Conductor arrangement for producing an electromagnetic field and route for vehicles, in particular for road automobiles, comprising the conductor arrangement

Abstract

A conductor arrangement for producing an electromagnetic field and thereby transferring energy to vehicles driving on a surface of a route, in particular for transferring energy to road automobiles is disclosed. The conductor arrangement includes a first, lower coating layer, a second upper coating layer, and at least one electric line whichif arranged as part of the routeextends under the surface of the route in and/or about the travelling direction of the vehicles. The at least one electric line is arranged in between the lower and upper coating layer.

Claims

1. A pre-fabricated conductor arrangement for producing an electromagnetic field and thereby transferring energy to at least one vehicle driving on a surface of a route, wherein the conductor arrangement comprises: a lower coating layer, an upper coating layer, at least one electric line, wherein the at least one electric line is placed in between the lower and upper coating layers, and the lower and upper coating layers conform to an outline of the at least one electric line.

2. The conductor arrangement of claim 1, wherein the lower and upper coating layers are connected to each other at connection areas on opposite sides of the at least one electric line so that the at least one electric line is enclosed by the lower and upper coating layers.

3. The conductor arrangement of claim 2, further including additional material establishing the connection of the lower and upper coating layers.

4. The conductor arrangement of claim 3, wherein the connection areas on the opposite sides extend along the extension of the at least one electric line.

5. The conductor arrangement of claim 1, wherein at least one position holder is located in between the lower and upper coating layers, wherein the position holder connects at least one section of the at least one electric line with another section of the line and/or with a section of another electric line for holding the sections in position relative to each other.

6. A route for at least one vehicle driving on a surface of the route, wherein the conductor arrangement of claim 1 is embedded in material of the route, so that the at least one electric line extends under the surface of the route in a travelling direction of vehicles which are driving on the route.

7. The route of claim 6, wherein the conductor arrangement and the route material embedding the conductor arrangement are covered by at least one additional cover layer of the route.

8. The route of claim 6, wherein the at least one vehicle is a road automobile.

9. The conductor arrangement of claim 1, wherein the at least one vehicle is a road automobile.

10. A method of manufacturing a conductor arrangement, which is adapted to produce an electromagnetic field and thereby to transfer energy to at least one vehicle driving on a surface of a route comprising the steps of: providing a lower coating layer, providing an upper coating layer, placing at least one electric line in between the lower and upper coating layers to form a pre-fabricated conductor arrangement comprising the lower and upper coating layers as well as the at least one electric line, wherein the lower and upper coating layers conform to an outline of the at least one electric line.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the lower and upper coating layers are connected to each other at connection areas on opposite sides of the at least one electric line so that the at least one electric line is enclosed by the lower and upper coating layers.

12. The method of claim 11, further including additional material establishing the connection of the lower and upper coating layers.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the connection areas on the opposite sides are established so as to extend along the extension of the at least one electric line.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein at least one position holder is placed, established, or placed and established in between the lower and upper coating layers, wherein the position holder connects at least one section of the at least one electric line with another section of the line, with a section of another electric line, or with another section of the line and the section of another line so that the position holder holds the sections in position relative to each other.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein the at least one vehicle is a road automobile.

16. A method of manufacturing a conductor arrangement, which is adapted to produce an electromagnetic field and thereby to transfer energy to at least one vehicle driving on a surface of a route comprising the steps of: providing a lower coating layer, providing an upper coating layer, placing at least one electric line in between the lower and upper coating layers to form a pre-fabricated conductor arrangement comprising the lower and upper coating layers as well as the at least one electric line, wherein the lower coating layer is placed upon a positioning device for positioning, holding, or positioning and holding a plurality of line sections of the at least one electric line, wherein the positioning device comprises recesses forming spaces, comprises projections delimiting spaces, or comprises recesses forming spaces and comprises projections delimiting spaces, wherein the spaces are adapted to receive at least one of the line sections and wherein the spaces are ready to receive the line sections despite the lower coating layer which covers the positioning device, the at least one electric line or lines is placed upon the lower coating layer so that the at least one electric line or lines contacts the positioning device indirectly via the lower coating layer and so that the at least one electric line or lines extends through the spaces defined by the positioning device, the upper coating layer is placed upon the at least one electric line and upon areas of the lower coating layer which are not covered by the at least one electric line to form the pre-fabricated conductor arrangement, and the pre-fabricated conductor arrangement is removed from the positioning device.

