The Shoulders EVO patent family (high charge density energy conversion)

The first patent of the family, US 5,018,180, "Energy conversion using high charge density," has its own sheet at /library/stm-65ac4f9d54, where the entity itself is described — about one micrometre across, on the order of 10¹¹ uncompensated charges, travelling at about a tenth of the speed of light, chaining into beads and closing into rings. This sheet covers the three later patents that build on it, and the two circuit patents that complete the set.

US 5,123,039 — Energy conversion using high charge density

Kenneth R. Shoulders, assigned to Jupiter Toy Company. Filed 12 April 1991; granted 16 June 1992. A continuation of the application that issued as US 5,018,180.

Abstract

Disclosed are apparatus and method for obtaining energy from high electrical charge density entities. The energy may be received by the conductor of a traveling wave device positioned along the path which the propagating entities follow. Multiple traveling wave devices may be combined. Energy output from a traveling wave device may also be directed to the generation of a subsequent such entity. Thermal energy may also be obtained from an EV.

Prior art cited for the vacuum

An explanation and a discussion of the historical treatment of zero-point energy of the vacuum are given by Timothy H. Boyer in "The Classical Vacuum," in Scientific American, p. 70 (August, 1985). R. L. Forward, "Extracting Electrical Energy from the Vacuum by Cohesion of Charged Foliated Conductors," Phys. Rev. B 30, 1700 (1984) discusses the possibility of obtaining electrical energy from the zero-point energy.

Objects of the invention

It is an object of the present invention to obtain electrical energy from an EV propagating, for example, by an electrical conductor arrayed in periodic form, or by a conducting body having one or more openings through which electromagnetic radiation may pass. Thermal energy may also be obtained upon the collection or dissipation of an EV.

It is a further object of the invention to obtain more energy from the EV than is used in generating the EV. It is yet another object of the invention to propagate an EV by a traveling wave conductor, or a conductor with radiation emission ports, and to extract energy converted from zero-point energy of the vacuum by means of the EV.

Multiple traveling wave devices may be joined together in a single circuit. An EV used to extract electrical energy may be so used again in a circulator; dc electrical energy from such an EV may be used to generate another EV used to obtain electrical energy. Further, energy from the traveling wave conductor of a traveling wave device may be used to generate another EV. A bank or a stack of traveling wave devices may be formed to obtain electrical energy.

The energy conversion factor

The amount of energy that may be obtained from an EV moving along a traveling wave device is dependent on several parameters. Under preferred conditions, considerably more energy is output from the traveling wave device than is necessary to generate the EV. For example, with an input pulse of 1 kV through an input resistor of 1500 ohms, and an output pulse of 2 kV through a helix having an impedance of 200 ohms, the ratio of the output peak power to the input peak power is 20,000 divided by 667, that is, 30. This result must be multiplied by the ratio of the width of the output pulse to the input pulse width, which was given as 16 ns divided by 600 ns, that is, 0.027. The resulting corrected energy conversion factor is 0.027 × 30 = 0.81. However, not all of the input energy is used in generating the EV. A portion of the input energy is lost to excitation of the gas in the traveling wave tube, for example.

Under preferred conditions, the gas pressure is reduced to the lowest value that will sustain the EV generation in the tube, or envelope, at the same time losing the trailing portion of the output pulse as discussed above. The EV is formed during a brief portion early in the time of the input pulse, and this fact is reflected in a brief, sharp shoulder in the vicinity of the leading edge of the negative input pulse. Consequently, with reduced gas pressure in the traveling wave tube, the length of the input pulse may be reduced while still providing a 16 ns long output pulse. With the input pulse length reduced to 5 ns, for example, the corrected energy conversion factor becomes 16 divided by 5, times 30, that is, 96. That is to say, with the input pulse length reduced as noted, energy available at the output of the helix of the traveling wave tube is ninety-six times the energy input to the traveling wave tube, in addition to the energy consumed within the traveling wave tube and the energy available in the form of collected particles at the collector electrode.

Even a greater energy conversion factor is available if the input pulse is further reduced; an EV may be generated with an input pulse as short as 10⁻³ ns. The EV is a mechanism for tapping a source of energy and providing that energy for conversion to usable electrical form.

