Magneto-Electric Propulsion System

Abstract

A system for propelling craft which is applicable in any environment. It employs alternating electric fields supplied by a multi-layer capacitor to create an alternating magnetic field. A coil is situated so that the magnetic field interacts with the current elements in the coil. The capacitor is charged and discharged in synchronization with the alternating current in the coil. The changing electric fields in the capacitor create a magnetic field that applies a force to the current elements in the coil which is then transferred to the body of the device. Any reactive force from the magnetic field of the coil is negated since the gaps in the capacitor have no current elements with which the magnetic field of the coil can interact. Therefore the device is propelled in a single direction.

Claims

1. A propulsion system comprising: c. a stacked or multi-layer capacitor, d. a means to charge and discharge said capacitor, and a. a coil wrapped around said capacitor such that the wires of said coil are perpendicular to the plates in said capacitor, b. a means to drive an alternating current through said coil, e. a means to synchronize the charging of said capacitor with the alternating current in said coil so that they are at the same frequency and that, when said capacitor is fully charged the current through said coil is substantially zero, whereby the force on the current elements of said coil generated by the magnetic field arising from the change in the electric fields of said capacitor results in a net force which is always in the same direction and said system is propelled in a single direction.

2. The propulsion system of claim 1 wherein said capacitor and said coil are electrically connected in series to provide means to synchronize the variation of charge in said capacitor and alternating current of said coil.

3. The propulsion system of claim 2 wherein means are provided to drive said alternating current at the resonant frequency based on the capacitance of said capacitor and inductance of said coil.

4. The propulsion system of claim 1 wherein said capacitor has a dielectric made from a non-conductive ferromagnetic material.

Description

DRAWINGS

[0003] FIG. 1 is the illustrative embodiment of a typical magneto-electric propulsion system.

[0004] FIG. 2 is the diagram of a possible circuit that could be used to power the magneto-electric propulsion system.

DESCRIPTION OF THE ILLUSTRATIVE EMBODIMENT

[0005] This embodiment (FIG. 1) is composed of a stacked (multi-layer) capacitor 5 and a coil 4 wrapped around the capacitor. The dielectric 3 in the capacitor can be a non-conductive ferromagnetic material which enhances the output of the device. The coil is aligned so that the wires are perpendicular to the plates. This gives two planes in which the coil can be wound. One would typically want to wrap the coil along the longer side (as shown in FIG. 1) so that it is more effective in magnetizing the ferromagnetic material. There is an insulating buffer 2 used to keep the coil from being too close to the capacitor, so that the current distribution in the capacitor is not disturbed from its normal flow. This insulating buffer can also be a non-conductive ferromagnetic material.

[0006] In this embodiment the coil is connected in series with the capacitor. This enforces the synchronization of the magnetic field generated by the capacitor with the current in the coil. An alternating current drives the device. While any frequency of alternating current would drive the device, it is most efficient to drive the coils and capacitors at their resonant frequency.

[0007] FIG. 2 represents a possible driving circuit for the magneto-electric propulsion system. The dotted square 6 encloses the electrical schematic of the components contained in the propulsion system as illustrated in FIG. 1. The coil 4 and ferromagnetic material 3 (displayed as the inductor 4 in FIG. 2) are connected in series to the capacitor 5 of FIG. 1. This is accomplished by attaching the leads from the coil to the appropriate conductive surface on the plates of the capacitor (these connections not illustrated in FIG. 1).

[0008] Notice that the circuit starts with an alternating voltage source where a transformer A is used to link and also increase the voltage for the AB class amplifier at which point the current is amplified. The transformer B can be used to further amplify the current (provided the resistance in the coil and capacitor of the device is low)

[0009] The inductor and capacitor arrangement in the magneto-electric propulsion system creates an LC or tank circuit and the initial alternating voltage is tuned to the resonant frequency of the LC circuit. Any wave shape of alternating current would suffice for the propulsion system to succeed. However, this particular driving circuit produces a sinusoidal varying current. This is substantially the simplest circuit that provides the means for synchronizing the alternating current and driving it at resonance. This is used as illustration and there is a wide variety of possible circuits that could be designed to drive the propulsion system.

[0010] Looking at FIG. 1, the changing electric fields in the capacitor 5 create a magnetic field that applies a force to the current elements, both free (the coil 4) and bound (ferromagnetic material 3) created by the coil 4 which is then transferred to the body of the device. When the charge on the capacitor reverses, the current of coil 4 reverses at the same time, thus the net force is always in the same direction.

[0011] There is one additional detail. The fluctuating magnetic field of the coil creates a force on the charge on the end plate of each side of the capacitor. This force is in the opposite direction of the magnetic force on the coil. This force is of comparable strength, but is diminished as the number of plates in the capacitor is increased. Ultimately the length of the capacitor perpendicular to the direction of the plates must exceed the width of the end plate (the direction of the width being along the direction of the coil wires at that point) in order to overcome this counter force.

[0012] While an illustrative embodiment has been displayed and described, various modifications and substitutions may be made thereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Accordingly, it is to be understood that the present invention has been described by way of illustration and not limitation