17. A method of building a route for vehicles driving on a surface of the route, in particular for road automobiles, wherein the pre-fabricated conductor arrangement of claim 16 is embedded in route building material of the route, which route building material is adapted to carry the weight of vehicles driving on the route, wherein the conductor arrangement is arranged so that the least one electric line extends under the surface of the route in a travelling direction of the vehicles.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) Examples and preferred embodiments of the invention will be described with reference to the attached figures which show

(2) FIG. 1 schematically a road having two lanes, wherein electric lines are laid under the surface of one of the lanes using pre-fabricated conductor arrangements,

(3) FIG. 1a a vertical cross section through a first embodiment of a pre-fabricated conductor arrangement, wherein the cross section may extend transversely to the direction of travel,

(4) FIG. 1b a vertical cross section similar to the cross section shown in FIG. 1a, however belonging to a second embodiment,

(5) FIG. 1c a schematic top view of the pre-fabricated conductor arrangement of FIG. 1a or FIG. 1b,

(6) FIG. 2 a vertical cross section through a preferred embodiment of a route, for example part of the road shown in FIG. 1,

(7) FIG. 3 an exploded view of the route shown in FIG. 2,

(8) FIG. 4 a perspective view of a preferred embodiment of a positioning device, which can be used for manufacturing a pre-fabricated conductor arrangement, and

(9) FIG. 5 a top view of two positioning devices of FIG. 4.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

(10) The schematic top view of FIG. 1 shows a road 1 having two lanes 19a, 19b. The lanes 19 are marked by solid, continuous lines 3a, 3b at the outer margins and are visually separated by a common dashed line made of line parts 9a, 9b, 9c, 9d, 9e, 9f, 9g, 9h. Consequently, the direction of travel extends from left to right or from right to left in FIG. 1. The width of the lanes 19 is large enough so that a vehicle can travel on either lane 19a or lane 19b or so that two vehicles can travel next to each other on the lanes 19.

(11) One of the lanes, namely lane 19a, is equipped with a conductor arrangement 7a, 7b, 7c for producing an electromagnetic field. The conductors 7 (for example comprising three electric phase lines for producing a three-phase alternating current) are parts of a pre-fabricated conductor arrangement 4a, 4b, 4c, which hold the conductors in place while the route is constructed. However, due to a cover layer, the conductors are not visible in practice, if the finished road is viewed from above. However, FIG. 1 shows three consecutive conductor arrangements 4a, 4b, 4c. The line of consecutive pre-fabricated conductor arrangements 4a, 4b, 4c continues towards the right beyond the limits of FIG. 1. The total conductor setting comprises at least three consecutive segments 7a, 7b, 7c which can be operated separately of each other and each segment 7 is made using a single pre-fabricated conductor arrangement 4a, 4b, 4c. This means, for example, conductor 7a is operated while a vehicle (not shown) travels above the segment whereas the other segment 7b, 7c are not operated. If the vehicles reaches segment 7b, this segment is switched on and segment 7a is switched off. Corresponding switches and/or inverters may be integrated in devices 52a, 52b, 52c shown in the top region of FIG. 1.

(12) The preferred way of laying the conductors 7 is to form a meandering path or meandering paths, which means that the conductor has sections that extend transversely to the direction of travel. For example, conductor 7a has eight transversely extending sections. The conductor 7a is connected to devices 52a, 52b.

(13) In the middle section of FIG. 1 there are two parallel lines extending transversely to the direction of travel. These lines are lines at the end of route sections having a gap 200 between each other for allowing relative movement and/or thermal expansion or contraction. The gap 200 is not located between two consecutive pre-fabricated conductor arrangements 4, but conductor 7b of pre-fabricated conductor arrangement 4b extends across the gap 200 which may be filled with an elastically deformable material, such as bitumen.