The mechanism as the patent states it

As discussed above, a traveling wave device may be operated to output more electrical energy than is input to the device to initiate an EV and cause it to propagate along the traveling wave output conductor. The source of this increased energy appears to be the vacuum zero-point energy, or zero-point radiation. An EV, as a coupling device to zero-point energy, operates as an energy conversion mechanism whereby high frequency zero-point energy of the vacuum continuum is converted to lower frequency energy, captured as electrical output energy by the traveling wave conductor, for example. Such energy conversion from the vacuum continuum may also occur when EV's traverse an RF generator. In addition to ac energy output converted from zero-point radiation by EV's, energy conversion to dc electrical output occurs when electrons are freed during passage of an EV along an RC guide, for example, as well as when an EV and/or EV-liberated electrons are captured at a counterelectrode.

An EV is formed when the concentration of electrons reaches a threshold, that is, when the charge density is sufficiently high. Then, Casimir or van der Waals type forces, whose origins are in the zero-point energy, cluster the charges into the single EV entity. Once the electron cluster has been so formed into an EV, the EV entity is apparently held together by zero-point energy forces. A large portion of the electron charges contained within an EV are masked, so that the EV itself does not manifest to external measuring devices a charge size equal to the total charge contained within the EV.

As an EV moves through or across a medium, the EV interacts with its environment. For example, an EV moving across a solid surface, such as propagating along an RC guide, can cause photo, field, secondary or thermionic emission of electrons. At least some of these produced electrons may be absorbed by the EV, which may also be emitting electrons. An EV interacting with a gaseous medium causes excitation of the gas molecules to produce streamers. A moving EV thus appears to be in an excited state, with continual interaction with nearby matter. The EV is in an unstable state and must generate electrons from its surroundings to absorb to retain that state. The EV may exist in an equilibrium state, even as electrons are absorbed, due to the forces of the zero-point energy field holding the EV together.

As an EV moves along a guide, or a traveling wave device, the EV may be continually absorbing electrons and, at the same time, emitting electrons. Energy conversion from the zero-point radiation may be occurring in either of these two processes. Energy converted and output by means of an RF source, or a traveling wave tube, for example, in conjunction with the emission of electrons from an EV, is a fission reaction. Energy conversion occurring in conjunction with the introduction of electrons into an EV, or the formation of an EV, is a fusion process. An EV passing along a traveling wave device, for example, may be both absorbing and emitting electrons. In this way, the EV may be considered to be being continually formed as it propagates. In any event, energy is provided to the traveling wave output conductor, and the ultimate source of this energy appears to be the zero-point radiation of the vacuum continuum.

Re-use, circulators and thermal energy

Although the EV's from the triggering source may be collected at an electrode, these EV's may alternatively be dissipated by allowing them to pass over a relatively rough surface, without guide walls. Such energy dissipation is accompanied by the generation of heat in the surfaces used to thus terminate the EV's. This thermal energy may be appropriately harnessed for practical application.

The feature of repeatedly using an EV to convert energy may be embodied in a variation of the circulator. A dielectric base closed loop includes a traveling wave conductor, such as a serpentine conductor or a helix conductor. EV's are injected into the closed loop from a feed and exit line by selected application of deflector fields to switches at the junction between the loop and the line. An EV thus introduced into the closed loop may continue to circulate in the loop while energy is received by the conductor, and withdrawn by its end output lead. In this way, the same EV may make a plurality of trips about the closed loop until it is selectively withdrawn by operation of the switches, or until the EV terminates within the closed loop. Additional leads may be applied to tap energy from the traveling wave conductor at various locations other than at the end of the conductor.

