STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

Not Applicable

NOTICE OF MATERIAL SUBJECT TO COPYRIGHT PROTECTION

A portion of the material in this patent document may be subject to copyright protection under the copyright laws of the United States and of other countries. The owner of the copyright rights has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the United States Patent and Trademark Office publicly available file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever. The copyright owner does not hereby waive any of its rights to have this patent document maintained in secrecy, including without limitation its rights pursuant to 37 C.F.R. § 1.14.

BACKGROUND

1. Technical Field

The subject invention relates to new and retro-fit systems utilized on a chemical fuel-powered vehicle that converts the vehicle into a hybrid chemical fuel-electric vehicle. For the sake of convenience and not by way of limitation, when the term chemical fuel is utilized it will be assumed that gasoline, diesel, ethanol, hydrogen, and equivalent fuels are within the realm of this disclosure. The subject system incorporates into new and existing vehicles an improved efficiency electric motor that is termed a “counter-rotating electric motor” that comprises a counter-rotating electric motor suspended between first and second support bearings, wherein the first support bearing is rotationally secured about an armature shaft attached to and extending from an armature of the motor and the second support bearing is rotationally secured about a stator shaft attached to and extending from a stator of the motor. The counter-rotating motor accesses torsional forces normally lost by utilizing traditional motor mounts that prevent the stator from rotating and provides a higher efficiency motor than traditional motors, in terms of a higher efficiency for the ratio of mechanical power output Po to electric power input Pi (i.e.: the (Po/Pi)×100=% efficiency value is increased for the counter-rotating motor system, in addition to total torque output). Additionally, a unique counter-rotating electric motor encircled driveline is employed to couple electric force into the vehicle's power-train or transfer electric force from the vehicle's power-train. The counter-rotating motor may contain brushes or be brushless (the exemplary embodiment described in detail below is for a brushless counter-rotating motor, but an equivalent brush-containing counter-rotating motor is considered to be within the realm of this disclosure).

2. Background Discussion

The benefits and dramatic mileage improvement of hybrid vehicles over traditional gasoline vehicles are well established. New hybrid vehicles may be adapted with the subject counter-rotating motor invention, however, for a consumer to buy a new hybrid vehicle the purchase is relatively expensive. In terms of simple monetary savings for merely the increased fuel economy, to buy a new hybrid vehicle would not, normally, be cost effective if you already own a good/functioning vehicle since the loss in cash value of trading in the otherwise good vehicle and all of the related added costs of buying the new vehicle would require a very long time to recoup in fuel savings. Thus, the subject invention may be utilized with both new and old vehicles.

For a traditional brush-containing DC motor, the outside/surrounding motor housing is stationary, as is the stator/field magnets within the housing. Normally, the stator is usually affixed to the housing. An internal armature/rotor is attached to a shaft or axle that rotates during operation (in some versions of a standard motor the rotor may be termed the armature). Thus, the armature shaft/axle extends out from the stationary motor housing and rotates when electrical current is applied to the motor (the armature/rotor rotates within the stationary stator/field magnets). In brush-containing motors, physical brushes are required to transmit the electricity from the outside source to the rotor via a commutator interfacing that pulses the current to alternate the field polarity in the coils of the armature, thereby generating the rotational driving force used to turn the armature. The history of traditional brush-containing electric motors is extensive and one version is found at www.sparkmuseum.com/MOTORS.HTM.

For a traditional brushless DC motor, the outside/surrounding motor housing is, again, stationary, as is the stator within the housing. Normally, the stator is usually affixed to the housing. An internal armature/rotor is attached to a shaft or axle that rotates during operation. Thus, the armature shaft/axle extends out from the stationary motor housing and rotates when electrical current is applied to the motor (the armature/rotor rotates within the stationary stator/field magnets). In brushless motors, physical brushes are not required to transmit the electricity from the outside source to the rotor. The configuration of brushless motors permits either a design utilizing permanent magnets affixed to the stator or, more commonly, the permanent magnets are associated with the armature and the field windings are located in the stationary stator. Clearly, brushless motors do not use physical brushes for commutation; instead, they are electronically commutated by standard techniques. To produce rotational movement, suitably pulsed currents are delivered to the windings and timed via incorporated means such as the application of standard Hall Effect sensors/magnets, back emf, and equivalent means. Brushless DC motors have many well-known advantages over brush-containing motors.

