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Portfolio
Aerial Platform - TheMotor - Hybrid Engine
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Read NSF Review!
The DOD Pitch! (to right) |
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Paradigms that blind industry and academia to technology paths that are greater and better are a part of modern society. What if:
These paradigms are part of today’s reality, and “what is possible” by overcoming these paradigms is incredible and will take society to a new and better level. The following paragraphs and images provide greater detail of these paradigms and the technology to overcome those paradigms.
The HS-Drone new aerial platform enables:
(HAPS/HALE is High-Altitude Pseudo-Satellites/High Altitude Long Endurance)
- Aerial Platform – Paradigms blinded us to aircraft that could be considerably more efficient, efficient to the point where solar-based aerial transit would be the low-cost and 100% renewable/sustainable for essentially all transit over 20 miles.
- TheMotor – Paradigms blinded us to motor designs that are less than half the mass and size of contemporary motors, do not require rare Earth elements (i.e. induction motors) and are conducive to easy integration in devices.
- The Hybrid Electric-Fuel Jet Engine – Paradigms blinded us to jet engine designs that use less than 20% of the fuel, are lighter, and are less complex.
These paradigms are part of today’s reality, and “what is possible” by overcoming these paradigms is incredible and will take society to a new and better level. The following paragraphs and images provide greater detail of these paradigms and the technology to overcome those paradigms.
The HS-Drone new aerial platform enables:
(HAPS/HALE is High-Altitude Pseudo-Satellites/High Altitude Long Endurance)
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#1. HAPS/HALE.
#2. Ambulatory Services. #3. Medical Sample/Organ Delivery #4. First Responder Drones. #5. Air Taxis. #6. Parcel Delivery. #7. Food Delivery. #8. Airliner Passenger Transit. #9. Airborne Ship Container Transit. |
#10. Toys and Hobbyist Aircraft.
#11. Airborne Aircraft Carriers. #12. Surveying. #13. Hydrogen Production/Delivery. #14. Ammonia Production/Delivery. #15. Atmospheric Decarbonization. #16. Military Swarm Attack Drones. #17. Military Defense Drones. #18. Airborne Space Launch Platforms. |
BREAKTHROUGH AIRFRAME
Airframe Paradigm—A Bernoulli Theory of Flight is substantially taught/distributed as the foundation of the wing being the cornerstone of aerodynamic flight; that theory of flight is erroneous. The paradigm is the wing as the cornerstone of aerodynamic flight. This paradigm teaches away from the wing being the foundation of inherently pitch-stable flight. A flat plate [airfoil] is actually more efficient than the wing for flight, but it is inherently unstable. So how do you make a flat plate pitch stable?
Technology (“HS-Drone”) – To make a flat plate pitch stable, pull the flat plate through a front hinge joint (i.e. a “Towed Platform”). A method of choice is to pull the Towed Platform is a delta-wing with a propulsor (i.e. a front tiltwing). At a reasonable scale and with optimal fences (and cambered front), the Towed Platform is the single most efficient aerodynamic lifting body, and at reasonable scales it can be 3X more energy efficient than contemporary fixed with aircraft and 10X more efficient than contemporary VTOL aircraft. The Towed Platform also provides a high surface area for solar panels. The result is a highly-efficient aerial platform design that brings in an era of high-speed solar-powered 24/7 flight that has speeds and payloads dwarfing those of other 24/7 solar powered aircraft (the HAPS/HALE industry) in various stages of commercialization. See below PDF for pitch on technology and its capabilities.
View the PITCH of attached pdf!
| pitch.pdf |
BREAKTHROUGH ELECTRIC MOTOR
Motor Paradigm—Coils are not needed for efficient design of electric motors and limiting designs to coils distorts the optimization field; better design criteria is based around efficient heat transfer and avoiding heat-sensitive electrical insulation in the hottest parts of the motor. The paradigm is that optimal motor designs for standard applications should use coils (which are lousy heat transfer devices, see Figure, above).
