Patent Number: 
Section: description

The basic design of the spherical container and of its shell are described with general reference to the drawings and particular reference to FIG. 1. The spherical container is denoted as a whole by the reference symbol 10. It has a spherical shell 12 with a preferably uniform thickness D. The spherical shell consists of a plurality of layers in the radial direction. The innermost layer 14 is a layer made from a material which emits as few particles as possible in a temperature range as wide as possible. Furthermore, the inner layer must allow the force field generated by a second spherical shell layer to pass into the cavity of the interior of the sphere. In the exemplary embodiment shown, a second layer 16, the so-called magnetic layer, generates a magnetic field in the interior of the sphere which is designed such that anti-matter, if it is magnetically or electrically charged, is kept in the interior of the sphere without coming into contact with the wall. The second layer is expediently built up from individual, juxtaposed spherical shell segments 18 which are electrically controlled individually or in groups of suitable number by a central control device which ensures, for its part, that the field in the interior is uniform. The ferromagnetic anti-matter, for example anti-iron, is then uniformly attracted by the magnets in the envelope of the sphere. This produces at the center of the sphere and around a spherically symmetrical center domain a site for the anti-matter at which it can be kept in a state of equilibrium by suitable open-loop and/or closed-loop control operations, so that it does not come into contact with matter. Viewed in the radial direction, the individual magnets filling a spherical shell segment 18 are always identically polarized, for example the south pole can always be directed into the middle. Also provided is an evacuation opening 22 which radially penetrates the spherical shell and is connected to a corresponding vacuum generator. An outer layer 17 of the spherical shell consists of a material which is matched to the location and application of the storage container. Depending on the requirements made, this could, for example, be ceramic, in order to withstand high temperatures and offer only low heat conductivity toward the inside, or else it could also be a high-grade steel in order to ensure high mechanical loadability. Further exemplary embodiments of the materials for the outer layer can be put together in a corresponding way. Layers 14, 16, 17 are secured against mutual rotation by suitable projections and indentations in which these projections engage mechanically. However, it is also possible to use other anti-rotation means, depending on the material of the layers and the current application of the container. Electrically charged anti-matter is likewise kept in the center of the sphere by the magnetic field. With reference to FIG. 2, a further exemplary embodiment of the present invention will now be explained which can be used in conjunction with the spherical shell illustrated in FIG. 1 and a magnetic field in the interior of the sphere, but is likewise the subject matter for a particularly preferred exemplary embodiment in which electrically charged anti-matter is kept in the interior of the sphere by an electrostatic field. This latter embodiment is treated further below. In accordance with FIG. 2, the spherical container 10 is provided with a filling and emptying device which docks on the right-hand side in FIG. 2 or the left-hand side on the spherical container 10. The filling and emptying device is provided as a whole with the reference symbol 30. It comprises a continuous frame 32 which mechanically connects the part 34 illustrated on the right in the figure with the part 36 illustrated on the left in the figure. The prime task of the frame is to lend the arrangement 30 an appropriate mechanical stability, and to ensure that the arrangement 30 can be guided stably in a fashion suiting the openings located in the spherical shell, specifically a first, larger opening 38 and a second, smaller opening 40. The left-hand region 36 of the filling and emptying arrangement is formed by a cylindrical attachment 42. On the side directed toward the spherical shell, it has an opening which surrounds the first, larger opening 38 in the spherical shell, such that when properly used the opening cross section of the latter is preferably not reduced by the attachment 42. Arranged in the interior of the attachment 42 are two closing pieces, a first closing piece 44, which fits the larger opening 38 in the spherical shell, and a second closing piece 46, which fits the second, smaller opening 40 in the spherical shell. Like the remainder of the spherical shell, the closing pieces 44 and 46 comprise the above-described spherical shell segments. Starting from their convex outer surfaces, both closing pieces are coupled by means of a rigid connection, a rigid frame rod 47 which can absorb tensile and thrust forces in the direction of the illustrated longitudinal axis of the cylindrical attachment, and which ensures that the closing pieces can move as pairs with the same distance between them when a force is-exerted on one of the two closing pieces. This movement is then guided by the rigid coupling in such a way that it extends exactly in the axial direction through the center of the sphere and along the axis of the cylindrical attachment 42. By means of a drive represented only diagrammatically in the illustration, the two closing pieces can be moved along the central axis of the cylindrical attachment 42 out of the position illustrated in FIG. 2 and through the opening 38, and be guided further in this direction until the closing piece 46 fits in the opening 40 and, at the same time, the closing piece 44 fits in the opening 38. The lateral surface of the cylindrical attachment 