a result.

Turntide has commercialised a new type of electric motor, which can turn magnets inside the motor on and off 20,000 times a second – this process reduces electricity consumption by up to 30 percent.

According to Turntide Chief Executive Officer Ryan Morris, the motor's design dates back to 1838 but the fine control needed to run it efficiently had to wait until cheap computer chips were available.

He has also described the product as “software wrapped in metal,” which allows the company to control the intellectual property needed to run the motor, but outsource the manufacturing overseas.

“They figured out how to use a 19th-century technology and use software to make it do what it always had the potential to do,” Hollywood star Robert Downey Jr. said in an interview.

Turntide is currently focused on replacing old electric motors in ventilation systems in large buildings – it has replaced 5,000 of these motors in 2020 and aims to do 50,000 in total this year.

Making electrical motors more efficient reduces greenhouse gas emissions – Gates has said climate change is one of the main threats to humanity.

“Every year that would be a death toll even greater than we had in this pandemic,” Gates recently warned.