(14) FIG. 1a shows a conductor arrangement 13 comprising a lower coating layer 12 and an upper coating layer 11 which are laid on top of each other. Except for regions where electric line sections 10a, 10b extend, the coating layers 11, 12 are in direct contact with each other at their surfaces.

(15) FIG. 1b shows a cross section through a second embodiment of a pre-fabricated conductor arrangement 23. In contrast to the arrangement shown in FIG. 1a, the lower coating layer 12 and the upper coating layer 11 are in direct contact with each other only at their margin regions, and indirectly contact each other elsewhere. The interior 14 of the conductor arrangement 23 which is delimited by the two coating layers 11, 12, is at least partly and preferably completely filled by an additional material, e.g. a resin. This means that the resin or other additional material forms an indirect connection of the two coating layers 11, 12 and the line sections 10a, 10b.

(16) FIG. 1c shows three electric lines 139, 149, 159 which extend serpentine-like in and about the direction of travel (which extends from left to right in FIG. 1c). Following the extension of the first electric line 139 starting from the left in FIG. 1c, the electric line 139 turns left to extend transversely to the direction of travel with a line section 10c, then turns right to extend in the direction of travel with a line section 10b and again turns right to extend transversely to the direction of travel with a line section 10f and so on. The second electric line 149 also comprises a transversely extending section 10d in the region which is shown in FIG. 1c. A transversely extending section 10e of the third electric line 159 is also shown. The transversely extending sections of the three electric lines 139, 149, 159 form a repeating pattern in the direction of travel. This means, for example, that a transversely extending section of the second electric line 149 follows on the right hand side of FIG. 1c next. On the left hand side of FIG. 1c, a transversely extending section of the third electric line 159 follows next.

(17) FIG. 1c also shows the outlines of the upper coating layer 11, which may be transparent so that the electric lines 139, 149, 159 are visible from above. Alternatively, FIG. 1c can be interpreted to show a schematic top view if the material of the upper coating layer 11 is not transparent.

(18) FIG. 2 shows a vertical cross section through a preferred embodiment of a route, wherein the direction of travel for vehicles travelling on the route extends perpendicularly to the image plane of FIG. 2. FIG. 2 may show, for example, a cross section of lane 19a of FIG. 1. Lane 19a comprises a base layer 31 which may have, for example, a layer thickness of 22 cm. On top of the base layer 31, a layer 20 of electrically conducting material (such as aluminium plates) is laid, for example having a thickness of 5 mm. The purpose of the layer 20 is to shield the electromagnetic field, i.e. to prevent or reduce electromagnetic waves below the layer 20. The layer 20 may be narrower than the width of the lane 19a and may be in the range of the width of pre-fabricated conductor arrangement 4 which is placed above layer 20.

(19) Shielding layer 20 is partly embedded in an intermediate layer 33 which may have a thickness of 6 cm, for example. On top of intermediate layer 33, pre-fabricated conductor arrangement 4 is placed, which comprises, for example the line arrangement shown in FIG. 1c. Pre-fabricated conductor arrangement 4 may have a thickness of 4 cm, for example. In other embodiments, shielding layer 20 may be placed elsewhere, e.g. at a higher position within intermediate layer 33.

(20) Pre-fabricated conductor arrangement 4 is covered and thereby partly embedded in a first cover layer 34 which is preferably made of asphalt, in particular mastic asphalt, to form a merely horizontal surface. A second cover layer 35 covers the first cover layer 34. The second cover layer 35 may also be made of asphalt and forms the surface layer of the road. Alternatively, a single cover layer may cover the conductor arrangement 4 and may also form the surface of the route. For example, the cover layer or cover layers may have a thickness of 5 cm.

(21) It is preferred that the intermediate layer 33 is also made of asphalt so that the three layers 33, 34, 35 form a solid and long-lasting layer compound.

(22) The coating layers 11, 12 of the pre-fabricated conductor arrangement 4 may comprise hydrocarbons so that a molecular compounds with adjoining asphalt layers can be established during construction of the route. The base layer may be made of sand cement or concrete.

(23) FIG. 3 shows an exploded view of the construction of the lane corresponding to the construction shown in FIG. 2. The same reference numerals refer to the same parts of the construction. Since shielding layer 20 is provided before intermediate layer 33 is produced, intermediate layer 33 will have a recess 24 where shielding layer 20 is located.

