Patent Publication Number: US-2006005735-A1

Title: Electromagnetic moving toy system

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS  
      The present application claims the benefit of priority of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/586,122, filed Jul. 7, 2004 for Edward Lopatinsky at al. the entire content of which is incorporated herein by reference. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
      The present invention relates generally to electromagnetic moving systems. More particularly, the present invention relates to toy moving devices like cars on railways, amphibian vehicles and/or submarines.  
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
      There are numerous designs of electromagnetic moving systems like miniature toy railway systems that include a track and at least one vehicle located on said track.  
      There are known systems of this type, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,861,306 “Toy Cog Railway” and U.S. Pat. No. 6,648,724 “Toy Railway Liquid Transfer Facility”, that include the track (platform, chassis) driven by an engine and vehicle mounted on said track.  
      Another type of these systems, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,729,866 “Toy Railway Vehicle and Switching Section”, comprises battery powered vehicle with electric motor.  
      The most widespread of known electromagnetic moving systems using as miniature toy railway systems include the track comprising at least one conductive band that is part of an electrical supply line which gives a power to the electric motor of said vehicle,—see, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,217,727 “Miniature Monorail System”.  
      The main problem of all known systems is that it is very difficult to provide reliable speedy moving vehicle because of the lack of stable attraction between a vehicle and a track, especially at the higher speed on the turns, also with vertical or almost vertical sections as a vertical ring or spiral. Even when track sections are located horizontally the vehicle moving with high speed can lose stability and get of the track. So, known electromagnetic moving systems must include special means providing reliable attraction between a vehicle and a track. In some cases it was done by using magnets on the bottom of the vehicle and making track from magnetic conductive (attractive) material. But these means in known systems also make additional resistance to the moving vehicle and needs much more power to move it. Most of such toys are having some special brushes that provide electrical contact with the electric grid. Or they might be batteries operating that not require any brushes, but instead need the control trough the wire or wireless and have limited operating time due to the batteries life.  
      Therefore, it would be generally desirable to provide an electromagnetic moving system that overcomes these problems and has reliable attraction between the vehicle and the track and at the same time to function as a moving device for such vehicle. Also, it is desirable to make this system as brushless connected directly to the power supply with no wireless control.  
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      According to the present invention an electromagnetic moving toy systems comprises a track and at least one vehicle located on said track. The general idea of the claimed invention is that the track and the vehicle of the system should be made as two parts of common electromagnetic drive which provides moving abilities of the vehicle along the track with good stable attraction between the vehicle and the track.  
      In order to achieve these objectives, according to the first embodiment of the present invention, the track comprises electrically connected coils windings, powered by electrical grid and controlled by switching controller in such way that at least two adjacent coil windings operating in time. The coils windings serve as a stator and located in a series way along the track. The vehicle comprises magnetic means interacting with the coils windings so the magnetic means serve as a moving body providing a possibility for moving of the vehicle.  
      The magnetic means are made as permanent magnets located along the vehicle with alternative polarity. The stator may further comprise a core made of magnet-conducting material with high eddy current resistance, made for example from silicon steel.  
      The electromagnetic interaction between the coils windings of the track and the magnetic means of the vehicle not only moves the vehicle, but it also provides at the same time, reliable attraction between the vehicle and the track in any possible configuration and location without any special additional means for it. It makes the electromagnetic moving toy system much more stable, reliable and gives the opportunity to operate at higher speed of the vehicle and in any position of it, thus providing the possibility to make the track as vertical ring or spiral, or in any other configuration. It also simplifies the system and makes it more durable because it is not necessary to use any kind of brushes.  
      According to the second embodiment, the electrically connected coils windings placed on the bottom part of the vehicle and connected directly to a power source located on the vehicle. Magnetic means located in a series way along the track and interact with the coils windings located on the vehicle, thus represent another way to achieve the similar goal by using the same general idea. Magnetic means are made as permanent magnets located along the track with alternative polarity. It gives, in general, similar effect as mentioned first embodiment. Such configuration provides the minimum necessary power usage and, as a result, the essential economy of energy.  
      The coils windings serve as a stator. The stator may comprise a core made of magnet-conducting material with high eddy current resistance, made for example from silicon steel. In this case the efficiency of electromagnetic interaction between the coils windings of the vehicle and the magnetic means of the track is much higher that provides economy of energy.  
      According to the third embodiment, the electromagnetic moving toy system is made as the miniature amphibian toy vehicle that can move like a ship on water surface also.  
      And, according to the forth embodiment, the electromagnetic moving toy system is made as miniature toy submarine that can flow in water also along the sealed track in any directions including up and down.  
      The coils windings may make as Printed Circuit Board coils.  
      The foregoing and other objectives, features and advantages of the invention will be more readily understood upon consideration of the following detailed description of the invention, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       FIG. 1 ; is a side view showing the first embodiment of the present invention;  
       FIG. 2  is a side view showing the second embodiment of the present;  
       FIG. 3  is a plan view showing the first embodiment of the present invention as a race track for two vehicles;  
       FIG. 4  is a side view showing the third embodiment of the present invention;  
       FIG. 5  is a side view showing the fourth embodiment of the present invention;  
       FIG. 6  is a plan view showing a part of the track like the stator according to the first embodiment of the present invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
      The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.  
