Patent Application
20150204205
Not Applicable
Individual Efforts
It may be argued that the function of the present invention is related to the function of the conventional electric generator and the principle of the flywheel. However, a typical electrical generator/alternator is an apparatus which converts mechanical energy (or power) into electrical energy (or power). It is based on the principle of production of dynamic induced emf (Electromotive Force). This emf causes a current to flow if the conductor circuit is closed. The key different between an alternator and a generator is what spins and what is fixed. The windings of wire (the armature) spin inside a fixed magnetic field in the case of generator. In the case of an alternator, a magnetic field is allowed to spin inside of windings of wire called a stator to generate the electricity.
First, up to present, all electric generators and alternators include an element of stator and an element of rotor but in the present invention both the armature and magnets are rotors. Second, all electric generators operate in non-harmonic mode, i.e., when the input fuel is turned off the electric generator or alternator stops. Third, the present invention includes a unique method of rotation induced by thruster engines (converging diverging duct) suited in a rectangular wing for levitation. Normally, the electric generator or alternator operates with a piston engine or turbine.
A flywheel is an energy storage device that uses its significant moment of inertia to store energy as a rotational kinetic, and then deliver it to a load at the appropriate time, in the form that meets the load needs. The faster the flywheel spins the more kinetic energy it stores, and the heavier is the mass of the disc the more kinetic energy it stores. A flywheel is storage device and not a device for electric generation. In the present invention, the coasting wheel is discharging its rotational kinetic energy into electric energy instantaneously during its spinning phase when the source of energy is turned off as well as it generates electricity during the phase of energy-in.
Figures included in this invention are briefly described as follows.
The present invention titled: a coasting-wheel with aeronautic levitation for harmonic electric generation is a device to generate electric energy or power during the phase of energy-in and during the coasting phase; energy-off. The present generator holds a promising uses for terrestrial and space domains.
One embodiment of the present invention is the dual motions of the conductor (armature) and permanent magnets during energy in and off. Two coasting wheels are used in the present invention. One carries the armature and the second carries the permanent magnets.
A second embodiment is the aeronautics levitation of the coasting wheel with rectangular wings. Each coasting wheel is levitated with a pair of wings oriented in the reverse direction in which the leading edge of the air foil indicates to the direction of motion.
A third embodiment of the present invention is the use of thrusters (converging diverging nozzle) to propel the costing wheel. Each coasting wheel is propelled by two thrusters oriented on the reverse directions fixed inside the wing. In this case, the direction of the thrust is at the same direction of the leading edge of the of the air foil of the wing.
A fourth embodiment is the applicability of using different types of energy sources for the kickoff motion this includes compressed gas binary or singular, liquid fuel and oxidizer, and gaseous fuel and oxidizer.
The coasting-wheel with aeronautic levitation for harmonic electric generation comprises the following elements as indicated by their labels in the brief diagram shown in
The present invention which is titled a coasting-wheel with aeronautic levitation for harmonic electric generation is an apparatus of converting the energy from compressed gas or fuel or fuel and oxidizer (liquid or gaseous phases) into rotational mechanical energy through expansion of the compressed gas or burning the fuel in converging diverging duct (thruster). The generated rotational mechanical energy is therefore converted into electric energy via the principle of electromagnetic induction. The apparatus is oriented vertically (aloft), consequently; the coasting wheels and the elements of the electric generators suffer a rotation in which the rotational plane is parallel to the normal of the gravitational force (=mg). In the present invention, the full cycle of the rotation of the wheel is accomplished against the friction force (=μmg), where μ is the coefficient of friction. Thus by selecting a material with least coefficient of friction (e.g. zinc oxide ZnO, or diamond and graphite; μ=0.1 without lubricant) a harmonic motion can be sustained for a longer of time.
In common electric generators, the rotational plane is perpendicular to the normal of the gravitational force (=mg). In this case, half of the cycle requires a kinetic energy greater than the potential energy (=−mgh), where h is the radius of the rotational plane, and the second half of the cycle is accomplished by the gravitational force mg (=+mgh). However this type of rotation cannot be used for harmonic motion since it decays faster when the source of energy is turned off, because of the negative potential energy and friction.
The present apparatus comprises the following components as indicated by the alphabetic letters and consequent numbers.