For greater energy efficiency, just as a single EV may be used to trigger multiple EV generators, an EV may be utilized for multiple energy conversions, such as by passing through two or more traveling wave devices, or also by passing through a closed loop circulator device multiple times. Additionally, output energy of a traveling wave device may be tapped to provide the energy necessary to reach an EV producing threshold in the same traveling wave device through an appropriate feedback loop. Multiple traveling wave devices may be formulated in integrated fashion, and operated individually or in selected patterns. In general, the energy outputs of multiple traveling wave devices utilizing EV propagation may be combined in selected patterns.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. An energy converter comprising a source of a contained bundle of moving charged particles traversing a path, and a slow wave electrical conductor positioned to be responsive to the bundle traversing the path so that there is a transfer of energy from the bundle to the slow wave electrical conductor, the slow wave electrical conductor coupling energy transferred to it from the bundle to a load.
2. The energy converter of claim 1 wherein the charged particles include electrons.
3. The energy converter of claim 1 wherein the charged particles in the bundle are predominantly electrons.
4. The energy converter of claim 1 further including N of the sources, N of the paths, and N of the slow wave conductors, where N is an integer greater than one; each of the sources, paths and slow wave conductors being respectively associated with each other on a one-on-one basis and arranged so that the charged particles propagating along path k cause a transfer of energy to slow wave conductor k, where k is selectively every integer from 1 to N, and means for combining the energy in the N slow wave conductors.
5. The energy converter of claim 4 wherein the combining means combines residual energy, not transferred to the slow wave conductor, in the N paths.
6. The energy converter of claim 4 wherein the combining means combines residual energy, not transferred to the slow wave conductor, in the N paths with the energy in the N slow wave conductors.
7. The energy converter of claim 1 further including means for coupling energy derived from the slow wave conductor back to the path to provide a field for controlling the charged particles propagating from the source to the slow wave conductor.
8. The energy converter of claim 1 wherein the slow wave conductor is formed as a helix surrounding the path.
9. The converter of claim 1 wherein the source derives a plurality of said bundles that traverse the path.
10. The energy converter of claim 1 further including means for establishing a vacuum environment in which the source and slow wave electrical conductor are located.
11. An energy converter comprising a source of a contained bundle of moving charged particles traversing a path, a structure positioned to be responsive to the bundle traversing the path so that there is a transfer of energy from the bundle to the structure, the structure coupling energy transferred to it from the bundle to a load.
12. The energy converter of claim 11 further including means for establishing a vacuum environment in which the source and structure are located.
13. The converter of claim 11 wherein the source derives a plurality of said bundles that traverse the path.
14. An energy converting method comprising launching a bundle of discrete contained charged particles, guiding the bundle along a path, transferring energy from the bundle to a structure after the bundle has traversed at least a part of the path, and coupling energy transferred to the structure from the bundle to a load.
15. The method of claim 14 further including adding energy to the bundle while it is traversing the path.
16. The method of claim 13 wherein the bundle is launched and traverses the path and the energy is added and transferred while the bundle is in a vacuum.
17. The method of claim 14 wherein the bundle is launched and traverses the path and the energy is transferred while the bundle is in a vacuum.
18. The method of claim 14 wherein the bundles and path are such that energy is added to the bundle by an outside energy source while the bundle is traversing the path.
19. The method of claim 18 wherein the outside energy source includes a zero-point source.
20. The method of claim 19 wherein the zero-point source includes vacuum zero-point energy.
21. The method of claim 19 wherein the zero-point source includes zero-point radiation.
22. An energy converting method comprising launching plural bundles of discrete contained charged particles, guiding the bundles along a path, transferring energy from the bundles to a structure after the bundles have traversed at least a part of the path, and coupling energy transferred to the structure from the bundles to a load.
23. The method of claim 19 further including adding energy to the bundles while they are traversing the path.
24. The method of claim 19 wherein the bundles are launched and traverse the path and the energy is added and transferred while the bundles are in a vacuum.
25. The method of claim 23 wherein the bundles are launched and traverse the path and the energy is transferred while the bundles are in a vacuum.

US 5,054,046 — Method of and apparatus for production and manipulation of high density charge

Kenneth R. Shoulders, assigned to Jupiter Toy Company. Filed 13 June 1990; granted 1 October 1991. 151 claims; the independent claims are reproduced here.

Abstract

Disclosed are high electrical charge density entities, generated in electrical discharge production. Apparatus for isolating the high charge density entities, selecting them and manipulating them by various guide techniques are disclosed. Utilizing such apparatus, the paths followed by the entities may be switched, or selectively varied in length, for example, whereby the entities may be extensively manipulated. Additional devices are disclosed for the manipulation and exploitation of these entities, including their use with a camera and also in an oscilloscope.