Even though an extremely limited number of specialty counter-rotating brush-containing DC motors are described in published patents (see immediately below), it is stressed that no references have been discovered that utilize, suggest, hint, teach, or imply a counter-rotating electric DC motor that operates via a brushless technology in which both the armature (inner rotational member) and the stator (outer rotational member) physically rotate in opposite directions while maintaining continuous electrical contact with exterior control and power elements.

A counter-rotating electric DC motor is described in related U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,431,255, 2,456,993, and 2,462,182. The disclosed motor was to be used in torpedo propulsion systems in which a coaxial propeller assembly drove separate propellers in opposite directions to aid in keeping the torpedo traveling in a desired direction. Clearly, the operational lifetime of such a motor is extremely limited, given its destruction upon hitting a target. To eliminate necessary centrifugal/centripetal influenced commutator-to-brush contact breaks created while the stator is rotating (normally the stator is not rotating so a constant resilient means or spring simply forces a brush inward and towards the center of rotation, thereby contacting the commutator for the required electrical communication, but rotation of the stator causes the brushes to “float” away from the commutator), the device contained a “radial commutator” (a disk extending outwardly from the axis of rotation) and contact brushes directed parallel to the axis of rotation. This radial commutator/brush design is complex, not easily fabricated, and, thus, expensive to manufacture.

In U.S. Pat. No. 3,738,270 a brushless electric DC motor for a torpedo is disclosed. To maintain stability during its course in water to its target, oppositely rotating propellers are beneficial. The design utilizes a stationary stator around which two independent armatures rotate in opposite directions to drive the associated propellers in corresponding opposite directions.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,056,746 presents a counter rotation electric motor that is quite similar to the design present immediately above (′270). Once again a radial commutator/brush design is utilized in the operation of the device. An interesting analysis of the benefits of a counter-rotating motor is presented: 1) increasing the field cutting speed of the armature to increase power output of the motor; 2) minimizing field collapse; and 3) maintaining the angular rate of the armature which is compatible with the containment of the generated centrifugal forces. There is no discussion, suggestion, implication, or teaching that the related motor was more efficient in using less input energy and producing more output work. It is stressed that it has been discovered that the subject invention dramatically increases the efficiency of subject counter-rotating motor.

A DC rotary machine is related in U.S. Pat. No. 4,259,604. The commutator/brush design in this device is very simplistic and is not created to operate at high rotational velocities. Typically, the motor is used in a machine such as a tape recorder, VTR, and the like that need low rotational speeds. The commutator is of standard cylindrical design and the brushes are contacted in a permanent fashion against the commutator bars.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,375,047 presents a torque compensating electrical motor. This device is comprised of two motors, either next to one another in a serial connection or inside one another. The armature is attached to the axle and is utilized for output work. The stator rotates, but is attached to nothing but the supporting bearings, and is spinning to simply eliminate internal torque and not to produce work. The subject invention utilizes both the rotating armature and the rotating stator to generate work. A critical difficulty exists in this patent since the electrical connection are not described or discussed, except to say that the “motor control are well known and do not form part of the present invention” which is simply not a true and valid statement. The figures show only truncated wires coming from the field coils with no details concerning connection to “outside” power and control means. When counter-rotation of motor components is part of the operation of the device the means for electrical communication is critically important and extremely difficult to achieve. Apparently, the reference to “well known” implies some sort of undisclosed brush/commutator configuration (given the 1983 issue date) or a merely theoretical and non-enabled invention was related.

