Wound field rotating machine with capacitive power transfer

Abstract

An electrical rotating machine, such as a generator or motor, communicates power from a stationary location to the rotating rotor of the rotating machine via opposed pairs of capacitor plates, one plate of each pair rotating with the rotor and one plate of each pair fixed not to rotate. In one embodiment, separation between the plates of the pair is provided by a cushion of entrapped air.

Claims

1. An electrical rotating machine comprising: a rotor mounted for rotation about an axis and including at least one electrical coil having a coil axis with a vector component perpendicular to the axis, the at least one electrical coil further attached to the rotor for rotation about the axis with the rotor, the electrical coil comprising a conductor having first and second conductor ends; at least one first capacitor plate, attached to rotate with the rotor and electrically communicating with the rotor; and at least one second capacitor plate, mounted to a frame so as not to rotate with the rotor and positioned for capacitive coupling with the first capacitor plate; wherein the first and second capacitor plates are positioned to transfer power between the electrical coil and a stationary conductor at a range of angular positions of the rotor about the axis to provide at least one of an electrical motor receiving power through the capacitor plates to generate a magnetic field interacting with a stator to apply torque to the at least one electrical coil driving the rotor in rotation and an electrical generator generating power in the at least one electrical coil interacting with magnetic field of a stator with rotation of the rotor for transmission through the capacitor plates.

2. The rotating machine of claim 1 further including a third capacitor plate attached to rotate with the rotor and electrically communicating with the rotor and a fourth capacitor plate mounted to a frame so as not to rotate with the rotor and positioned for capacitive coupling with respective first and second capacitor plates wherein the third and fourth capacitor plates are positioned to complete a circuit through the coil and the first and second capacitor plates.

3. The rotating machine of claim 2 wherein the rotor is supported on a shaft extending along the axis and wherein the first and third capacitor plates are conductive cylindrical surfaces coaxial with the shaft and the second and fourth capacitor plates are cylindrical tubes surrounding the cylindrical surfaces.

4. The rotating machine of claim 3 wherein the cylindrical surfaces and cylindrical tubes provide fluid bearing journals and fluid bearing shafts supporting the rotor during rotation on a cushion of an intervening fluid.

5. The rotating machine of claim 4 including a nonconductive dielectric material between the first and third plates and between the second and fourth plates having a greater dielectric constant than air.

6. The rotating machine of claim 2 wherein the first and third capacitor plates are attached to a rotor axle to extend in planes normal to the axis and separated along the axis and wherein the second and fourth are attached to the frame to extend in planes normal to the axis and separated along the axis, and wherein at least two of the first, second, third, and fourth plates may flex axially in response to forces of a fluid captured between the first and second capacitor plates and the third and fourth capacitor plates.

7. The rotating machine of claim 2 wherein at least two of the first, second, third, and fourth plates include a flexing portion being a portion of the capacitor plates proximate to at least one of the frame or rotor axle.

8. The rotating machine of claim 2 including a nonconductive dielectric material between the first and third plates and between the second and fourth plates having a greater dielectric constant than air.

9. The rotating machine of claim 2 further including a solid-state power converter substantially fixed with respect to the frame so as not to rotate with the rotor and communicating with the second and fourth capacitor plates to provide alternating current power to at least one electrical coil synthesized from a DC source.

10. The rotating machine of claim 9 wherein the power converter provides for regulation of output current to the second and fourth capacitor plates to a predetermined value.

11. The rotating machine of claim 9 further including an inductance in series with at least one of the capacitor plates wherein the power converter tracks a resonant frequency of a series resonant circuit, including at least the inductance, and a series combination of a capacitance formed between the first and second capacitive plate, and between the third and fourth capacitive plate, and wherein the power converter adjusts the alternating current power to match a frequency of the resonant frequency.

12. The rotating machine of claim 2 further including a capacitance monitor measuring a capacitance between at least one of the first, second, third, and fourth plates to provide an output signal indicating velocity of the rotor.

13. The rotating machine of claim 2 further including a rotor speed sensor and a field current control changing an electrical signal providing a magnetic field in the rotating machine as a function of rotor speed from the rotor speed sensor.

14. The rotating machine of claim 2 further including a capacitance monitor measuring a capacitance between at least one of the first, second, third, and fourth plates to provide an output signal indicating a position of the rotor.