The cylindrical vessel (1) comprises the following elements, as shown in
The present electric generator is operated by two coasting wheels (upper and lower), each coasting wheel is propelled by two thrusters, and each thruster is fed by a pair of tubes. The feeding-pressure system comprises the following elements, as shown in
The upper thruster-and-levitation system (C) comprises the following elements, as shown in
The extension of tube B18 is fixed to the inner ring of the radial bearing, unit 6. Further, the rotary entry cylinder, unit 3, has a head (unit 4). The head (4) is fixed to the inner ring of the radial bearing unit 5. Thus, during rotation unit 1 is motionless except at bearing section. An adapter, unit 8, a tube fixed to the outer ring of the radial bearing unit 6 as shown of the expanded view in
The left wing (unit 13), is oriented so that the leading edge of the air foil (14) indicates for the direction of motion (thrust motion 18). At the entry of the left wing (13), a combustion chamber (15) is suited inside with two inlets of gas or liquids as shown in
The right wing (unit 19), is oriented in the reverse direction of unit 13 so that the leading edge of the air foil (20) indicates for the direction of motion (thrust direction 24). At the entry of the right wing (19), a combustion chamber (21) is suited inside with two inlets of gas or liquids as shown in
The rotation is caused because both thrusters are oriented tangentially to unit 3, the thrust is perpendicular to the line of axis that is extended from the center and passes to the end of both wings as shown in
The compartment of coasting wheels comprises the following basic units: the upper coasting wheel, the EM (electromagnetic induction) elements; the armature coil and permanent magnets of different poles, and the lower coasting wheel as shown in
The detailed components of the upper coasting wheel are shown in
The detailed components of the lower coasting wheel are shown in
Even though the number of rolling balls is shown two pieces in each direction for each coasting wheel but however a good stability of the wheel during motion will be achieved with additional numbers particularly in the off-axial direction. The purpose of using radial rolling balls is to keep the position of the wheel fixed at the central axis while undergoing a rotation. The use of magnetic bearing in the radial direction to stabilize the coasting wheel during rotation is frictionless but is more expensive. The use of magnetic bearing in the off-axial direction is more complex since the wheel will be levitated up during motion and thus the presence of a mechanical spring is vital in this case.
The lower thruster-and-levitation system (E) comprises the following elements, as shown in
The extension of tube B20 is fixed to the inner ring of the radial bearing, unit 6. Further, the rotary entry cylinder, unit 3, has a head (unit 4). The head (4) is fixed to the inner ring of the radial bearing unit 5. Thus, during rotation unit 1 is motionless except at bearing section. An adapter, unit 8, a tube fixed to the outer ring of the radial bearing unit 6 as shown of the expanded view in
The right wing (unit 13), is oriented so that the leading edge of the air foil (14) indicates for the direction of motion (thrust direction 18). In this case, unit 13 is in the reverse direction of unit C19. At the entry of the right wing (13), a combustion chamber (15) is suited inside with two inlets of gas or liquids as shown in
The left wing (unit 19), is oriented in the reverse direction of unit 13 so that the leading edge of the air foil (20) indicates for the direction of motion (thrust direction 24). In addition, unit 19 is also in the reverse direction of unit C13. At the entry of the left wing (19), a combustion chamber (21) is suited inside with two inlets of gas or liquids as shown in
The rotation is caused because both thrusters are oriented tangentially to unit 3, the thrust is perpendicular to the line of axis that is extended from the center and passes to the end of both wings as shown in
All wings that are presented in the upper and lower thruster-and-levitation systems are of rectangular shape. A rectangular wing with sharp end is adopted in the present invention because it can carry a reasonable load and levitate at a reasonable speed. It is inexpensive to build and maintain.
A coasting-wheel oscillator is an apparatus which converts mechanical energy (or power) from thruster engine into electrical energy (or power). The electric energy is produced during engine on, kickoff mode, and during engine off, coasting mode. The term: “coasting” refers to the inertial motion of the object according to Newton's First Law, when the engine shuts off. The electric part of the invention is based on the principle of production of dynamic induced electromotive force. Basically, whenever a conductor cuts magnetic flux, dynamically induced electromotive force ε (volt) is produced in it according to Faraday's Laws of Electromagnetic Induction:
Where: N is the number of turns of the conductor (coil), Δφ is the magnetic flux in Tesla-m2 and Δt is the time of induced motion. This ε causes a current to flow if the conductor circuit is closed. In the present invention, the conductor and the magnets are allowed to move in the opposite direction, i.e. both are rotors, as shown in
The factor of 2 is inserted in Equation II-2 because both the conductor and magnets move in the opposite direction at the same speed. Further, the electromotive force for when the conductor and the magnet suffer a rotational motion in the opposite direction can be written as
ε=2N BA sin ωt. II.3
Where: A is the projected area of the conductor with the magnetic field B (Tesla).
