Patent Publication Number: US-2010127509-A1

Title: Gravity Engine

Description:
This application claims priority from U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/117,075 filed on Nov. 21, 2008 and incorporated herein in its entirety by reference. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The invention herein disclosed relates generally to energy generation. More particularly it relates to a combination gravity and buoyancy engine, providing energy for work purposes, through the concurrent employment of both gravitational force on a plurality of spheres having mass, and energy developed from a repositioning of those spheres through the employment of gravity and buoyancy. 
     2. Prior Art 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Industrialized countries throughout the world in the 20 th  and 21 st  centuries have an ever increasing requirement for energy proportional to their populations and production of products for national and international consumption. Conventionally, water power such as dams, or burning of fossil fuels such as oil and gas, have provided the modern world with their main source of energy for industry and for every more energy dependent populations. 
     With the increase in the world&#39;s population and the industrial output of new industrialized nations such as China, combined with ever decreasing natural energy resources, there is an increasing need to find alternate energy sources. Because of the modern theory of global warming being caused from burning fossil fuels, and the problems with pollution that oil causes in the world&#39;s environment, it is preferable if new energy sources are non-polluting and that they do not produce carbon dioxide. 
     As a result, greater emphasis is increasingly being placed on creating mechanical devices which either operate more efficiently, or which produce energy, in an attempt to conserve current resources. However, it is currently being recognized that many alternative energy sources exist, such as wind power, which are being under utilized. Further, many potential non-polluting, renewable natural energy resources, such as gravity and solar energy, are currently under-exploited. 
     As such, there is an unmet need for a widely deployable and inexpensive new energy capturing device and method. Such a method should be employable using a device which captures natural energy forces like water power, rather than burning fossil fuels to generate energy. Still further, such a method and device should be adaptable for use in a wide variety of venues and energy requirement situations using conventional means to connect the generated power to devices requiring it. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The energy capturing apparatus and method herein described and disclosed, combines and harnesses power from gravity acting on a plurality of spheres having mass, in combination with the power harnessed from the force on the spheres from buoyancy during the return of those spheres to an elevated position. Employing this capture of energy and power from this combination of two forces, mechanical energy can be harnessed. The mechanical energy so captured, using conventional means for communication of mechanical power, may be employed to directly power mechanical devices requiring power for work such as the production of electrical power on the grid which may be transmitted great distances or just to power machinery locally. 
     The method employing the system herein, or those similar systems as would occur to those skilled in the art, harnesses the gravitational force acting on the mass of a plurality of spheres engageable to a substantially vertically disposed conveyor system. Using this gravitational force acting on the mass of the individual spheres engaged to the conveyer system, power is thereby harnessed and communicated mechanically to rotate wheels engaged to a conveyor belt which has positions thereon for temporary engagement to the plurality of balls. The conveyer-connected wheels or gears act to directly communicate power from the forces of the mass of the plurality of balls to machinery requiring power to operate. Using conventional means to communicate the power generated from this gravitational attraction of the spheres or balls, energy may be thereby communicated locally to machinery such as a mill to produce wood products. Alternatively, the power harnessed may be communicated mechanically in a conventional fashion to a means for electrical energy generation such as a generator to provide electricity which may be transmitted using conventional means to a remote location. 
     In operation of the device and method, the plurality of spheres are consecutively deposited upon shelves engaged to the conveyor belt. The belt is operatively engaged to a rotational system in a conventional fashion such as using a chain or notched belt engaged to geared wheels operatively engaged to the chain or belt. The force of gravity attracting the mass of each of the spheres consecutively deposited upon the belt accelerates the belt in its rotational engagement to the gears or wheels. This generally circular rotation of the belt or chain, caused by the forces acting on the mass of each sphere, imparts the force or torque to the engaged wheels causing a rotation. Conventional mechanical engagement to the rotating wheels or gears will thus provide power to whatever device is engaged thereto. 
     A novel component of the device and system herein is the manner of return of the spheres, from their disengagement at a lowest point on the belt or conveyor, to an elevated position such that they may be re-engaged upon the conveyor belt. Employing the method herein, at a bottom position during the rotation of the belt of the conveyor each sphere is operatively dismounted from the belt and deposited upon a ramp. The ramp adjacent to the dismount position of the spheres is adapted with means for sealing from fluid pressure and operates to place the spheres into a solution having a relative density or specific gravity which on a volume basis is higher than that of the volume of each sphere. So deposited in the fluid, and with the spheres having a relative density lower than that of the area of fluid so occupied, the spheres will thus rise in the solution due to their buoyancy. The relative force generated by rising spheres may be adjusted by changing the relative density of the fluid or that of the material forming the spheres or by combinations of both. For instance the sphere may be made of plastic or the fluid changed from water to alcohol. Alternatively, the spheres may be filled with a gas such that they are inherently buoyant when placed within a fluid such as water. 