15. The rotating machine of claim 2 further including a fifth capacitor plate attached to rotate with the rotor and electrically communicating with the rotor and a sixth capacitor plate mounted to a frame so as not to rotate with the rotor and positioned for capacitive coupling with respective first and second capacitor plates wherein the third and fourth capacitor plates are positioned to complete a circuit through the coil and the first and second capacitor plates and the third and fourth capacitor plates when multiphase power is applied to the first, third, and fifth capacitor plates.

16. The rotating machine of claim 1 further including a power converter substantially fixed with respect to the frame so as not to rotate with the rotor and communicating with the second and fourth capacitor plates to provide alternating current power to at least one electrical coil having a frequency in excess of 50 kHz.

17. A method of operating a wound field electrical rotating machine having a rotor mounted for rotation about an axis and including at least one electrical coil having a coil axis with a vector component perpendicular to the axis, the electrical coil further attached to the rotor for rotation about the axis with the rotor, the electrical coil comprising a conductor having first and second conductor ends electrically communicating with a first and second capacitor plate attached to rotate with the rotor, and having a third and fourth capacitor plate mounted to a frame so as not to rotate with the rotor and positioned for capacitive coupling with a respective first and second capacitor plate, the method comprising the step of: applying an alternating voltage across the third and fourth capacitor plate to induce current flow in the electrical coil to cause continuous rotation of the rotor by capacitive coupling between the first and third and between the second and fourth capacitor plates over a range of angular positions of the rotor about the axis, the continuous rotation caused by interaction of a magnetic field generated by the electrical coil generated across the rotational axis and interacting with a stationary stator.

18. An electrical machine comprising: a motor providing an electrical coil having a conductor with first and second conductor ends; at least one electrical rectifier in series with the electrical coil; a power supply providing alternating current electrical power with a frequency in excess of 50 kilohertz between a first and second terminal; a first and second bearing supporting the electrical coil and providing a conductive outer bearing element electrically insulated from a conductive shaft by solid insulating material to provide a capacitive coupling between the conductive outer bearing element and the conductive shaft; first wiring providing an electrical path from a first terminal of the power supply through the capacitive coupling of the first bearing and the at least one electrical rectifier to a first terminal of the electrical coil; second wiring providing an electrical path from the second terminal of the electrical coil through the capacitive coupling of the second bearing to the second terminal of the power supply; and whereby electrical power may be provided to the electrical coil of the wound field motor through the capacitive coupling of the first and second bearings.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

(1) FIG. 1 is a simplified representation of the wound-field electrical motor according to the present invention providing a wound field rotor coil attached via two capacitive coupling units with drive electronics for providing high-frequency AC power through the capacitive coupling units to the coil of the rotor;

(2) FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram of the motor and drive electronics of FIG. 1, the drive electronics including a switching circuit and switch signal generator connected to a capacitance monitor for providing position and velocity signals;

(3) FIG. 3 is a cross-section of one capacitive coupling unit of FIG. 1 taken along line 3-3 of FIG. 1 showing relative axial movement and spring biasing of one plate supported with a first gap on a cushion of air generated by the other plate and showing a dielectric layer attached to the movable plate;

(4) FIG. 4 is a figure similar to that of FIG. 3 in which a dielectric layer is placed on the axially movable plate and showing a second gap larger than the first gap caused by greater relative velocity between the plates;

(5) FIG. 5 is a figure similar to that of FIGS. 3 and 4 showing contact of the plates at start up of the motor before the cushion of air is developed, at which time the plates are insulated from each other by the dielectric layer;

(6) FIG. 6 is a cross-section taken along line 6-6 of FIG. 1 showing side ribs formed in the movable plate to provide for stiffness and light weight;

(7) FIG. 7 is a plot of capacitance of the capacitive couplers and frequency of the AC power used for computing motor velocity;

(8) FIG. 8 is a top plan view of one capacitive coupling unit incorporating a capacitance-altering feature to provide a capacitance signal indicating rotor position shown in an associated graph;

(9) FIG. 9 is an embodiment providing two capacitive coupling units with a single planar disk;

(10) FIGS. 10a and 10b are figures showing alternative configuration of the capacitive coupling units operating on an outer cylindrical surface of rotor mounted capacitor plates;

(11) FIG. 11 is a fragmentary perspective view of an air bearing providing capacitive coupling units operating on an inner cylindrical surface of a frame mounted capacitor plate;

(12) FIGS. 12 and 13 are cross-sectional figures taken along line 12-12 of FIG. 11 showing the capacitive coupling unit when the motor is at rest and during rotation;

(13) FIG. 14 is a figure similar to FIG. 1 showing a field-wound electrical generator according to of the present invention; and

(14) FIG. 15 a figure similar to FIG. 5 showing a multiphase version of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

(15) Referring now to FIG. 1, a wound field synchronous machine 10 configured as a motor may include stationary stator windings 12 opposed across a motor axis 14 and generating a magnetic field crossing the motor axis 14.