If comparison is made between the present invention and a typical electric generator or alternator, the features of the present invention, without the considerations of the harmonic motion of the coasting-wheel are:
The mechanical energy is generated by rocket engines (convergence-divergence duct) placed on wings with opposite arrangement; as a result a rotational thrust is produced. The mechanical (rotational) kinetic energy generated by the engine is transferred through a shaft to the coasting wheel which is located in a separate compartment. Two coasting wheels are used in this invention, one carries the conductor (the coil) and the other carries the permanent magnets, both are revolving in the opposite direction. The coasting wheel is supported by radial rolling balls (which acts as a radial bearing) and axial rolling ball attached to helical spring.
When the coasting wheel is in stationary mode,
When the coasting wheel is in rotation,
When an object maintains a periodic motion after kickoff energy, the motion is said to be in harmonic state at which the initial conditions force and energy are restored for a constant period. Therefore, in circular motion, inertia and harmonic lead to the same conclusion. Thus the coasting wheel can be considered in a harmonic motion for a period of time when the engine shuts off because of inertia.
In an ideal oscillator, the harmonic motion can be sustained for a longer time (infinity), however because of resistive force originated from air resistance, friction and material stress, the harmonic motion is damped, that is; the amplitude (energy) becomes smaller than the initial amplitude. The initial velocity v of the coasting-wheel is
Where E is the input energy and m is the mass of the wheel and its attachments. In order to increase the rotational speed one can increase the input energy or reduce the mass of the system. It is must be noted that we concern about the speed of the coasting wheel and not the kinetic energy of the coasting wheel.
In general words, simple harmonic motion is the motion of an object or system that is subject to a restoring force or energy for a given constant time or frequency. If we consider a wheel of r dimension and m mass rotates about its axis as a result of kickoff energy or force,
Here m is the mass of the rotating object or system and v is the rotational velocity, and r is the half diameter. In a rotation system, the velocity v is defined as the angular velocity and it is equal to co r, ω is the angular frequency in radian per second (ω is equal to 2 π/T, T is the period of the motion) and r is the orbital radius of the rotating object in meters. Then Equation II-1.1 becomes
F
c
=mω
2
r. II-1.2
Second, the centrifugal force (away from center) Fg, according to Newton's second law, it is equal to
The second order derivative term is the radial acceleration. The motion of the wheel is balanced for when both forces are equal:
The minus sign in the above equation is to indicate that both forces are in the reverse direction. Rearrange Equation II-1.4, it becomes
Equation II-1.5 is a two-order linear differential equation represents a simple harmonic oscillator without damping.
The description of simple harmonic motion assumes that the only forces acting on the system being described result in a restoring force that is proportional to the initial energy. When that is true, of course, the resulting motion is purely sinusoidal with constant amplitude—that is, the oscillator will continue to oscillate forever with undiminished energy. None of that can be correct, of course, because there will always be either some damping of the oscillation due to either imposed or inadvertent resistive forces such as air resistance, friction, material internal stress, environmental factors such as heat, etc. Therefore the real oscillation of harmonic motion is subject to damping because of the resistive force Fr which can be envisioned acting on the side of the centrifugal force. In most literatures, the resistive force is written as
F
r
=−bv. II-1.6
Where: b is a damping coefficient and v is the velocity in the radial direction it can be written as dr/dt. Therefore, Equation II-1.4 can be written as, for damping harmonic oscillator:
After arrangement, yields
Equation II-1.8 is a homogeneous second-order linear differential equation represents a simple harmonic oscillator rotational motion. It has a solution of
r(t)=Ce−(b/2m)t cos(ωt). II-1.9
Where: C is a constant.
In circular motion, present case, the harmonic oscillation is determined from the displacement incremental distance Δr as shown in Figure. For small angle;
Δr=rθ. II-1.10
Where: θ is in radian and it can be expressed θ=ωΔt, where co is a constant (2π/T), T is the period of the motion. Then Equation II-1.9 becomes
Δv(t)=C′e−(b/2m)t cos(ωt). II-1.11
Where: Δv=Δr/Δt, and C′=C ω (amplitude of the velocity increment). The time dependence of the amplitude is given by the decreasing exponential function—with the argument of the exponential given by b/2m. That implies that the larger the damping coefficient b in the damping force, the more quickly the oscillations diminish and the larger the mass, the less quickly the oscillations die out. However, for the latter case a tradeoff must be made since at the same time we need to keep the mass as low because of Equation II.4.