Technology - The PCB (Printed Circuit Board, see Figure right, from pcbstator.com) Motor provides an alternative to coils, and variations in its design can provide major increase in both overall heat transfer coefficients and resistance to high temperatures. The PCB motor is a commercial circuit-based stator technology designed around the ease and advantages of being able to print a motor stator on a circuit board. TheMotor technology of is circuit-based stator designed around ease of heat transfer and ease of stacking for induction motor designs—the design criteria are different with different patentable feature emerging, but the circuit approach and aspects of the pattern are clearly demonstrated by the PCB motor; it is more than a concept. Thin disc stators and thin disc rotors can be stacked in axial-flux induction motors that is a small fraction of the weight and size of contemporary motors (without permanent magnets), and the lower weight translates to less material for Eddy current losses.
Patents Status – Patent pending in U.S. and identified as patentable by the International Search Report of application PCT/US22/014884. It is also disclosed and available for patent in applications PCT/US20/36936, PCT/US21/16392. The International Search Report of PCT/US22/014884 has identified TheMotor as meeting novelty, inventive step, and industrial applicability requirements to attain patent when Suppes’ prior art does not count as prior art which is true for all nationalizations for those countries with 12-month grade periods and all nationalizations of the 2020 and 2021 PCTs. [patent pending]
Motor Paradigm—Coils are not needed for efficient design of electric motors and limiting designs to coils distorts the optimization field; better design criteria is based around efficient heat transfer and avoiding heat-sensitive electrical insulation in the hottest parts of the motor. The paradigm is that optimal motor designs for standard applications should use coils (which are lousy heat transfer devices, see Figure, above).
Technology - The PCB (Printed Circuit Board, see Figure right, from pcbstator.com) Motor provides an alternative to coils, and variations in its design can provide major increase in both overall heat transfer coefficients and resistance to high temperatures. The PCB motor is a commercial circuit-based stator technology designed around the ease and advantages of being able to print a motor stator on a circuit board. TheMotor technology of is circuit-based stator designed around ease of heat transfer and ease of stacking for induction motor designs—the design criteria are different with different patentable feature emerging, but the circuit approach and aspects of the pattern are clearly demonstrated by the PCB motor; it is more than a concept. Thin disc stators and thin disc rotors can be stacked in axial-flux induction motors that is a small fraction of the weight and size of contemporary motors (without permanent magnets), and the lower weight translates to less material for Eddy current losses.
Patents Status – Patent pending in U.S. and identified as patentable by the International Search Report of application PCT/US22/014884. It is also disclosed and available for patent in applications PCT/US20/36936, PCT/US21/16392. The International Search Report of PCT/US22/014884 has identified TheMotor as meeting novelty, inventive step, and industrial applicability requirements to attain patent when Suppes’ prior art does not count as prior art which is true for all nationalizations for those countries with 12-month grade periods and all nationalizations of the 2020 and 2021 PCTs. [patent pending]
BREAKTHROUGH HYBRID ELECTRIC-FUEL JET ENGINE
Breakthrough Hybrid Electric-Fuel Jet Engine:
Jet Engine Paradigm—Jet engines are often characterized by the ideal Brayton Cycle with their performance correlated with pressure ratios. This leads to performance as interpreted as being hand-in-hand with the turbine expansion. However, higher jet engine efficiencies correlate with higher bypass ratios (fan air flow that bypasses the combustor between the compressor and turbine) which teaches against performance being tied to the expansion turbine. The paradigm is associating good jet engine performance with turbine expansion. Aerodynamic propulsor performance is properly associated with the surface integral of pressure, where propulsion force is the net forward component/vector of that integral. Efficiency at low speeds is dominated by what happens on the propeller/blade surface. Efficiency at high speeds is dominated by the moments of accelerating air (from temperature increase…mixing or combustion) on surfaces with trailing surface components (i.e. a combustion bell); this is true for all jet engines (turbojets, ramjets, and instant invention).
Technology – The improved jet engine uses electric power (rather than turbine power) to drive the fan/compressor. This seems a little absurd in view of the high weight and cost of batteries; however, in view of advances in high-speed solar aerial platforms (i.e. HS-Drone), solar power is both inexpensive and associated with essentially zero weight burden. When applied to the new era of air transit, over 80% of the fuel is displaced with free solar power. Fuel use allows for higher speeds, extended travel, and redundancy/safety in propulsion. The designs are much simpler with attainment of higher overall efficiencies in transitions from prop-only to prop/fan-assisted-jet to ramjet propulsion.