A rotating-field machine is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,645,963. In this device, which is extremely similar to '047 immediately above, again, the armature is attached to the axle and is utilized for output work. The stator rotates, but is attached to nothing but the supporting bearings, and is spinning to simply rotate the field and not to produce work. Once again, the subject invention utilizes both the rotating armature and the rotating stator to generate work.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,067,932 discloses a dual-input motor in which two armatures rotate either together or in opposite directions within a stationary/fixed outer stator. The stator is rigidly affixed to a suspension member or other stationary anchor.

A dual rotary AC generator is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,089,734. This disclosure presents, basically, a motor run in reverse, thereby becoming a generator in which both the magnetic field and armature rotate in opposite directions. Unfortunately, the manner in which the device receives or delivers electricity is not related, nor are any internal electrical components described.

U.S. Patent Publication No.: 2006/0163963 discloses a counter rotating generator. Once again, a radially disposed set of disks are utilized in the commutator/brush design. In this case, the slip rings have a relatively large diameter (which is claimed to decrease heat production) and contact brushes in a continual manner, with constant force, regardless of rotational speed. Additionally, the described generator is used in relatively slow RPM situations in which the wind or manual cranking are utilized as the driving forces, unlike the subject invention that may be operated from relatively low to relatively high RPM values.

Disclosed in “Counter-Rotating Permanent Magnet Brushless DC Motor for Underwater Propulsion,” J. Qiu et al., IPEMC 2006 is a “theoretical” counter-rotational motor that was discussed via a test-bed that comprised two standard motors that rotated in opposite directions (an “attempt” to mimic a physically real counter-rotational motor). An extremely complex set of Hall Effect Sensors was theorized as being necessary to operate their motor, should an actual motor be fabricated, which did not occur. Additionally, slip-ring connectors were theorized as a means for electrical connections.

A brush-containing motor is related in two generally theoretical papers from Japan. A device labeled as an “Anti-Directional-Twin Rotary Motor” is described that utilizes multiple brushes and slip rings of considerable size to power the outer rotor or as the authors state “the size of the slip ring is not negligible.” The analysis of their brush-containing motor presents and relies on many theoretical estimations and adjustments to the very limited data that was recorded. It is of particularly note that “the stator resistance was adjusted so that the theoretical torque-speed curve might fit the measured curve. No comments or comparisons of any sort are made or suggested between their twin-rotor motor and a motor in which one of the rotors is stopped. Clearly, due to the difficulty of actually operating their multi-brush/slip ring motor, much of the presented/plotted data is not actual physical collected data for a twin-rotor motor but “estimated” data from “equivalent” situations. Also, it is plainly stated that the incorporation of the brush/slip ring containing means decreases efficiency by at least 20%. The papers are: “Anti-Directional-Twin-Rotary Motor Drive for Electric Vehicles” by Atsuo Kawamura, et al., page 453, 1994 IEEE (0-7803-1993-1/94 © 1994 IEEE) and “Analysis of Anti-Directional-Twin-Rotary Motor Drive Characteristics for Electric Vehicles” by Atsuo Kawamura, et al., IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics, Vol. 44, No. 1, February 1997 (0278-0046/97 © 1997 IEEE).

Finally, a purely “theoretical” brush containing motor with a rotational stator is presented in expired U.S. Pat. No. 6,433,451. On its face, this is a completely non-functional and imaginary invention. This issued patent is, literally, filled with dozens of major errors, including: inconsistent statements; wrong/inappropriate equations; incorrectly and incompletely drawn figures; elements listed as being in the figures and not actually presented in the figures; and mechanically/electrically impossible configurations for the theoretical motor. Brushes are clearly present in bothFIGS. 1 and 2, yet the statement “[inFIG. 2] the new points for coupling of the mobile stator coils are23and24” does not correspond to the numbers23and24being presented in any of the figures. The statement “the proposed motor” plainly indicates a theoretical motor was never constructed since what is shown in the figures would not come close to actually functioning or even being capable of one rotation (as is obvious from the figures, components would physically run into one another upon rotation). Additionally, the “electrical distributor8” is not defined and the common definition of the term “distributor” presents an incorrect element. Further, the “Formulas Refresher” table presents a somewhat unrelated group of equations that are, mostly, utilized for linear motion and not appropriate in an analysis of rotational motion. Unfortunately, this patent was allowed to issue with all of the gross errors, untrue statements, and incorrect analysis.