     Once spheres have reached the bottom of the shaft occupied by the conveyor system, they are communicated to a position where they are submerged within the bottom of the elongated substantially vertical liquid filled cylinder. Having a relative density less than that of the fluid for the area they occupy therein, the spheres will naturally rise to a position for deposit back onto the conveyer system where the process starts over. The longer the vertical rise of the fluid cylinder, and the length of the conveyer shaft, the more spheres may be employed concurrently. An increase in the number of spheres communicating force to the conveyer will cause a resulting increase in the energy generating power in the conveyor since the mass of the spheres multiplies the force on the conveyor in a manner proportional to their number and the height of the drop to the bottom of the cylinder. Additionally, since the force of the spheres being acted upon by gravity is multiplied by the number and mass of the spheres themselves and the wheels or gears rotating in concert with the belt are on a set number of axles, friction loss is minimized as the number of spheres increases. 
     Particularly preferred in the disclosed device and method is the means for urging the spheres from the vertical fluid filled conduit and back onto the conveyer. Employing the plurality of spheres herein disposed in the fluid, each sphere communicated to the bottom of the fluid filled conduit will rise vertically at a force upwards toward the surface. The rising force the higher density fluid exerts on each submerged sphere will provide an upward force on the spheres according to the Archimedes principle. This principle provides that the magnitude of the upward force exerted onto the spheres is equal to that of the mass of the volume of the fluid which is displaced minus the mass of the volume of the material forming the spheres. Consequently, once engaged within the fluid chamber at the bottom of the belt, the spheres will naturally rise to the surface. Upon reaching the top of the fluid surface, the leading sphere will be consecutively urged by the upward force of the rearward trailing spheres acting on it. The combined force of the trailing spheres reaching the surface of the fluid provides a means to push preceding spheres over the top of the curved edge of the fluid filled conduit, where it rolls to a re-engagement on the conveyer belt. 
     With respect to the above description, before explaining at least one preferred embodiment of the invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and to the arrangement of the components or steps of the method set forth in the following description or illustrations in the drawings. The various apparatus and methods of employment of the invention are capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways which will be obvious to those skilled in the art once they are educated in the art herein upon review this disclosure. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting. 
     Therefore, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the conception upon which this disclosure is based, may readily be utilized as a basis for designing of other devices, methods and systems for carrying out the several purposes of the present gravity engine. It is important, therefore, that the objects and claims be regarded as including such equivalent construction and methodology insofar as they do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present invention. 
     Further objectives of this invention will be brought out in the following part of the specification wherein detailed description is for the purpose of fully disclosing the invention without placing limitations thereon. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWING FIGURES 
         FIG. 1  is a side view of a depiction of the operating principles of the device and method herein. 
         FIG. 2  is a top view, close up, depicting a means for sealed engagement of the bottom of the shaft housing the conveyor with the fluid cylinder. 
         FIG. 3  is a top view of the fluid cylinder showing a frusto-conical shaped top housing leading to an exit conduit for the spheres. 
         FIG. 4  depicts the engagement of the spheres from the top of the fluid cylinder to the conveyor belt. 
         FIG. 5  depicts another mode providing the reinsertion of the spheres to the conveyer using a worm gear at the lower end of the fluid filled conduit which creates a current in the lower end of the conduit to increase the rate of sphere rise. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION 
     Referring now to the drawings in  FIGS. 1-5  wherein similar parts are identified by like reference numerals, there is seen in  FIG. 1 , the top view of the preferred device  10  adapted to provide power pursuant to the method herein for providing mechanical power through capture of using both gravity and buoyancy in combination. 
     The device  10 , employs a plurality of spheres  12  in system wherein gravity acting on the mass of each sphere  12  is communicated as power to operate a conveyer  20  as the spheres  12  descend. Concurrently, buoyancy provides the power to raise the descended spheres  12  to an elevated level where the operation is repeated. This concurrent employment of the forces of gravity acting on the spheres  12  during a descending state and buoyancy acting to raise the spheres  12  provides a novel manner to harness the energy of gravity acting on the spheres  12  to provide power to rotate the conveyer which is engaged to communicate the harnessed power to operate machinery. 
     Each of the spheres  12  is sized for removable engagement upon a conveyor  20  adapted to receive it using shelves  22  adapted to support the spheres  12  during decent. Means to dismount the spheres  12  is provided by a tilting of the shelves  22  as they approach and traverse over the wheel  22  at the lower end of the conveyor  20 . Each sphere  12  is also formed in a fashion which imparts sufficient buoyancy to the sphere  12  such that when it is submerged in a fluid  14  held within an elongated conduit  19 , the sphere  12  will rise with a force. The system adapted for employment with the device  10  herein, or those that would reasonably occur to those skilled in the art, thus concurrently employs the forces of both gravity and buoyancy concurrently to generate power to do work. 
