Electromagnetic Regolith Excavator

Abstract

A system for excavation of magnetic regolith having a collection chamber, a transport tube, a power supply, a wiring system, a controller, and a plurality of electromagnetic coils. Embodiments according to the invention allow for the excavator to have an electromagnetic rod and a flexible tubing. Further embodiments of the invention allow for excavation along vertical and horizontal axes and for the electromagnetic coils to be energized simultaneously.

Claims

1. (canceled)

2. (canceled)

3. (canceled)

4. (canceled)

5. (canceled)

6. (canceled)

7. (canceled)

8. (canceled)

9. (canceled)

10. A system comprising: an electromagnetic excavation module; and an electromagnetic coil wiring system attached to a power supply.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein said electromagnetic excavation module comprises a hollow transport tube having at least one opening and a body and a plurality of electromagnetic coils disposed in said hollow transport tube.

12. The system of claim 10 wherein said electromagnetic excavation module comprises a hollow transport tube having at least one opening and a body and a plurality of electromagnetic coils disposed on an exterior surface of said hollow transport tube.

13. The system of claim 10 wherein said electromagnetic coil wiring system comprises: at least one activation wire attached to at least one of the said plurality of electromagnetic coils and at least one individual coil controller; and at least one power wire attached to said power supply and said at least one individual coil controller.

14. The system of claim 13, further comprising: a system manager; and at least one controller wire attached to said system manager and to said at least one individual coil controller.

15. The system of claim 11 wherein said body of said hollow transport tube is flexible.

16. (canceled)

17. (canceled)

18. (canceled)

19. (canceled)

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0022] FIG. 1 is a functional diagram of a simple implementation of the invention: a single, simple tube with a series of independently controlled electromagnets along its length. The callouts are:

[0023] 1. A hollow tube which holds the electromagnets and guides the material being moved.

[0024] 2. A series of electromagnet coils which attract the regolith when energized.

[0025] 3. The wires used to energize the individual electromagnet coils

[0026] 4. The wires supplying current to the coil controllers

[0027] 5. The wires passing control signals enabling/disabling the coil controllers

[0028] 6. The coil controllers which supply current to the attached coil when selected by the computer.

[0029] 7. The power supply for the electromagnetic coils.

[0030] 8. The computer which controls the sequencing and operation of the controllers, and thus the electromagnetic coils.

[0031] FIG. 2 shows a tube with multiple segments and a receiving container.

[0032] 15. A fixed-angle segment connector

[0033] 16. A flexible segment connector

[0034] 17. Arrows depicting the directions of motion provided by the flexible connector 16.

[0035] 18. A container (a tank, canister, bag, or other device) to receive and hold the excavated regolith.

[0036] FIG. 3 shows a variant of the ERE with a flat entry plate 9 to prevent regolith from climbing the exterior of the tube 1.

[0037] FIG. 4 is a bottom view of the ERE of FIG. 3, showing a grating 6 to prevent entry of particles large enough to clog the tube interior 5.

[0038] FIG. 5 shows a variant of the ERE with a constricted entrance 12 to prevent entry of particles large enough to clog the tube 1 interior.

[0039] FIG. 6 shows the bottom view of the ERE of FIG. 5, revealing that no grating is required since the entrance 11 of the constricted tube 12 is significantly smaller than the diameter of the interior of the tube.

[0040] FIG. 7 shows a variant of the ERE with a flared tube entrance 14 and a larger gathering coil 13.

[0041] FIG. 8 is a bottom view of the ERE of FIG. 7, showing that the flared entrance 14 must have a grating 10 to prevent large particles from entering and clogging tube 11.

[0042] FIG. 9 shows a computerized multi-color rendering offering a potential specific example of usage.

[0043] FIG. 10 shows a computerized multi-color rendering offering a potential specific example of usage.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0044] The Electromagnetic Regolith Excavator consists of a transport tube 1 constructed of non-magnetic material, and various configurations of electromagnetic coils 2 at or near the entrance and along the tube. The tube may or may not be flexible, may or may not be straight, and it ultimately dumps the moving material into a collection bag or other container 18 beyond the reach of the last magnet. The spacing of the coils, the strength of their magnetic fields, and the timing and shape of the magnetic waves that attract the regolith and move it along the tube are parameters to be determined by experimentation in a microgravity environment.