42 has an inner layer structure which is similar to that of the spherical shell, in order likewise to be able to exert forces of magnetic attraction on the anti-matter in the interior thereof. The same reference symbols therefore apply here. Also located in the lateral surface of the cylindrical attachment is an introduction channel for anti-matter, which is re-machined in the manner of the design, mentioned in the introduction to the description, of the tubular storage container for anti-matter described by NASA. Reference is therefore made to the above-mentioned publication for further details on this introduction channel. The introduction channel opens into the cylindrical attachment 42 through an opening 52. The filling of the spherical container 10 with anti-matter which is ferromagnetic, that is to say, for example, anti-iron, is described below with reference to FIG. 2. The anti-matter passes through the introduction channel 50 into the interior of the cylindrical attachment 42. In order to control its position and movement in such a way that it does not come into contact with any wall bordering on the interior of the attachment 42 or of the shell 10, its movement is controlled by essentially three arrangements A, B and C which each generate a magnetic field which permits the above-described movement of the anti-matter. A and B are located on mutually opposite sides of the introduction channel and generate magnetic fields which are directed upstream. The direction of flow is illustrated in FIG. 2 by an arrow. A and B serve to brake the movement of the anti-matter. The movement of the matter in the direction of flow is rendered possible by a magnetic field C which is arranged opposite the introduction opening 52, and by corresponding magnets in the wall region, at that location, of the cylindrical attachment 42. Depending on the speed of the anti-matter, the polarity of C can be reduced, or even inverted. It is therefore possible to prevent the anti-matter from impinging in the region of the wall in which the magnetic field C is generated. The anti-matter is now located as a certain, prescribed quantity in a spherical mass X at the point of intersection between the axis of the introduction channel 50 and that of the cylindrical attachment 42. The introduction channel is now closed. An appropriate device is provided for this purpose. How the anti-matter reaches into the interior of the sphere will be described below. The direction of magnetization of the magnets contained in the closing pieces 44 and 46 can be controlled starting from their polarity and from the strength of the magnetic field. The closing pieces are now guided, as described above, into the interior of the spherical container by means of the above-mentioned mechanical drive, which can likewise be matched to the respective location and application of the overall device. During this movement, there builds up between the two closing pieces 44 and 46 a magnetic field which has a gradient which is set precisely so fine that during this movement the anti-matter is always located at the midpoint between the two closing pieces. The fine tuning of the magnetic fields D and E is performed by a central controller which is computer-based and whose most important input parameters are the speed/time characteristic of the closing pieces, the mass of anti-matter obtained, and the distance of the closing pieces from one another. The position drawn in FIG. 3 is reached in this way in the course of the movement, and at the end of the movement it is the closed position reached in FIG. 4. At the end of this movement, the magnetic field of the closing pieces D and E is controlled such that, the closer they come to their closed end position, the magnetic field strength approaches that field strength of the respectively neighboring spherical shell segments. This ensures that the anti-matter passes safely into the interior of the sphere. As described above, they are then located there in a position of equilibrium which can be maintained by exact open-loop control of the magnetic fields of the individual magnet segments. The maintenance of the anti-matter in the center of the spherical container 10 can advantageously be performed by closed-loop control by means of a closed control loop in addition to open-loop control. The feedback signal required for feeding the positional information back into the control loop can be generated using the most varied sensors. By virtue of the fact that the individual magnets which are contained in the spherical shell segments 18 can be set individually in terms of the strength of their magnetic field, it is possible for the magnetic field to be strengthened or weakened in one or other direction. Consequently, to the extent that it can be attracted by magnetic forces, the anti-matter moves in the interior of the spherical container 10. When dimensioning the size of the individual magnets in the spherical shell segments 18, it should be ensured that the temporal inertia of changes in magnetic field which the individual magnets experience for the purpose of the closed-loop control is as low as possible, in order to achieve efficient closed-loop control. For example, one or more light beams could be interrupted by the anti-matter when the latter is located in the center of the spherical container. The state of the interrupted light beams could then be converted into a signal which, within certain, prescribed tolerances, signals correct positioning of the anti-matter with reference to a plane in space. A repetition of the same principle for various other planes in space thus permits three-dimensional closed-loop control of the storage location of the anti-matter in the spherical container 10. With reference to FIG. 5, a description is given below of a further, preferred exemplary embodiment of the anti-matter storage device according to the invention which can