Abstract:
A magnetic drive assembly comprising at least one fixed magnetic core and at least one mobile magnetic core, whereby each magnetic core, which may be fixed or mobile, contains a plate formed by polygonal magnetic units, nested among themselves according to the corresponding concave and convex sides of each unit, in such a way that together they form circularly expanding magnetic field forces that interact amongst themselves to cause rotation of the mobile magnetic core.

Description:
RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    This application claims the benefit of Argentine Patent Application No. 20100102543 entitled “Magnetic Drive Assembly” filed on Jul. 14, 2010 the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0003]    The present invention is related to the field of devices, equipment and assemblies that use magnetic fields to generate movement and, more particularly it refers to a magnetic drive assembly that is based on an activated universal structure which, using attraction and repulsion, naturally generated by magnets, produces a rotary motion whose power and speed can be controlled in order to be used for power generation. 
         [0004]    2. Description of the Prior Art 
         [0005]    Today, power is generated by using different natural resources that avoid the consumption of non-renewable and polluting fuels. Examples of these resources are wind and solar power which, although they do not pollute, have extremely high manufacturing and production costs. 
         [0006]    As an answer to these problems of pollution and high costs, investigations on new drive equipment based on the attraction and repulsion power of magnets are being conducted. Typically, all permanent magnet motors consist of a rotor which, in its periphery, has a permanent magnet assembly facing the inner periphery of a stator, the latter also including a plurality of permanent magnets, which positions are combined in such a way with those in the rotor that, once an initial impulse is provided, the rotor starts turning as a result of the magnetic field created by each of the permanent magnets in the rotor and stator facing each other. Even though several projects and videos exist showing these motors operating during a considerable amount of time, the arrangement of the magnets along the peripheries and their precise positioning in order to achieve interaction is still a highly complex technical problem. Such motors, with a peripheral design, have not worked satisfactory, i.e. it has not been possible to achieve the level of speed, uniformity over time and force that are needed to obtain useful motion or power. 
         [0007]    After several years of research, the inventor left behind the common pattern used by several permanent magnet drive machines and followed a very different road from radially opposed permanent magnets as seen in the prior art. He studied the behavior of the forces in a magnetic field created by magnets of different shapes, as well as the arrangement of rotors and stators integrally formed by magnetic units. 
         [0008]    Proof of the above can be found in the Argentine Patent Application Act No. 9 060102290, relating to a motion generator that uses attraction and repulsion magnetic forces of permanent magnets, whereby such magnets are crescent-shaped and are aligned along a rotation axis. Such crescent-shaped units generate curved magnetic force lines which improve the rotation of a rotor assembly with respect to a stator assembly. The rotor and stator asssemblies are composed of said crescent-shaped magnetic units, which are respectively aligned and spaced apart in an alternate arrangement. The combination of curved force lines in the forward and backwards rotation directions of the rotor, considerably improve the rotation of the rotor with respect to the stator. 
         [0009]    Although the assembly of the above-mentioned patent application was an improvement as compared to the radially and peripherically-arranged drive machines, there was still room for further improvement. Therefore, the inventor developed a new magnetic rotation generator which he submitted under Patent Application No. P 070103114, also consisting of crescent-shaped magnetic units intended to curve the magnetic force lines and cause the rotation of the rotor, but this time employing crescent-shaped units symmetrically superimposed with respect to the central crescent in each fixed or rotational core, i.e. in each stator or rotor. This configuration of symmetric superposition of the magnetic units in the form of a crescent improved the efficiency of the generator even more, compared to patent application of the year 2006; nevertheless the inventor continued his work on the design and the restructuring of a new magnetic drive assembly that would provide better operational uniformity over time, speed and working force, which would make it very useful in any industrial, commercial, home, vehicle activities and many other applications. 
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0010]    It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a new technology based on the magnetic mechanics of attraction and repulsion of magnetic forces set up in an activated universal structure that is capable of generating exploitable movement by means of at least a rotor and stator, both discoidal, which are axially opposed to rotate with respect to each other. 
         [0011]    It is yet another objective of the current invention to provide a magnetic drive assembly that consists of at least one fixed magnetic core and at least one mobile magnetic core, whereby each magnetic core, be it fixed or mobile, contains a plate formed by polygonal magnetic units nested among themselves according to the corresponding concave and convex sides of each unit, in such a way that together they compose circularly extended magnetic field forces that interact amongst themselves to provoke the rotation of the mobile magnetic core. 
         [0012]    It is yet another goal of the current invention to provide a magnetic drive assembly that consists of an activated universal structure composed by at least a fixed magnetic core and at least a mobile magnetic core between which magnetic fields of attraction and repulsion are established that cause said mobile magnetic core to rotate with respect to said fixed magnetic core, and where each of said fixed and mobile magnetic cores a disk-like shaped body and is formed by a plurality of radial blocks, whereby each of said blocks minus one contains a magnetic unit with a concave polygon shape, whereby a concave edge of each magnetic unit is placed in contact with a convex edge of an adjacent magnetic unit and wherein said back-to-back edges of each adjacent magnetic unit have mutually repulsing polarities. 
