SUPERAAACHARGE

Abstract

The vehicle based electromechanical process and apparatus providing for the generation of electrical energy from many vehicles, and for its intermediate storage into a cluster of storage batteries that are onboard each vehicle and finally for multiple events for each vehicle of the transfer of the stored energy to the nation's electrical grid. It is the integrated utilization of three components: generation, storage and grid collection. The rationale is that in the U.S., billions of transportation miles are routinely logged each day by more than a quarter billion vehicles and trains, presenting the potential to produce large amounts of electricity, and with the production of electricity, many major related benefits, and some of them ecological. Simply stated, the energy that will be used anyway in the operation of vehicles, will also be used indirectly to create large quantities of electrical energy directed into the nation's electrical grid.

Claims

1. The invention is the vehicle based electromechanical process and supporting apparatus providing for the generation of electrical energy from many vehicles, and for its intermediate storage into a cluster of storage batteries that are onboard each vehicle and finally for multiple events for each vehicle of the transfer of the stored energy to the nation's electrical grid. It is the integrated utilization of three components: generation, storage and grid collection. The rationale is that in the U.S., billions of transportation miles are routinely logged each day by more than a quarter billion vehicles and trains, presenting the potential to produce large amounts of electricity, and with the production of electricity, many major related benefits, and some of them ecological. Simply stated, the energy that will be used anyway in the operation of vehicles, will also be used indirectly to create large quantities of electrical energy directed into the nation's electrical grid.

2. Claim 1 has the potential to produce electrical energy daily in quantities that will approach or surpass 20 percent of the current daily electrical energy produced in the United States.

3. Implementation of claim 1, financed by government subsidies, will provide the means for vehicle owners, with meager monetary resources at their disposals, to receive a considerable amount of monetary income from electrical energy production, while at the same time, repaying the government subsidies.

4. Claim 1 will result in the reduction in the use of coal, natural gas or other fuel sources that would have been used in producing similar quantities of electrical energy.

5. Claim 4 will result in a reduction in CO2 emitted into the environment.

6. Claim 4 will result in a reduction in other greenhouse gases emitted into the environment.

7. Full utilization of claim 1 will result in job creation in large numbers and in many work skill areas including: Manufacture, distribution, installation and maintenance of battery clusters Manufacture, distribution, installation and maintenance of alternators Design, development, coding and installation and maintenance of computerized onboard accounting modules Manufacture, installation and maintenance of HRWPT transmitters and receivers Manufacture, installation and maintenance of boom antennas Installation of Hard wired connections to the power grid Advertising and promotion of this invention

8. The first component of claim 1 is the energy generation component, which consists of one or more additional onboard dedicated alternator(s) which will generate the ampere-hours to be stored. The existing vehicle alternator and battery (if any) will continue to supply energy for all conventional automobile electrical needs while this one or more dedicated alternator(s) will be installed in the host vehicle for exclusive use in generating energy. The host vehicle such as an automobile or train will propel this component to generate electrical energy. The alternators used for claim 1 will employ an automatic clutch that will disengage the alternator when the storage batteries are full and engage the alternators when the storage batteries can accept ampere-hours from the alternators.

9. The second component of claim 1 is the storage component which consists of a cluster of one or more battery cells which will be deployed in an automobile or truck or potentially any moving apparatus such as a railroad train. Each of the cluster battery cells will be wired in parallel with this dedicated host vehicle alternator(s). The storage battery cluster will be used solely for the accumulation of generated electrical energy from claim 8 and for the discharging of it into the electrical power grid and will not be used for any automobile operation needs.

10. As a vendor/supplier for claim 9, the East Penn Manufacturing Company currently manufactures a storage battery, the ULTRABATTERY, which has characteristics that are a close fit to the characteristics required of a storage battery for claim 1 and claim 9. The characteristics include fast charge time, fast discharge time and relatively high energy storage capacity.

11. The third component of claim 1 is the collector component which will deliver stored electrical energy from claim 9 to the electrical energy grid.

12. Claim 11 will be in one of two forms: Hard wired connection or Wireless Highly Resonant Energy Transfer (HRWPT).

13. For claim 9 and with any of the two collector forms of claim 12, all electrical energy will have been stored in the battery cluster as in claim 9 as direct current (DC) but will be converted to alternating current (AC) just prior to transfer from the vehicle to the power grid via claim 12.

14. The first form of claim 12 and claim 13, the hard-wired form will consist of a hard-wired connection from the storage battery cluster to the electrical grid. This method will be employed primarily for the rail vehicle implementation of claim 1 with a hard wire connection from the train rail, utilizing a hot rail, to the energy grid.

15. The second form of claim 12 and claim 13, which will be used primarily for automobiles and trucks, is the Highly Resonant Wireless Power Transfer (HRWPT). HRWPT will provide 90% efficiency in power transfer, meaning that 10% or less of the power being transferred is lost during the transfer process.

16. The WiTricity Company is a representative vendor of HRWPT to be used in claim 15.

17. Claims 15 and 16 involves HRWPT, which consists of a transmitter and a receiver.

18. Claim 17 will have a transmitter onboard the vehicle which will transfer energy from claim 9 to the receiver which is stationary and external to the vehicle. The onboard transmitter will convert the energy stored in claim 9 and claim 13 from DC to AC and the transfer of energy will commence with the magnetic flux and resonant frequency generated by the onboard transmitter.

19. Claim 17 will have an offboard receiver for wireless highly resonant energy transfer that will consist of a long, coiled string of material extended along the roadway, that has the property to conduct electricity. The coiled wire will be installed along the roadway in similar fashion to existing power lines strung from poles and will be elevated above the roadbed to avoid any obstruction and will be hard wired to the power grid. The coiled wire will employ its resonant frequency synchronized to that of claim 18. The synchronized resonant frequency will allow for more efficient transfer of electrical energy from the transmitter to the receiver.