Illustration of the real simple harmonic oscillation with damping is shown in
C(t)=C0e−(b/2m)t. II-1.12
Therefore the electromotive force ε during the coasting period (From Equations II.3 and II-1.12):
ε(t)=2N BA sin ωt e−(b/2m)t II-1.13
So, the beneficiary of operating the present electric generator in the coasting mode is obviously seen from Equation II-1.13. Such energy cannot be available by conventional electric generators. However, one more factor needs to be reduced or eliminated in order to keep the damped oscillation as long as possible and this is the reversed build-up magnetic force. Because all conductors exhibit an effective diamagnetism when they experience a changing in magnetic field an eddy current is induced. The eddy currents then produce an induced magnetic field opposite the applied field, resisting the conductor's motion.
However, dozens of technologies are currently applied in order to reduce the eddy currents in the metal armature. The most common is by letting the conductor wires to be wrapped around a number of thin metal sheets called laminations. Each lamination is insulated from the adjacent plates. The laminations disrupt any induced eddy currents, and consequently reduce the reverse build-up magnetic force.
Each coasting wheel (two) is driven through a shaft which is mechanically propelled via two thrusters (engine), shown converging-diverging nozzle. Each thruster is fixed in an air-foil wing which is fixed in rotary cylinder. Each rotary cylinder uses two wings and each wing is propelled by a thruster which is placed in the reverse direction of the second thruster. The wing is oriented such that the leading edge of the air foil indicates to the direction of motion. The thruster may propelled by a liquid or gaseous propellant (compressed gas or fuel and oxidizer or singular fuel).
Liquid propellant engines use liquid propellants that are fed under pressure from tanks into a thrust chamber. The liquid bipropellant consists of a liquid oxidizer (e.g., liquid oxygen) and a liquid fuel (e.g., kerosene). A monopropellant is a single liquid that contains both oxidizing and fuel species; it decomposes into hot gas when properly catalyzed (e.g., hydrogen peroxide H2O2). In both cases, in the thrust chamber the propellants react to form hot gases, which in turn are accelerated and ejected at a high velocity through a supersonic nozzle.
Gaseous propellant engines are classified as cold engines and hot engines. The cold engines use a stored high-pressure gas, such as air, nitrogen, or helium, as their working fluid or propellant. The high pressure-gas is fed to the system as shown before. Monopropellant and bipropellant can be applied here. The hot engines use one of the types of the liquid propellant in gaseous phase, and the high pressure gas is fed to the system from high pressure vessels.
The propellants expands or burn in the thrusters, converging-diverging nozzle and its internal energy is converted into kinetic energy and the thrust is produced by the gas pressure on the surfaces exposed to the gas. As the mass is ejected from the thruster at high speeds in the exhaust flow, thrust is produced in the opposite direction according to Newton's third law. Thrust is also produced by any difference between the exhaust pressure and the ambient pressure. In a converging-diverging nozzle a large fraction of the thermal energy of the gases in the chamber is converted into kinetic energy, under the assumption of the isentropic expansion of the flow in the duct, the thrust can be found
F
Th
={dot over (m)}v
e+(Pe−Pa)Ae. II-2.1
Where FTh is the thrust in N, {dot over (m)} is the mass flow rate in kg/s, ve is the exist velocity in m/s, Pe is the exit pressure in Pascal, Pa is the ambient pressure in Pascal, and Ae is the exit area of the duct in m2 as shown in
Each thruster induces a moment of force on the shaft of the rotary cylinder holding the coasting wheel, i.e. torque τ according to the relation in scalar product (
τ=d·F·sin α. II-2.2
Where: d is the arm (distance) of the thrust force acting on the center of the shaft and α is the angle of which the force makes with the arm. Because the thruster is placed on the tangent of the circle (rotary cylinder) the exit gas, consequently the thruster, makes 90 degrees. Hence Equation II-2.2 becomes
τ=d·F. II-2.3
For when d is in meters and F in Newton, the moment of force is in joules (N·m). Because of each wheel is propelled by two thrusters therefore each coasting wheel is driven by two forces acting on the opposite direction but at different points of action, then the total moment of force τt is equal to
τt=2d·F. II-2.4
Then from Equation II-2.1, the total moment of force is equal to
τt=2d({dot over (m)}ve+(Pe−Pa)Ae). II-2.5
The total moment of force is the kinetic energy which propels the coasting wheel. Hence the velocity of the coasting wheel is
Therefore to achieve a higher velocity of coasting wheel, one can increase the mass flow rate, or the exit velocity, or the exit pressure, or the exit area. The mass of the coasting-wheel system can be kept high in order to allow a longer time of damping oscillation, but as mentioned they will be a compromise between designing a heavier wheel to achieve a longer oscillation time and a lighter wheel to achieve a high rotational velocity and thus a high electric energy.