Patents Status – Patent protection is available as continuation-in-part or divisional filing of applications PCT/US22/014884, PCT/US20/36936, PCT/US21/16392, and US17/591034. No patent search report is available. [patent pending]
BREAKTHROUGH HIGH SPEED MASS TRANSIT
Breakthrough High Speed Mass Transit:
Paradigm—At high speeds, trains and cars must have design features that prevent them from leaving the ground and flipping. In view of this, it is absurd to use magnetic levitation and wheels to support the weight of highspeed mass transit.
Technology - Aerodynamic lift should be used in combination with the least expensive guideway; that guideway is a zipline with features that keep it straight when not under vehicle weight and allow it to support the full weight of vehicles (but not necessarily straight) when vehicles ARE stall. Many of these aspects are engineering “design” rather than “research and development”; however, certain research topics emerge as enabling. The most enabling is a zipline that is also the long-stator of a linear motor that both provides propulsion and transfers energy to the vehicle; such ziplines are possible, and research will enabling very low cost designs for those ziplines.
Patents Status – U.S. and Chinese patents are in hand, but must be renewed/maintained by end of 2022. [patented]
THE REST OF THE STORY
Each of these technologies has risks, challenges, and solutions; the more-prominent are covered in the following section.
BREAKTHROUGH AIRFRAME – THE REST OF THE STORY
The objective is to attain efficiencies (lift-to-drag ratios) that approach what is theoretically possible with flat plate airfoils. The Lift-to-Drag ratios (“L:D”) of a flat aircraft is approximated by the equation: L:D=57/[θ° +0.2+ 0.05*57h/l] which translates to 46:1 <L:D<107:1 for 1>θ°>0.3 at h/l less than 0.001. Contemporary airliners have L:D of ~16:1; HS-Drone counterparts target >50:1 (“3X”). Helicopters have L:D of ~5:1; the HS-Drone counterparts target >50:1 (“10X”). L:D is proportional to energy efficiency.
The “Towed Platform” solves problems of “flat plate airfoils”. The following are topics of problems and solutions.
Pitch Instability – Flat plate airfoils exhibit pitch instability in contemporary fuselage and wing designs; that same flat plate airfoil is inherently stable when pulled through a front hinge joint. This is the primary motivation and basis for this invention.
Low Structural Strength – A thin plate does not make a good wing due to lack of structural strength, but when weight is evenly distributed over a flat plate the lift and weight are equal and opposite throughout, alleviating most structural strength needs. One solution is to distribute the weight of solar cells and thin lithium batteries over a thin Towed Platform power supply (like a banner behind an aircraft). The bottom line is that flat plate airfoils do not make good lateral-extending wings, but they make great lifting body surfaces in novel designs.
Height of Platform – The height of the platform increases drag; the critical dimensionless parameter is the height divided by the length. To attain a less than 10% decrease in L:D, this ratio should be less than 0.03 (i.e. 18 cm height for a 6 meter chord), which is difficult to attain for a structural wing but easy to attain for a Towed Platform.
Control – To achieve high performance, air’s angle of attack should be maintained at a low value (i.e. 1>θ°>0.3) which would be difficult using active control of an object that has pitch instability; however, the Towed Platform has inherent stability and passively attains a stable velocity-dependent value. The risk is vibration where damping provides a solution.
BREAKTHROUGH THEMOTOR – THE REST OF THE STORY
The following are deficiencies of the PCB stator circuit (see figure):
High Current Operation – In the drop-in replacement of nI (number of coil loops times current) the current in a single loop (or three-quarters of a loop) is n times greater. This can be a problem in some applications; however, electric cars and aircraft typically allow for high current leads to the motor; it is not a problem.
Increased Resistance Losses – The objective is to reduce the mass of copper by 50% to 90% and the mass of core materials by 50% to 95%. This is achieved by a 2X to 10X increase in the overall heat transfer coefficient of the hottest part of the coil/circuit. This is achieved by: a) eliminating all electrical insulator coating except for select out surfaces and b) increasing current flux flowing through the circuit. Higher overall heat transfer coefficients enables the higher current flux. Higher currents lead to higher resistance losses which is in part balanced by lower Eddy current losses from thinner core sections. A benchmark motor at 90% efficiency with losses of: 4.3% (resistance), 2.85% (iron core Eddy current and other), and 2.85% other; the motor efficiencies are 90%, 89%, and 84.5% for a 100%, 50%, and 25% of the copper circuit mass. A 5.5% reduction in efficiency is the price for a 75% reduction in mass and cost. For highly efficient airframes, the propulsion requirements for takeoff can readily be 10X that needed for cruising; and takeoff power needs are only needed for tens of seconds. When everything is taken into account, the downside of TheMotor for electric aircraft is negligible while the upside of lower cost and weight are major.