(16) A rotor 17 is positioned between the stator windings 12, may provide rotor coil 16 (only the rotor coil 16 shown for clarity) wound about an axis generally perpendicular to the axis 14. For clarity, only a single loop of the rotor coil 16 is shown however it will be understood that typically the rotor coil will comprise many turns of a conductor such as copper wire formed in one or more loops. Generally the rotor coil 16 will be supported on additional structure of the rotor 17 which may be either non-ferromagnetic or ferromagnetic to concentrate the magnetic flux generated by the rotor coil 16.

(17) The rotor 17 may turn about the axis 14 as attached to a shaft 18, the latter supported for rotation about axis 14 on bearings (not shown), the latter held in a motor housing 19. Electric current through the rotor coil 16 will generate a magnetic field according to principles well known in the art, the magnetic field directed generally perpendicularly to the motor axis 14 and rotating with rotation of the rotor coil 16.

(18) As is generally understood in the art, the stator windings 12 may be energized by a stator winding control unit 20 which controllably switches the direction of the field extending between stator windings 12 to promote an angular torque on the rotor coil 16 causing rotation of the rotor 17 and the shaft 18. The switching of current through the stator windings 12 to this torque may be done open loop without knowledge of the state of the rotor 17, or by means of position or velocity feedback in which the state of the rotor 17 is monitored as a feedback signal using a position or velocity sensor of conventional design (not shown) or a position sensing technique of the present invention to be described below.

(19) The conductors of the rotor coil 16 may attach to a rectifier assembly 22 which provides a direct current to the rotor coil 16 from AC current lines 24a and 24b providing inputs to the rectifier assembly 22. The rectifier assembly 22 may be, for example, a full-wave rectifier employing solid-state diodes of conventional design and may be mounted to rotate with the rotor coil 16 on the shaft 18.

(20) Each of AC current lines 24a and 24b may in turn connect to one of two capacitive coupling units 25. The capacitive coupling units 25 each have a capacitive plate pair including a rotating plate 26 and the stationary plate 28. In this embodiment, two rotating plates 26a and 26b are used, one for each capacitive coupling unit 25, and comprise a conductive disk mounted at its center on the shaft 18 to extend perpendicularly therefrom so that it may rotate about the axis 14 with the rotor 17 in a plane perpendicular to the axis 14. The rotating plates 26a and 26b are individually attached to different ones of the AC current line 24a and 24b.

(21) The non-rotating plates 28a and 28b of each capacitive coupling unit 25 may be, in this embodiment, flexible conductive strips having a cantilevered plate portion 61 extending over a broad surface of respective rotating plates 26a and 26b along a tangent to the axis 14. The non-rotating plates 28a and 28b are closely spaced to the respective rotating plates 26a and 26b across a narrow gap to provide an electrical capacitance therebetween.

(22) The non-rotating plates 28 are attached in turn to drive electronics 30 providing AC power to the non-rotating plates 28 which may then be capacitively coupled to the rotating plates 26a and 26b, rectified by the rectifier assembly 22, and provided as a DC current to the rotor coil 16. Generally, as will be described in more detail below, the drive electronics 30 may include a solid-state frequency synthesizer 32 for generating the AC signals 34 from a DC source at a controllable frequency. The drive electronics 30 may be associated with monitoring circuitry 36 which may monitor the drive electronics 30 and/or the AC signal 34 to deduce motor parameters such as velocity and rotor position, as will be described below.

(23) Referring now to FIG. 2, the frequency synthesizer 32 may comprise a standard H-bridge array of transistors 44 receiving a source of DC power 40 filtered by filter capacitor 42 and operating to switch the polarity of application of the DC power to an output providing the AC signals 34. Other synthesizing circuits known in the art may also be used including half bridges, push-pull stages, etc. In one embodiment, as will be described in more detail below, the switching transistors 44 are operated in a pulse width modulated fashion (with the transistors on or off) to produce a pulsed voltage output of variable duty cycle, typically at a frequency in excess of 50 kHz or preferably in excess of 100 kHz and possibly in the megahertz range. Standard antiparallel diodes are provided for each transistor 44. It will be understood that the shown MOSFET transistors may be replaced with other solid state devices such as IGBTs and the like.