Independent claims

Claim 1. An electronic device comprising a source of charged particles; a solid dielectric body having an elongated groove positioned to be responsive to the charged particles; means for accelerating the charged particles in the elongated groove; a counterelectrode capacitively coupled to the groove and the charged particles; the groove being arranged and the counterelectrode being biased and the charged particles propagating in and being guided by the groove and coupled to the solid dielectric body and the counterelectrode so charged particles applied to the groove by the source during a first interval charge the dielectric to have an effect on charged particles subsequently propagating in and guided by the groove; and output means responsive to the charged particles propagating in the groove for deriving a response dependent on said propagating charged particles.

Claim 7. An electronic device comprising a source of charged particles; a solid dielectric surface having a channel positioned to be responsive to and constructed to guide the charged particles of the source; a counter electrode capacitively coupled to the channel; an accelerating electrode positioned to accelerate the charged particles along the channel; means for activating the charged particle source; the charged particle source, the dielectric, the channel, the counter electrode, the accelerating electrode and the means for activating being such that plural discrete contained charged particle bundles derived from the source propagate along the channel while the counter electrode and accelerating electrode biases are constant and the source is activated to a single state.

Claim 100. An electronic device comprising a source of charged particles; a cylindrical solid dielectric surface positioned to be responsive to and constructed to form a channel for guiding charged particles derived from the source; a biased counter electrode coaxial with and capacitively coupled to the channel; a biased accelerating electrode positioned to accelerate the charged particles in the channel; means for activating the charged particle source; the charged particle source, dielectric, cylindrical surface, counter electrode, accelerating electrode and the means for activating being such that plural discrete contained charged particle bundles are derived from the source and propagate along the cylindrical surface while the counter electrode and accelerating electrode biases are constant and the source is activated to a single state.

Claim 105. An electronic device comprising a source of charged particles; means for accelerating charged particles emitted by the source; means for guiding the charged particles through a passageway, the guiding means including a metal structure through which the passageway extends, the metal structure including reactances which are charged in response to the charged particles propagating through the passageway to control the propagation of the charged particles in the passageway; the means for guiding, the source and the means for accelerating interacting such that plural discrete contained charged particle bundles derived from the source propagate in the passageway while the source, metal structure and accelerating means have constant relative bias.

Claim 119. In combination, an envelope having a solid dielectric interior wall and an inert gas therein, said envelope being divided into first and second chambers connected in fluid flow relation with each other by a neck in the dielectric interior wall, the pressure in the second chamber and the neck causing the second chamber to be at a lower pressure than the first chamber, first and second electrodes outside the wall respectively capacitively coupled to regions of the first and second chambers remote from the neck through the dielectric wall, a third electrode outside of the wall capacitively coupled to the neck through the dielectric wall, a voltage being applied between the first and third electrodes to provide a discharge in the first chamber between the first and third electrodes, a voltage being applied between the first and second electrodes to cause charged particles in the discharge to be accelerated through the neck and the second chamber to the second electrode.

Claim 128. A pulse generator comprising a charged particle emitting electrode having a pointed end wetted with electrically conducting liquid, a solid dielectric member having a tip with a pointed opening downstream of the pointed end, an accelerating electrode on an exterior wall of the dielectric member removed from the opening in the pointed tip, the accelerating electrode being at a voltage relative to the source and positioned so that charged particles emitted by the charged particle emitting electrode selectively propagate to the accelerating electrode via a path (a) through the opening and (b) that is reversed in direction after the charged particles pass through the opening, an extractor electrode positioned downstream of the opening and at a higher potential than the accelerating electrode so that only certain of the charged particles emitted by the emitting electrode are incident thereon and others of the charged particles emitted by the emitting electrode are incident on the accelerating electrode, and an output electrode capacitively coupled with the extractor electrode for deriving pulses in response to the charged particles being incident on the extractor electrode.

(Claims 2 through 6, 8 through 99, 101 through 104, 106 through 118, 120 through 127, 129 through 151 are dependent claims and are at the source.)

US 5,153,901 — Production and manipulation of charged particles

Kenneth R. Shoulders, assigned to Jupiter Toy Company. Filed 12 April 1991; granted 6 October 1992. 36 claims; the independent claims are reproduced here.