     In operation, a plurality of spheres  12  are sized to be operatively removably engaged upon shelves  18  which are each operatively engaged upon a conveyor  20 . The conveyor  20  is rotationally engaged around a pair of wheels  22 , or gears or the like, such that a rotation of the conveyor  20  from the force of gravity acting on the spheres  12  will cause a rotation of the engaged wheels  22 . 
     Gravitational force on each of the plurality of spheres  12  removably supported on the shelves  18  of the conveyor  20 , imparts a downward force on one side of the belt  27  of the conveyor  20  to rotate operatively engaged wheels  22  which are engaged to the conveyor belt  27 . The conveyor  20  may employ a belt  27  which may be a chain, notched belt, or similar flexible rotational member adapted to engage with the wheels  20  at both ends. 
     At a position adjacent to the lowest point of the conveyor  20 , the wheels  22  engaged to the belt  27  are mechanically engaged to an axle  24 , or by using internal shafts  29  engaged to the axle  24 , or other means for mechanical engagement such that their rotational force of the wheels  22  from the conveyor  20  may be communicated to a device requiring power to do work such as a generator or directly to machinery. 
     The conveyer  20  may be housed to operate within a shaft  21  or other manner to allow descending of the spheres  12  thereon. At a lower point in the rotation of the conveyor  20  or in the shaft  21 , the spheres  12  are consecutively dismounted from the shelves  18  or other means for engagement to the conveyor  20 , and are deposited in a manner to traverse upon a descending ramp  26  leading to an entryway  23  at the lower end of a fluid filled conduit  19 . Means for sealing at the entryway  23  to the conduit  19  is provided to prevent fluid  14  from entering the shaft  21  under the fluid pressure at the bottom of the substantially vertically disposed fluid-filled conduit  19 . Such a means for sealing fluid  14  from the shaft  21  may be a worm gear  28  in rotational sealed engagement with the ramp  26 , or by maintaining air pressure in the shaft  21  at a level substantially equal to the fluid pressure where the shaft  21  communicates with the fluid  14  in the bottom of the fluid filled conduit  19 , or by other means for prevention of fluid  14  rising into the shaft  21  as would occur to those skilled in the art. The worm gear  28  may be engaged to a small motor  27  to aid in its rotation, or should the gravitational force of the spheres  12  acting on the worm gear  28  be sufficient to rotate the worm gear  28 , then the motor  27  can double as a generator. 
     The spheres  12 , once communicated to the fluid  14  in the conduit  19 , are sufficiently buoyant therein to rise in the fluid  14  due to their having a relative density or specific gravity adapted to cause such a rise. So deposited in the fluid  14 , and with the spheres having a relative density lower than that of the area of fluid  14  so occupied, the spheres  12  will thus rise in the fluid  14  due to the force of their buoyancy therein. 
     The force and speed of the rise of the spheres  12  in the fluid  14  may be adjusted by changing the solution forming the fluid  14  or changing the material forming the spheres  12  to those which have higher or lower specific gravity factors relative to the other. As noted, the spheres  12  might also be filled with a gas such that they are inherently buoyant when placed within a fluid  14  such as water. 
     As can be seen in  FIG. 1 , once the spheres  12  rise to the surface of the fluid  14 , they reach a funnel shaped termination point adjacent to the top of the conduit  19  depicted as cover  30 . This frusto conical shape at the upper termination point of the conduit  19 , herds the spheres  12  in a manner causing them to enter the return conduit  32  which is at the narrow end of the funnel shaped termination point. This focusing or herding of the leading spheres  12  will cause the trailing spheres  12  to combine buoyancy forces and provide a means to push preceding spheres  12  over the top of the fluid filled conduit  19  along the return conduit  32  and to a re-engagement on the conveyor  20  to repeat the process. 
     Finally, an alternative mode of communication of the spheres  12  to the conduit  19  is shown in  FIG. 5 . In this mode reinsertion of the spheres  12  to the conveyer  20  is accomplished by placement of the worm gear  28  of  FIG. 2 , at the lower end of the fluid filled conduit  19  and having a loop  29  in the conduit  19  to create a current in the lower end of the conduit  19 . This will increase the rate of spheres  12  rising through the conduit  19 . 
     While all of the fundamental characteristics and features of the energy generation device employing gravity and buoyancy have been shown and described herein, with reference to particular embodiments thereof, a latitude of modification, various changes and substitutions are intended in the foregoing disclosure and it will be apparent that in some instances, some features of the invention may be employed without a corresponding use of other features without departing from the scope of the invention as set forth. It should also be understood that various substitutions, modifications, and variations may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. Consequently, all such modifications and variations and substitutions are included within the scope of the invention as defined by the following claims.