(24) The gates of the switching transistors 44 are controlled by a switch logic circuit 46 as will be discussed below which may optionally receive a current signal 48 monitoring the current of the AC signals 34 and a voltage signal 50 monitoring the voltage of the AC signal 34. It will be understood the current sensing and voltage monitoring could be performed at a variety of other locations. For example, the current sensing could occur at the DC bus (in series with one of the lines spanned by capacitor 42) and the voltage sensing may not be required in certain circumstances or may be inferred from knowledge of the voltage of the DC bus and the switching pattern of the transistors 44.

(25) Referring still to FIG. 2, electrical power from the AC signal 34 will be transferred through the capacitive coupling units 25 to the rotor 17 to be received by the rectifier assembly 22 and from the rectifier assembly 22 to the rotor coil 16 electrically represented by a coil inductance 16 and coil resistance 16. The rectifier assembly 22 may consist of four solid-state semiconductor diodes arranged in a full wave rectifier configuration as is generally understood in the art to convert the high frequency AC signal 34 to a DC voltage applied across the rotor coil 16. It will be appreciated that other rectifier configurations may also be used including a halfway rectifier voltage doubler, current doubler or voltage multiplier (Cockroft-Walton circuit).

(26) In one embodiment, an inductor 47 may be placed in series with the capacitive coupling units 25 between the frequency synthesizer 32 through one capacitive coupling unit 25 through the rotor coil 16 and back through the other capacitive coupling unit 25. This inductor 47, in series with the series capacitances of the capacitive coupling units 25 (formed by the capacitance between non-rotating plates 28 and respective rotating plates 26) and possible residual impedance of the rotor coil 16, presents a series resonance at which the impedance to current flow through the rotor coil 16 is minimized. The frequency of the frequency synthesizer 32 is accordingly set to this series resonance frequency in order to maximize energy transfer to the rotor coil 16 from the low output impedance frequency synthesizer 32.

(27) In setting the frequency of the AC signal 34 to the series resonant frequency, the switch logic circuit 46 may vary the output frequency of the frequency synthesizer 32 to compensate for slight changes in the series resonant frequency, for example because of changes in the capacitance of the capacitive coupling units 25 with motor speed (as will be discussed below) and/or changes in other elements with temperature or time or as a function of manufacturing tolerance. This tracking may be done in a variety of ways, for example by tracking changes in the phase of the current with respect to the voltage of the AC signal 34 derived voltage signal 50 and current signal 48. In one embodiment, however, this tracking is provided, automatically by precise soft switching of the transistors 44 at zero current points in the waveform of the AC signal 34 such as will tend to drive frequency of the frequency synthesizer 32 according to the natural resonance of inductor 47 and rotor 17. The switch logic circuit 46 may also control the duty cycle of the AC signal 34 to provide a substantial constant current flow to the stator coil 16 related to a desired control point.

(28) Referring now to FIG. 3, in one embodiment, the non-rotating plates 28 are attached to the housing 19 at proximal end 54 but include a flexing portion 58 or a hinge or other pivot point types known in the art allowing axial motion 60 (generally along axis 14) of a distal plate portion 61. This distal plate portion 61 will be generally parallel to a corresponding surface of the rotating plates 26a and 26b spaced from that surface along axis 14 by a gap 62 which defines the capacitor plate separation. Movement of the distal plate portion 61 thus may change the gap 62.

(29) Rotary motion 64 of a rotating plate 26 beneath the non-rotating plate 28 draws air 66 into the gap 62 compressing that air to provide an air bearing between the rotating plates 26a and 26b and non-rotating plate 28. In this way, the non-rotating plate 28 may float on a thin film of air against a bias force 68 applied to the non-rotating plate 28, for example, by the natural elasticity of the strip of the non-rotating plate 28 or by a separate spring or the like. The bias force 68 may be adjusted to control the stiffness of the positioning of the non-rotating plate 28 for the purpose of stability and the like as well as to control the absolute separation.