20. Claim 19 will emit a signal that is detected by the onboard vehicle receiver via BLUETOOTH which will indicate that the receiver coil is present and the beginning and ending of the receiver span.

21. Claim 18 will reside at the top of a boom antenna that is automatically deployed from the vehicle so that the distance from the transmitter antenna and the receiver coil is less than 3 meters. The boom antenna will be adjustable for angle and direction, all controlled automatically, in order to provide the proper alignment and distance between the transmitter and the receiver.

22. Claim 17 will be automatically invoked and energy transfer automatically executed when the environment is such that (1) the claim 9 has reached a threshold quantity of energy and (2) a signal from the receiver coil has been detected indicating that a wireless receiver span is present. When the environment is conducive to energy transfer, the energy from the battery cluster is transmitted from the storage batteries through the antenna and a magnetic flux, created by the transmitted energy will in turn induce energy in the receiver coil. The energy transmission will continue as the vehicle proceeds along the roadside until the storage batteries have been discharged, along with the related energy having been induced to the receiver coil and subsequently to the electric energy grid.

23. Currently HRWPT exists in the U.S. with one component consisting of a wired circuit that is imbedded under the road surface and that transmits electrical power from the imbedded circuit to a moving vehicle that is equipped with a receiver that will receive the energy transmitted by the HRWPT from under the roadbed. It is possible that the existing HRWPT circuits may also be employed for claim 1 and claim 15, but in the opposite direction as a receiver and not as a transmitter, with power being transmitted from the moving vehicle to the imbedded circuit and on to the power grid, however the primary method for claim 15 will be from the vehicle to the receiver coil consisting of a long span of a wired circuit, elevated and extended along the roadway, rather than using imbedded roadway circuits, due to Increased installation and maintenance costs for imbedded circuits. The elevated coiled wire span will preferably be placed in the median of any roadway rather than have two strings of wire on both sides of the road. Having the span placed in the median will allow one span of receiver wire to serve in both traffic directions. An additional design option for the coiled wire along the roadway is to have it as a span overhead the traffic and suspended in such a way so all lanes of traffic can transmit power to the electrical grid.

24. An onboard computerized accounting/control function will be a feature of claim 11 to capture all accounting data relevant to the power transfer.

25. Claim 24 will also have the computerized control function of claim 21. This function will be able via BLUETOOTH to detect a signal indicating both the beginning and end of each receiver coil span and deploy claim 21, in order to execute the actual wireless power transfer.

26. Claim 24 will have an onboard computerized accounting function to record all relevant data (quantity of power transmitted in Kilowatt-hours, the prevailing price per KWH of power, vehicle owner information, bank accounting information), for the energy transfer from the collector to the grid. The computerized accounting feature will send the recorded data via BLUTOOTH to a central accounting control or financial bank for subsequent monetary credit to be given to the account of the client that owns the vehicle. The central accounting control will also send information to the electric power company to log the quantity of power that has been transferred to the power grid.

27. The physical aspects of claim 1, which are claim 8, claim 9, claim 18, claim 21 and claim 24, that will reside on the vehicle will be retrofitted into all vehicles that will participate in the energy generation effort.

28. A vehicle for claim 1 will produce energy in increased magnitudes as the class or size of the vehicle increases to be able to host an increased number of claim 8 and claim 9.

29. One cycle will consist of the process of claim 8 completely charging claim 9, followed by the discharge of claim 9 with all discharged power being transferred into the electrical power grid.

30. Claim 14 will be employed for any rail/light rail application of claim 1. The energy transfer will be accomplished by one or more hard wire connections from the rail cars battery clusters to the specific span of rail in the rail bed that has the capability of conducting electricity into the electrical energy grid. Multiple energy transfer claim 29 may take place during one train trip and any energy transfer process will be initiated when the stored energy quantity reaches the maximum for the train battery cluster and when a span of rail that is hard-wired to the power grid is present (hot rail). A signal sent via BLUETOOTH will indicate both the beginning and end of each span of a hot rail. The train may remain in motion during energy transfer. The energy transfer will be accomplished in such a fashion that the rail will conduct electricity from claim 9 into the energy grid. Upon completion of the discharge process where claim 9 has been drained, claim 26 will be employed to record the transfer.

31. For claim 11 or claim 12 the charge/discharge process will take place: a. When there is not a claim 14 or claim 19 present, claim 8 will charge claim 9 until claim 9 is full then when claim 9 is full claim 8 will disengage from the engine propulsion so there is no longer any drag from claim 8 operation. b. When a claim 14 or claim 19 is present the claim 8 will generate and transfer ampere-hours to the power grid via claim 14 or claim 19, and claim 9 will simultaneously discharge and transfer power to the power grid via claim 14 or claim 19 until claim 9 has been completely discharged, and if claim 14 or claim 19 remains present after complete discharge of claim 9, claim 8 will continue to generate and transfer ampere-hours to the power grid via claim 14 or claim 19.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING

[0089] ILLUSTRATION 1CURRENT ELECTRICAL POWER SOURCES

[0090] ILLUSTRATION 2PROJECTED ELECTRICAL POWER SOURCES INCLUDING THIS INVENTION

[0091] ILLUSTRATION 3POUNDS OF CO2 PER KILOWATT-HOUR PRODUCED

OTHER REFERENCES CITED

[0092] WiTricity Corporation (www.witricity.com) Vendor for Highly Resonant Wireless Power Transfer (HRWPT)

[0093] East Penn Manufacturing Company (www.eastpennmanufacturing.com) manufacturer/Vendor for Ultrabattery storage battery