BRIEF SUMMARY

An object of the subject invention is to produce a new vehicle or to retro-fit an existing gasoline vehicle with an electric motor to produce a hybrid gas-electric vehicle by incorporating either a traditional motor into the vehicle or an improved electric motor, normally a counter-rotating motor, that accesses torsional forces normally lost to a traditional motor-containing system.

Another objective of the subject invention is to provide a system that produces a new vehicle or retro-fits an existing chemical fuel vehicle with an electric motor to produce a hybrid gas-electric vehicle by incorporating either a traditional motor into the vehicle or an improved counter-rotating electric motor that accesses torsional forces normally lost to traditional stationary motor mounts, usually a motor encircled driveline to couple the electric motor with the chemical fuel engine to power the hybrid vehicle.

Yet a further objective of the subject invention is to manufacture a new vehicle or to retro-fit an existing chemical fuel vehicle with a counter-rotating electric motor that encircles the driveline, thereby producing a hybrid vehicle that utilizes electricity and chemical fuel for power.

Disclosed is relatively inexpensive counter-rotating motor system that may be utilized to produce new vehicle or to modify a traditional gasoline/chemical fuel vehicle into a hybrid chemical fuel-electric vehicle. For the retro-fit embodiment, the subject system's installation is relatively fast and uncomplicated. The result of the subject new or retro-fit embodiments is a major fuel savings created by, essentially, only using the counter-rotating electric motor to power the vehicle (driving at an equilibrium continuous set speed or coasting speeds) at selected speeds (usually slower speeds such as in stop and go traffic such as between red lights and in city-type driving). The subject new or retro-fit hybrid system has gas-saving benefits in daily commuting or city driving conditions since 95% of all driving is city driving. As with current hybrid vehicles, in general, the subject retro-fit hybrid has the ability to capture some of the expended energy (i.e.—whenever a driver is proceeding downhill or decelerating the subject modified vehicle slows down by automatically utilizing the subject motor as a generator and this helps in re-charging the batteries).

The subject hybrid new and retro-fit systems allow the modified vehicle to have a conventional high-horsepower gasoline/chemical fuel engine at the ready, on demand, while allowing the driver to drive the vehicle much of the time with the economical counter-rotating electric motor(s).

More specifically, the subject system comprises a counter-rotating electric motor or motors installed into or next to the vehicle's driveline or differential. When the counter-rotating electric motor system is employed, the counter-rotating power of the armature and the stator are converted/changed into a one directional force. This single direction is accomplished through the use of chain(s), gear(s), belt-drive(s), or the equivalent from of the armature end plus the use of chain(s), gear(s), belt-drive(s), or the equivalent from the stator end and both are connected to one shaft which results in the counter-rotating power being switched into a single directional force. This force is then transferred to the vehicle's drive-train. It is stressed that there is an inherent benefit of an automatic 50% gear reduction with use of the counter-rotating electric motor system (the gear reduction may be varied from 50% by such means as planetary gears that have any desired ratio of gearing and the like).

Further aspects of the invention will be brought out in the following portions of the specification, wherein the detailed description is for the purpose of disclosing fully preferred embodiments of the invention without placing limitations thereon.

Further aspects of the technology described herein will be brought out in the following portions of the specification, wherein the detailed description is for the purpose of fully disclosing preferred embodiments of the technology without placing limitations thereon.