Increased Magnetic Flux Leakage – Increased magnetic flux leakage can be a problem, but is design dependent. Both the stator circuit design and the rotor design impact magnetic flux leakage. This should not be an issue when designs guard against it.
BREAKTHROUGH ELECTRIC-FUEL JET ENGINE -THE REST OF THE STORY
When incorporating light weight electric motors (e.g. TheMotor) and on applications with solar-powered aircraft, jet speed capabilities can be provided at about an 80% reduction in fuel consumption due to the combination of only using jet speeds at higher velocities and higher efficiencies due to elimination of lost work associated with turbine operation and design constraints of turbojet engines. The only downside is the need for electric power from either batteries or solar cells. An additional advantage is redundancy in design where well-designed engines could run on electricity alone or fuel alone (as well as optimal combinations).
Breakthrough Hybrid Electric-Fuel Jet Engine:
Jet Engine Paradigm—Jet engines are often characterized by the ideal Brayton Cycle with their performance correlated with pressure ratios. This leads to performance as interpreted as being hand-in-hand with the turbine expansion. However, higher jet engine efficiencies correlate with higher bypass ratios (fan air flow that bypasses the combustor between the compressor and turbine) which teaches against performance being tied to the expansion turbine. The paradigm is associating good jet engine performance with turbine expansion. Aerodynamic propulsor performance is properly associated with the surface integral of pressure, where propulsion force is the net forward component/vector of that integral. Efficiency at low speeds is dominated by what happens on the propeller/blade surface. Efficiency at high speeds is dominated by the moments of accelerating air (from temperature increase…mixing or combustion) on surfaces with trailing surface components (i.e. a combustion bell); this is true for all jet engines (turbojets, ramjets, and instant invention).
Technology – The improved jet engine uses electric power (rather than turbine power) to drive the fan/compressor. This seems a little absurd in view of the high weight and cost of batteries; however, in view of advances in high-speed solar aerial platforms (i.e. HS-Drone), solar power is both inexpensive and associated with essentially zero weight burden. When applied to the new era of air transit, over 80% of the fuel is displaced with free solar power. Fuel use allows for higher speeds, extended travel, and redundancy/safety in propulsion. The designs are much simpler with attainment of higher overall efficiencies in transitions from prop-only to prop/fan-assisted-jet to ramjet propulsion.
Patents Status – Patent protection is available as continuation-in-part or divisional filing of applications PCT/US22/014884, PCT/US20/36936, PCT/US21/16392, and US17/591034. No patent search report is available. [patent pending]
BREAKTHROUGH HIGH SPEED MASS TRANSIT
Breakthrough High Speed Mass Transit:
Paradigm—At high speeds, trains and cars must have design features that prevent them from leaving the ground and flipping. In view of this, it is absurd to use magnetic levitation and wheels to support the weight of highspeed mass transit.
Technology - Aerodynamic lift should be used in combination with the least expensive guideway; that guideway is a zipline with features that keep it straight when not under vehicle weight and allow it to support the full weight of vehicles (but not necessarily straight) when vehicles ARE stall. Many of these aspects are engineering “design” rather than “research and development”; however, certain research topics emerge as enabling. The most enabling is a zipline that is also the long-stator of a linear motor that both provides propulsion and transfers energy to the vehicle; such ziplines are possible, and research will enabling very low cost designs for those ziplines.
Patents Status – U.S. and Chinese patents are in hand, but must be renewed/maintained by end of 2022. [patented]
THE REST OF THE STORY
Each of these technologies has risks, challenges, and solutions; the more-prominent are covered in the following section.
BREAKTHROUGH AIRFRAME – THE REST OF THE STORY
The objective is to attain efficiencies (lift-to-drag ratios) that approach what is theoretically possible with flat plate airfoils. The Lift-to-Drag ratios (“L:D”) of a flat aircraft is approximated by the equation: L:D=57/[θ° +0.2+ 0.05*57h/l] which translates to 46:1 <L:D<107:1 for 1>θ°>0.3 at h/l less than 0.001. Contemporary airliners have L:D of ~16:1; HS-Drone counterparts target >50:1 (“3X”). Helicopters have L:D of ~5:1; the HS-Drone counterparts target >50:1 (“10X”). L:D is proportional to energy efficiency.