be applied whenever the anti-matter is electrically charged. In this case, the same reference symbols denote the same parts as in FIGS. 2, 3 and 4. In a departure from the above-described exemplary embodiment, the shell of the spherical container 10 is now designed in principle as a spherical capacitor. Consequently, the materials of the individual layers of the layer-type composition of the spherical container must be matched in terms of the material. An embodiment of the spherical container which is suitable for negatively charged anti-matter is described below. It can be altered for anti-matter with opposite charge by appropriate modification. The negatively charged anti-matter can be produced, in principle, by bombardment with electrons which, for their part, utilize the valence positrons of the respective molecules. The shell, designed as a spherical capacitor, of the spherical container 10 comprises the three electrically required layers, specifically an inner capacitor spherical shell 60, which is negatively charged, a dielectric 62 and-an outer capacitor spherical shell 64 which is positively charged. These electrically active shells are preferably arranged concentrically. The shells are arranged secured against mutual rotation with the aid of anti-rotation means such as have already been explained in principle in the preceding exemplary embodiment. The anti-rotation means are not permitted to conduct any electric current. Electric charge is provided to outer shell 64 by a charging circuit 70 of any suitable or desired construction. Charging circuit 70 is controlled by a control device 74. A second charging circuit 72 may also be provided so that charge can be distributed separately and selectively transported to either of the upper one and a lower hemisphere of shell 64. The layer thickness, the distance and the materials must be selected as a function of the strength of electric field which is to be built up in the interior of the sphere. Once the anti-matter is centered in the interior of the spherical container, it is repelled uniformly from all sides, since the charges of anti-matter and of the inner spherical wall are equal. In the present case, both are negatively charged. It is thereby possible to dispense with complicated closed-loop control of the position of the anti-matter, since the anti-matter automatically takes up position in the center of the interior of the sphere, since in the absence of a gravitational field, producing a weight of the anti-matter, this site is the site of lowest potential energy. This site is displaced in the direction of the gravitational field when such a field is present. The closed-loop control of the electric field strength of the electrostatic field is therefore performed in a preferred way such that the weight of the anti-matter is compensated in an appropriate way by the strength of the electric field so that the matter does not come into contact with the wall. If the storage device is fixed at a set orientation relative to the direction of the gravitational field, the spherical shell and, similarly, a half-cylinder shell can generate a larger repulsive force than the respective other one. For this purpose, the half shells are then isolated electrically from one another and can be electrically charged using separate control circuits. The anti-matter can now in principle be conveyed into the sphere, or out of it, in the same way as was explained in the preceding exemplary embodiment. In the present case, the inner wall of the introduction channel 50 is likewise negatively charged, in order to prevent the negatively charged anti-matter from coming into contact with its walls. The inner wall of the cylindrical attachment 42, and the inner walls of the closing pieces 44 and 46, are also negatively charged for the same reason. The gradient of the electric field, which is required for the purpose of introducing the anti-matter in this exemplary embodiment, can be instituted by a weakening of the repulsive electric field which is generated in the closing piece 46. Likewise, a strengthening of the electric field in the closing piece 44 can be instituted. It is also possible to combine both these measures. The inner capacitor spherical shell consists of metal it the present exemplary embodiment. The dielectric intermediate shell expediently consists of a material which is best suited to the application and location as well as to the physical conditions occurring there such as temperature, pressure etc. The outer capacitor shell likewise consists of metal. In principle, the two closing pieces 44 and 46 have the same capacitor design as the remainder of the spherical shell. The open-loop control of the electric field in the interior of the sphere can be instituted from outside by appropriate supply leads. In a modification of-the last-described exemplary embodiment, it is also possible to dispense with the outer, positively charged layer, since it is, after all, only the radially inwardly directed, electrostatic field generated by the inner spherical shell which is relevant for stable storage of the anti-matter. The emptying operation can be implemented by correspondingly reversing the steps required for filling. Although the present invention was described above with the aid of a preferred exemplary embodiment, it is not limited thereto, but can be modified in multifarious ways. All these modifications are to be covered by the scope of protection of the claims as these are specified below. Spherical container Inner layer Second layer Outer layer Segments Evacuation opening Filling and emptying arrangement Frame Right-hand part of the frame Left-hand part of the frame First large opening Second small opening Cylindrical attachment First closing piece Frame rod Second closing piece Introduction channel Introduction opening Inner capacitor spherical shell Dielectric Outer capacitor spherical shell