Abstract

Disclosed are high electrical charge density entities, generated in electrical discharge production. Apparatus for isolating the high charge density entities, selecting them and manipulating them by various guide techniques are disclosed. Utilizing such apparatus, the paths followed by the entities may be switched, or selectively varied in length, for example, whereby the entities may be extensively manipulated. Additional devices are disclosed for the manipulation and exploitation of these entities, including their use with a camera and also in an oscilloscope.

Independent claims

Claim 1. An electronic device comprising a first electrode for emitting charged particles, a second electrode, a solid dielectric located between the first and second electrodes, and means for applying a voltage between the first and second electrodes; the applied voltage, said first and second electrodes and said solid dielectric being arranged to cause charged particles in a discrete contained bundle to move from the first electrode to the second electrode under the influence of charge established in the dielectric.

Claim 5. An electronic device comprising means for emitting charged particles in a discrete contained bundle, an optical energy pulse being associated with the bundle, an optical reflector positioned in the path of the bundle so that the optical energy pulse is incident thereon and reflected thereby, the bundle and optical energy pulse having approximately the same ... (the online full text breaks off here; the complete claim is at the source).

Claim 7. An electronic device comprising means for emitting charged particles in plural discrete contained bundles having differing charge properties, and electrode means positioned to be responsive to the plural discrete contained bundles for selecting certain of the charge particle bundles as a function of the different charge properties.

Claim 10. An electronic device comprising means for emitting charged particles in discrete contained bundles, and means for selectively deflecting the bundles into plural different paths.

Claim 13. An electronic device comprising means for emitting charged particles in a discrete contained bundle, a radiant energy emitter positioned in a path of the bundle for emitting radiant energy in response to the charged particles in the bundle being incident thereon.

Claim 18. An electronic device comprising means for emitting charged particles in a discrete contained bundle, and a slow wave structure capacitively coupled with said bundle.

Claim 20. An electronic device comprising means for emitting charged particles in discrete contained bundles having a first propagation direction, means for deflecting some of the bundles in a direction having an orthogonal component with respect to the first direction while the remainder of the bundles continue to propagate in the first propagation direction.

Claim 22. An electronic device comprising means for emitting charged particles in a discrete contained bundle and a collector electrode for the bundle positioned in a path of the bundle for collecting the charged particles in the bundle.

Claim 27. An electronic device comprising a source of charged particles; means for accelerating charged particles emitted by the source; means for guiding the charged particles through a passageway, the guiding means including reactances which are charged in response to the charged particles propagating through the passageway to control the propagation of the charged particles in the passageway; the means for guiding, the source and the means for accelerating interacting such that plural discrete contained charged particle bundles derived from the source propagate in the passageway.

Claim 28. An electronic device comprising means for emitting charged particles in a discrete contained bundle and a slow wave structure capacitively coupled with a path of the bundle to derive an output in response to charged particles in the bundle.

Claim 30. An x-ray source comprising means for emitting charged particles in a discrete contained bundle, and an x-ray emitting target anode positioned in a path of the bundle for generating x-rays in response to the charged particles in the bundle being incident thereon.

(The dependent claims, including claim 31, in which the target anode is made of a material of sufficiently low inductance that the bundle incident on it is effectively broken apart, and claims 32 and 33, in which the emitting means includes liquid mercury, are at the source.)

The rest of the family

US 5,018,180 — Energy conversion using high charge density. Granted 21 May 1991. The founding patent of the family, and the one that describes the entity itself and the ninety-six-fold energy conversion result. It has its own sheet: /library/stm-65ac4f9d54.

US 5,054,047 — Circuits responsive to and controlling charged particles. Filed 14 May 1990; granted 1 October 1991. Abstract: disclosed are self-contained high electrical charge density entities, generated in electrical discharge production. Apparatus for isolating the high charge density entities, selecting them and manipulating them by various guide techniques are disclosed. Utilizing such apparatus, the paths followed by the entities may be switched, or selectively varied in length, for example, whereby the entities may be extensively manipulated. Additional devices are disclosed for the manipulation and exploitation of these entities, including their use with a camera and also in an oscilloscope, as well as their use in generating RF radiation. A flat panel display is disclosed which is operated by these high charge entities, up to the point of their generating electrons to strike a phosphor screen.

US 5,148,461 — Circuits responsive to and controlling charged particles. Filed 12 April 1991; granted 15 September 1992. The abstract is that of US 5,054,047, of which it is a continuation.