       FIGS. 1-6  show embodiments of the present invention.  
      The electromagnetic moving toy system  1  according to the preferred embodiment ( FIGS. 1, 3 ,  4 ,  5  and  6 ) comprises a track  2  and a vehicle  3  moved on the track  2 . The track  2  comprises electrically connected coils windings  4  serving as a linear stator  5  and located in a series way along the track  2 . The coils windings  4  are powered in such way that at least two adjacent coil windings  6  and  6   a  ( FIG. 6 ) operate in time. The vehicle  3  comprises magnetic means  7  interact with coils windings  4  so the magnetic means  7  serve as a moving body  8  provide a possibility for moving of the vehicle  3 . The magnetic means  7  are made as permanent magnets  9  located along the vehicle  3  ( FIGS. 1 and 4 ) with alternative polarity. The linear stator  5  may further comprise a core  10  made of magnet-conducting material with high eddy current resistance, made for example from silicon steel.  
      The coils windings  4  located on the track  2  are connected to a power source (not shown) which can be an electrical supply line or an autonomous power source like an electrical battery. The electromagnetic moving toy system  1  can have remote control and transformer (not shown) with a possibility to change the speed and the direction of the vehicle  3  movement, for example by changing the order of work of the coils windings  4  in the opposite direction.  
      The electromagnetic interaction between the coils windings  4  of the track  2  and the magnetic means  7  of the vehicle  3  not only moves the vehicle  3 , but it also provides at the same time, reliable attraction between the vehicle  3  and the track  2  in any possible configuration and location without any special additional means for it. It makes the electromagnetic moving toy system  1  much more stable, reliable and gives the opportunity to operate at higher speed of the vehicle  3  and in any position of it, thus providing the possibility to make the track  2  as vertical ring or spiral ( FIG. 3 ), or in any other configuration. It also simplifies the system  1  and makes it more durable because it is not necessary to use any kind of brushes.  
      The electromagnetic moving toy system  1  operates in the following ways. When electrical power is supplied from the power source (not shown) to the coils windings  4  of the track  2  that operate together as the linear stator  5 , alternating electromagnetic fields are created. First, the electrical power is supplied to two adjacent coils windings  6  and  6   a  of the linear stator  5  ( FIG. 6 ) located on a part of the track  2  where the vehicle  3  is located at this moment. The electromagnetic field created by two adjacent coils windings  6  and  6   a  interacts with a magnetic field created by the magnetic means  7  of the vehicle  3 , which serve as a moving body  8 . As a result the vehicle  3  moves along the track  2 . When said vehicle  3  approaches to the next part of the track  2  with two adjacent coils windings  6  and  6   b  the polarity of electrical power is switching by the controller (not shown) and the vehicle  3  continues to move and so on.  
      According to the second embodiment ( FIG. 2 ), which is another way to achieve the same goal of the present invention, the electrically connected coils windings  4  placed on the bottom part of the vehicle  3  and connected directly to an autonomous power source  11  located on the vehicle  3 . Magnetic means  7  located in a series way along the track  2  and interact with the coils windings  4  located on the vehicle  3 , thus represent another way to achieve the similar goal by using the same general idea. Magnetic means  7  are made as permanent magnets  9  located along the track  2  with alternative polarity. It gives, in general, similar effect as mentioned first embodiment. Such configuration provides the minimum necessary power usage and, as a result, the essential economy of energy.  
      The electromagnetic moving toy system  1  according to the second embodiment operates in the following ways. The electrical power is supplied from autonomous power source (battery)  11  to the electrically connected coils windings  4  placed on the bottom part of the vehicle  3  creating an alternating electromagnetic field. This electromagnetic field interacts with a magnetic field created by the magnetic means  7  of the track  2 . As a result the vehicle  3  moves along the track  2  similar to the first embodiment.  
      There are some design options of electromagnetic moving toy system  1  according to the third ( FIG. 4 ) and fourth ( FIG. 5 ) embodiments. Thus, the electromagnetic moving toy system  1  is made as the miniature amphibian toy vehicle  3  ( FIG. 4 ) that can move like a ship on water surface. And, the electromagnetic moving toy system  1  can be made as the miniature toy submarine vehicle  3  ( FIG. 5 ) that can move in any directions including up and down and flow under water also. In the each these design options track  2  with coils windings  4  should be hermetically insulated.  
      The main effect of the present invention that makes it much better than all known technical solutions in this field is as following: electromagnetic interaction between the coils windings  4  of the track  2  and the magnetic means  7  of the vehicle  3  (in the first embodiment) or between the coils windings  4  of the vehicle  3  and the magnetic means  7  of the track  2  (in the second embodiment) provides reliable attraction between the vehicle  3  and the track  2  in any possible configuration and location of the track  2  and the vehicle  3  without any special means for it. It makes the electromagnetic moving toy system  1  much more reliable and gives the possibility to operate at the higher speed of vehicle  3  and in any position of it; thus providing the possibility to make the part of the track  2  as vertical ring or spiral or in any other configuration including on and/or under the water. It also makes the electromagnetic moving toy system  1 , especially for the preferred embodiment very easy electronically controllable (speed, time, turns and etc.).