[0045] The controller is a software-controlled, possibly camera guided electric sequencer. The sequencer computer 8 individually activates the coil controllers 6 via control wires 5 which, when activated, apply current to the selected coil via wires 3. The coil controllers 6 are powered via a current source power supply 7 using wires 4.

[0046] In normal (excavating) operation, the coil nearest the asteroid will be energized to attract the magnetic content of the adjacent regolith, and just before the first particles reach it, power is switched to the next coil in the path, and so on until the material is allowed to deposit into the regolith collector (not shown). The momentum of the particles is expected to carry the bulk of the non-magnetic material as well. Note that exposed surface magnetic particles may be drawn quickly during initial operation, but subsequent waves will attract deeper particles, and these will necessarily impart momentum to the non-magnetic material that surrounds them.

[0047] To excavate regolith on an asteroid (or other similar body such as the Mars moons Phobos and Deimos), a spacecraft will maneuver one end of the invention adjacent to the regolith surface. The sequencer will energize the coils 2 in sequence to move the magnetic portions of the regolith, and via friction the non-magnetic portions as well, into and through tube 1 until the regolith is deposited into a container 18 at the opposite end.

[0048] Note that the ERE tube may consist of multiple segments (see FIG. 2), which may be curved (not shown) or angled via a fixed connector 15, and which may be articulated via a flexible connector 16 and a mechanism (not shown) to control the movement such that the tube can be moved both vertically (not shown) and about and around (directions of movement 17) the surface of the asteroid to gather regolith from an extended area. In operation, the ERE will behave much like a vacuum cleaner to draw and move large quantities of material (by using magnetic fields instead of air pressure).

[0049] By moving the opening of the ERE vertically instead of horizontally, it will function as a drill through the loose regolith.

[0050] Once the ERE (in drill mode) has penetrated the surface sufficiently, the coils may be simultaneously energized, which will enable the ERE tube to function as an anchor.

[0051] The opening (entrance) to the ERE tube may be implemented as a straight tube as in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, or

[0052] 1. To prevent the entrance of potentially clogging particles, it may have [0053] a. A smaller-diameter opening (FIG. 5 and FIG. 6) such that only particles small enough to freely move through the larger tube can be admitted, or [0054] b. Covered with a grating 10 that prevents the entrance of too-large particles as shown in FIG. 4 and FIG. 8.

[0055] 2. To prevent the movement (and subsequent loss of efficiency) of magnetic material up the outside of the tube, it may be implemented as a: [0056] a. Large-diameter cone 14 (as shown in FIG. 7 and FIG. 8) that extends beyond the normal reach of the first magnetic coil, or [0057] b. A flat plate 9 (as shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4) which extends beyond the effective attraction width of the first coil [0058] c. These larger cones or plates may have additional, larger magnetic coil(s) 13 (as shown in FIG. 7) as the first coil(s) to attract and thus motivate larger volumes of material at one time.

[0059] 3. The magnetic movement of material up the outside of the tube may, however, be advantageous when the invention is used as a drill.

[0060] 4. Reversing the sequence of coil activation and thus directing the particles down the outside of the tube is useful when extracting an ERE tube used as an anchor.

[0061] While the above process describes a single clump of material entering, moving through, and leaving the apparatus, by using suitable minimum spacing between successive energized coils, several clumps may be moved simultaneously, in synchronization or not. Once moving, the regolith may move at a constant average velocity, or may be accelerated to different velocities as needed.

[0062] Clump control (via shaping of magnetic fields) may be used to confine, as much as practical, the extent of the individual clumps and/or their relative position within the tube, which may allow for improved efficiency in mass moved per clump or per unit of time.

[0063] Optical, mechanical, electromagnetic, or radio-frequency (metal detector) methods may be used to sense the movement of a clump, potentially improving the efficiency of material movement, either by allowing higher velocities or more closely spaced successive clumps.