(24) FIG. 4 shows a perspective view of a positioning device 304 and FIG. 5 shows a top view of an arrangement comprising two consecutive positioning devices 304a, 304b. The positioning device or arrangement of positioning devices is/are used to position the electric lines during the manufacture of a pre-fabricated conductor arrangement. The positioning device 304 comprises six recesses 315a-315f extending perpendicularly to a centre line which divides the block 304 in two halves. The centre line extends in the direction of travel of a vehicle (from lower left to upper right in FIG. 4 or from left to right in FIG. 5).

(25) The recesses 315 are parallel to each other and are arranged within the same horizontal plane which is parallel to the plane of FIG. 5. The recesses 315 extend in width direction (from top to bottom in FIG. 5) over about three quarters of the total width of positioning device 304. They are arranged symmetrically to the centre line.

(26) Each recess has a U-shaped cross-section to receive a cable. The dashed lines shown in FIG. 5 which extend along the recesses 315 are centre lines of the recesses 315. At each of the two opposite ends of the straight recesses 315, there are bifurcated curved recess regions 316 which form transitions to a peripheral straight recess 317 extending along the lateral edge of the positioning device 304. Cables can be laid in a manner consecutively extending from the straight recesses 315 through the curved recess region 316 into the peripheral straight recess 317, thereby changing the direction of extension from perpendicular to the direction of travel to parallel to the direction of travel. A corresponding example is shown in FIG. 1c.

(27) The curved recess regions 316 allow for placing a cable, which extends through the recess 315, in such a manner that it continues to either the left or the right, if viewed in the straight direction of the recess 315. For example, a cable (not shown in FIGS. 4 and 5) may extend through recess 315b, may turn to the rightwhile extending through recess region 316and may then extend through the straight recess 317 which extends perpendicularly to the recesses 315 on the opposite side of curved recess region 316. There are two peripheral straight recess regions 317 on opposite sides of block 304. The cable may then turn to the right through the recess region 316 at the end of recess 315e and may then extend through recess 315e. At the end of recess 315e, which is shown in the lower part of FIG. 5, the cable may again turn left through recess region 316 into the other straight recess 317. The other recesses 315 may be used for two other cables.

(28) The depth (in vertical direction in FIG. 4) of the recesses 315, 316, 317 is different. The depth of recess 315 is sufficient to receive one cable. The depth of the curved recess region 316 increases from the end of recess 315 to recess 317. Each of the curved recess regions 316 comprises an island region 319 which is located between the two curved branches of the curved recess region 316. In addition, the island region 319 is located between the straight recess 317 and the two branches of the curved recess region 316.

(29) Since the depth of the curved recess region 316 increases towards the straight recess 317, different cables can be laid upon one another. The depth of the straight recess 317 is sufficient to arrange two cables upon one another extending in the same straight direction. For example, a first cable may extend trough the lower recess 317 in FIG. 5 and may turn left into recess 315b through the recess region 316 shown in the bottom left part of FIG. 5. In addition, a second cable may extend trough recess 315a, may turn into the recess 317, thereby crossing (if viewed from above) the first cable.

(30) The example concerning the extension of cables or electric lines given above refers to one specific application for laying three meandering cables. However, the use of the positioning device 304 shown in FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 is not restricted to this application. Rather, for example, less or more than three cables can be laid using the positioning device 304.

(31) Each of the blocks 304a, 304b shown in FIG. 5 comprises the recesses 315, 316, 317 described above. Therefore, the arrangement shown in FIG. 5 can be used to manufacture a pre-fabricated conductor arrangement which is longer with respect to the direction of travel and, for example, comprises more transversely extending line sections.

(32) In order to manufacture the pre-fabricated conductor arrangement, the lower coating layer is placed upon the positioning device 304 or arrangement of positioning devices 304a, 304b, first. Then, the cables are laid in the desired manner in the spaces defined by the recesses 315, 316, 317. Afterwards, the upper coating layer is laid upon the cables and the lower coating layer. Finally, the coating layers and/or the cables may be connected to each other.