(30) An upper surface of the rotating plate 26 opposite the non-rotating plates 28 may be coated with a dielectric layer 70 such as Teflon or other material that may provide for insulation between the non-rotating plate 28 and the rotating plates 26a and 26b when the non-rotating plate 28 is no longer supported by the layer of air 66, for example, as shown in FIG. 3. Ideally, the dielectric layer 70 will have a breakdown voltage sufficient to prevent electrical direct current flow between plate 28 and rotating plates 26a and 26b when there is zero air gap 62 and will provide some abrasion resistance. The dielectric layer 70 also increases the capacitance for a given gap 62.

(31) In some embodiments, a zero air gap is also permissible at zero rotor speed, even without a dielectric layer. In this case variable frequency ac or even dc may be supplied, which is then directly conducted onto the rotor.

(32) Referring now to FIG. 4, in an alternative configuration the dielectric layer 70 may be attached to the under surface of the non-rotating plate 28. This configuration shows a greater separation between non-rotating plate 28 and rotating plates 26 as may occur as the velocity of rotating plates 26 increases.

(33) Referring now to FIG. 6, in one embodiment the non-rotating plate 28 may have ribs 72, for example, formed as wings on either side of the non-rotating plate 28 to provide for greater stiffness and prevent undesirable longitudinal vibrations in the non-rotating plate 28.

(34) Referring now to FIG. 7, the relationship between the speed of rotating plates 26 and the gap 62 between the rotating plates 26 and non-rotating plate 28 (shown, for example, in FIGS. 3 and 4) affects the capacitance between each non-rotating plate 28 and rotating plates 26 and thus the series resonant frequency of the inductor 47 and capacitive couplings units 25 discussed above. At low velocities, non-rotating plate 28 and rotating plates 26a and 26b are closer together forming a higher capacitance 80 whereas at high velocities, the separation of the rotating plates 26 and non-rotating plates 28 increases forming lower capacitances 82. Per the description of the frequency synthesizer 32 above, higher capacitances 80 will also result in a lower frequency of the AC signal 34 where is lower capacitance 82 will result in a higher frequency of the AC signal 34 allowing capacitance to be deduced from drive frequency. In this way, monitoring the capacitance directly or via the frequency of the AC signal 34, by rotor position and velocity circuit 52, may determine the velocity of the rotor 17. Rotor position and velocity circuit 52 may produce an output signal 86 indicating this velocity.

(35) Referring now to FIG. 8, optionally, a sector 88 of the surface of the rotating plates 26a and 26b opposite the non-rotating plate 28 may be treated, for example by removal of conductive material in the sector 88 or change in the dielectric material of the sector 88, to produce a perturbations 92 in capacitance value 90 monitored by the rotor position and velocity circuit 52. These perturbations 92 in capacitance value will occur at regular periods which will be a function of the rotating speed of the rotor 17. The magnitude of may thus be used to reveal the velocity of the rotor 17 but may also reveal absolute position of the rotor 17 at the times of perturbations 92. This position information may be output from rotor position and velocity circuit 52 as output signal 94.

(36) Referring again to FIG. 1, output signal 86 of velocity and output signal 94 of position may be provided to the stator winding control circuit 20 to change the stator field based on speed or position of the rotor 17 according to methods well understood in the art, for example to provide power factor control. Alternatively, or in addition the same signals may be provided to the frequency synthesizer 32 to control the current supplied to the rotor 17 and hence the field of the rotor coil 16. In either of these cases amplitude and/or phase or current may be adjusted as a function of position or velocity.

(37) Referring now to FIG. 9, in an alternative embodiment, a single rotating plate 26 may provide the rotating plate 26 two non-rotating plates 28a and 28b of two capacitive coupling units 25. This configuration may allow for more compact construction and employs two electrically isolated conductive rings 100, 102 concentric about the axis 14 for example separated electrically by an insulating portion 104. For example the conductive rings 100, 102 may be conductive layers on an insulating disk-shaped substrate. In addition, annular sector shaped non-rotating plates 28a and 29b allow for increased capacitive coupling area.

(38) Referring now to FIGS. 10a and 10b, it will be appreciated that the geometry of the capacitive couplings may be implemented in a hoop form in which the function of the rotating plates 26a and 26b is implemented by an outer cylindrical surface of a cylindrical tube 110 attached concentrically to the shaft 18 where the plate portion 61 of the non-rotating plate 28 is given an arcuate form to conform generally with the outer periphery of the cylindrical tube 110 to move radially toward and away from axis 14 as indicated by arrow 112.