The “Towed Platform” solves problems of “flat plate airfoils”. The following are topics of problems and solutions.
Pitch Instability – Flat plate airfoils exhibit pitch instability in contemporary fuselage and wing designs; that same flat plate airfoil is inherently stable when pulled through a front hinge joint. This is the primary motivation and basis for this invention.
Low Structural Strength – A thin plate does not make a good wing due to lack of structural strength, but when weight is evenly distributed over a flat plate the lift and weight are equal and opposite throughout, alleviating most structural strength needs. One solution is to distribute the weight of solar cells and thin lithium batteries over a thin Towed Platform power supply (like a banner behind an aircraft). The bottom line is that flat plate airfoils do not make good lateral-extending wings, but they make great lifting body surfaces in novel designs.
Height of Platform – The height of the platform increases drag; the critical dimensionless parameter is the height divided by the length. To attain a less than 10% decrease in L:D, this ratio should be less than 0.03 (i.e. 18 cm height for a 6 meter chord), which is difficult to attain for a structural wing but easy to attain for a Towed Platform.
Control – To achieve high performance, air’s angle of attack should be maintained at a low value (i.e. 1>θ°>0.3) which would be difficult using active control of an object that has pitch instability; however, the Towed Platform has inherent stability and passively attains a stable velocity-dependent value. The risk is vibration where damping provides a solution.
BREAKTHROUGH THEMOTOR – THE REST OF THE STORY
The following are deficiencies of the PCB stator circuit (see figure):
- The circuit board creates a resistance to heat transfer.
- The circuit board creates a gap in coupling back-to-back induction circuits which reduces effectiveness.
- Multiple adjacent circuit sections on the same board reduce the core area and a reduction in the core area reduces magnetic flux which reduces power for any respective motor.
- The circuit board does not have a magnetic core material which would increase magnetic field flux density.
- The circuit board interferes with rotor sections around a radius perimeter of the stator which could be used to reduce leakage of magnetic flux.
High Current Operation – In the drop-in replacement of nI (number of coil loops times current) the current in a single loop (or three-quarters of a loop) is n times greater. This can be a problem in some applications; however, electric cars and aircraft typically allow for high current leads to the motor; it is not a problem.
Increased Resistance Losses – The objective is to reduce the mass of copper by 50% to 90% and the mass of core materials by 50% to 95%. This is achieved by a 2X to 10X increase in the overall heat transfer coefficient of the hottest part of the coil/circuit. This is achieved by: a) eliminating all electrical insulator coating except for select out surfaces and b) increasing current flux flowing through the circuit. Higher overall heat transfer coefficients enables the higher current flux. Higher currents lead to higher resistance losses which is in part balanced by lower Eddy current losses from thinner core sections. A benchmark motor at 90% efficiency with losses of: 4.3% (resistance), 2.85% (iron core Eddy current and other), and 2.85% other; the motor efficiencies are 90%, 89%, and 84.5% for a 100%, 50%, and 25% of the copper circuit mass. A 5.5% reduction in efficiency is the price for a 75% reduction in mass and cost. For highly efficient airframes, the propulsion requirements for takeoff can readily be 10X that needed for cruising; and takeoff power needs are only needed for tens of seconds. When everything is taken into account, the downside of TheMotor for electric aircraft is negligible while the upside of lower cost and weight are major.
Increased Magnetic Flux Leakage – Increased magnetic flux leakage can be a problem, but is design dependent. Both the stator circuit design and the rotor design impact magnetic flux leakage. This should not be an issue when designs guard against it.
BREAKTHROUGH ELECTRIC-FUEL JET ENGINE -THE REST OF THE STORY
When incorporating light weight electric motors (e.g. TheMotor) and on applications with solar-powered aircraft, jet speed capabilities can be provided at about an 80% reduction in fuel consumption due to the combination of only using jet speeds at higher velocities and higher efficiencies due to elimination of lost work associated with turbine operation and design constraints of turbojet engines. The only downside is the need for electric power from either batteries or solar cells. An additional advantage is redundancy in design where well-designed engines could run on electricity alone or fuel alone (as well as optimal combinations).