(39) Referring now to FIGS. 11, 12 and 13, in an alternative embodiment, rotating plates 26a and 26b may be implemented as a cylindrical bearing element axially aligned with and attached to shaft 18. An outer circumferential surface of the cylindrical bearing element may in turn be surrounded by an inner cylindrical surface of a journal element providing non-rotating plates 28. The outer diameter of the rotating plates 26 may be close to the inner diameter of non-rotating plates 28 so that air 66 between the two provide for an air bearing action suspending the bearing element of the rotating plate 26 on a cushion of air 66 within the journal element of the non-rotating plate 28 during rotary motion 114 of the shaft 18. As before, a dielectric layer 70 may be applied to the outer surface of the rotating plates 26a and 26b (as shown) or the inner surface of the stator capacitive rotating plates 26 to accommodate contact between the two when there is no rotation.

(40) Referring now to FIG. 12, it will be appreciated that the above-described principles may also be used with respect to a wound field synchronous machine 10 configured as generator 120 in which a magnetic field is established on a rotor coil 16 through a rectifier assembly 22 which receives an AC signal 34 through capacitive coupling units 25 from drive electronics 30. In this case, the stator windings 12 may be attached to drive a load 122.

(41) It will further be appreciated that multiple pairs of non-rotating plates 28 and rotating plates 26 may be combined for each capacitive coupling unit 25 (in any of the configurations described herein) to gain the benefits of parallel addition of their capacitances. It will be further appreciated that the configuration of the non-rotating plates 28 may be exchanged with the configuration of the rotating plates 26, as it is their relative motion rather than their absolute motion which is of principal significance. It should be apparent that capacitor plate as used herein will be understood is not limited to planar plates but may be of any configuration in which a gap may be maintained with rotation of the corresponding plates of a capacitor.

(42) Referring now to FIG. 15, it will be appreciated that the principles of the present invention may be extended to multiphase motor/generator configurations. In this case, the frequency synthesizer may produce n-phase power where n is an integer (for example, three phase power as shown providing three approximations to sine waves each having relative phase shifts of 120 degrees with respect to the others). In this case of three-phase power, three inductors 47, 47, 47 may be placed in series with each of the three capacitive coupling units 25 (one associated with each phase) to provide the necessary resonant operation. The rectifier assembly 22 is likewise modified to handle three phase rectification. This approach provides reduced field current ripple and can be readily extended to any number of phases.

(43) Certain terminology is used herein, for purposes of reference only, and thus is not intended to be limiting. For example, terms such as upper, lower, above, and below refer to directions in the drawings to which reference is made. Terms such as front, back, rear, bottom and side, describe the orientation of portions of the component within a consistent but arbitrary frame of reference which is made clear by reference to the text and the associated drawings describing the component under discussion. Such terminology may include the words specifically mentioned above, derivatives thereof, and words of similar import. Similarly, the terms first, second and other such numerical terms referring to structures do not imply a sequence or order unless clearly indicated by the context.

(44) It will be appreciated from the above discussion that although separate capacitive coupling units 25 are described for providing power to and receiving power from the rotor 17, it may be possible to employ parasitic capacitances 123 (shown in FIG. 14) existing naturally between structures of the motor or generator (for example from the stator winding 12 to the housing 19) for one of these functions and thus to require as little as one capacitive coupling unit 25.

(45) When introducing elements or features of the present disclosure and the exemplary embodiments, the articles a, an, the and said are intended to mean that there are one or more of such elements or features. The terms comprising, including and having are intended to be inclusive and mean that there may be additional elements or features other than those specifically noted. It is further to be understood that the method steps, processes, and operations described herein are not to be construed as necessarily requiring their performance in the particular order discussed or illustrated, unless specifically identified as an order of performance. It is also to be understood that additional or alternative steps may be employed.

(46) References to a controller and a processor can be understood to include one or more controllers or processors that can communicate in a stand-alone and/or a distributed environment(s), and can thus be configured to communicate via wired or wireless communications with other processors, where such one or more processor can be configured to operate on one or more processor-controlled devices that can be similar or different devices. Furthermore, references to memory, unless otherwise specified, can include one or more processor-readable and accessible memory elements and/or components that can be internal to the processor-controlled device, external to the processor-controlled device, and can be accessed via a wired or wireless network.

(47) It is specifically intended that the present invention not be limited to the embodiments and illustrations contained herein and the claims should be understood to include modified forms of those embodiments including portions of the embodiments and combinations of elements of different embodiments as come within the scope of the following claims. All of the publications described herein, including patents and non-patent publications, are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.