         [0013]    It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a magnetic drive assembly comprising a universal activated structure including at least one fixed magnetic core and at least one mobile magnetic core between which attraction and repulsion magnetic field forces are established, causing said mobile magnetic core to rotate with respect to said fixed magnetic core, wherein each of said fixed and mobile magnetic cores comprises at least one disk-shaped body with multiple radial blocks, wherein said radial blocks comprise an empty block and at least one block formed by a crescent-shaped magnetic unit, each of said crescent-shaped magnetic units having opposing sides with different magnetic polarities, wherein each magnetic core is formed by multiple magnetic units axially adjacent to each other by means of their opposing polarity sides, so to keep the multiple magnetic units fixed to each other by the attraction force of their opposing magnetic polarity, wherein each fixed magnetic core faces at least one mobile magnetic core, so that the sides of the fixed and mobile magnetic units facing each other are of the same polarity, thus generating a mutually repulsive force between the cores. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0014]    For greater clarity and understanding, the object of the current invention, has been illustrated in several figures, where the invention is represented in one of its preferred embodiments, all by way of illustration, wherein: 
           [0015]      FIG. 1  shows a schematic perspective view of a magnetic core consisting of magnetic units in agreement with one of the embodiments of the invention; 
           [0016]      FIG. 2  shows a perspective view of a magnetic unit of the invention; 
           [0017]      FIG. 3  shows a perspective view of an alternative embodiment of the magnetic unit of the invention; 
           [0018]      FIG. 4  shows an elevated side-view of a drive assembly consisting of a fixed core and two mobile cores in agreement with another embodiment of the invention, and 
           [0019]      FIG. 5  shows an elevated frontal view of the drive assembly shown in  FIG. 4 . 
           [0020]      FIG. 6  is a perspective view of a drive assembly with crescent-shaped magnetic units arranged around a vertical axis, comprising a fixed central core and two mobile cores, according to another embodiment of the present invention, where only the magnetic units have been illustrated schematically, excluding any other structural portions of the assembly, 
           [0021]      FIG. 7  is a perspective view of a mobile magnetic core comprising three disk-shaped bodies, where a magnetic unit housed within a support plate is shown in exploded view, 
           [0022]      FIG. 8  is a perspective view of a fixed magnetic core comprising multiple disk-shaped bodies, where a magnetic unit housed within an upper end support plate is shown, and, 
           [0023]      FIG. 9  is an elevational and cross-sectional view of a drive assembly according to the embodiment of  FIG. 6 . 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0024]    Referring to the figures in detail, we see that the invention consists of a magnetic drive assembly that is based on an activated universal structure consisting of at least a fixed magnetic core and at least a mobile magnetic core, as shown in  FIG. 1 , and adapted to complement each other as is shown, by way of example, in  FIGS. 4 and 5 , in such a way that magnetic fields of attraction and repulsion are created, causing said mobile magnetic core to rotate with respect to said fixed magnetic core. As shown in  FIG. 1 , both the fixed core or stator and the mobile core or rotor can consist of a quasi-discoidal body, i.e. a polygonal body with as many sides as needed, getting closer to the discoidal body as the amount of sides increases. 
         [0025]    By way of example, we will take the magnetic core indicated with numeral  1  in  FIG. 1 , as the fixed core but it should be noted once again that its conformation is also valid for the mobile core unless otherwise specified. The magnetic core  1  is made up of a body consisting of a plurality of radial blocks  2  to  7 , where all blocks  2  to  6 , not block  7 , comprise a concave polygonal magnetic unit  8 . Just one of the magnetic units has been identified with the numeral  8 , as all of them are identical units, therefore this numeral  8  is valid for all of them and is also used in  FIG. 2 . 
         [0026]    Each magnetic unit  8  contains a magnetic piece, i.e. a concave polygonal permanent magnet and preferably a pentagonal or hexagonal concave polygon. However other concave polygonal shapes are also provided. According to the invention, the magnetic units  8  are nested among themselves in such a way that their concave edges are placed in contact with the convex edges of an adjacent unit, causing increased drag force of the magnetic forces obtained by the configuration. More particularly, a concave edge of each magnetic unit  8  will be defined by the edges or sides  9  or  10  of the polygon, which will be placed in contact with the convex edge of an adjacent magnetic unit, formed by the edges  11  and  12  or convex sides of the polygon. 
         [0027]    According to the preferred embodiment of the invention, the adjacent edges of each magnetic unit will have mutually repelling polarities. In other words, the edges  9  and  10  of a unit  8  will have the same polarity, be it positive or negative, as the contacting edges  11  and  12  of the adjacent unit  8 . The aim of the invention is to produce movement and average force of repulsion and attraction that the magnets produce naturally or artificially, by way of a configuration of the magnets that allows for the magnetic force lines to be artificially curved as indicated by arrows  13 , generating a circular force vector  14  as a result. Consequently, circular, elliptical or other forces and movement are created, and it becomes possible to leverage this movement and force for different activities. 
         [0028]    The magnetic units should be lined up in a quasi-circular pattern, but it is extremely important that the magnetic units are mutually connected with the same polarity. As has been explained before, when we try to connect one magnetic unit to another, i.e. edges  9  and  10  against edges  11  and  12 , these will exert a strong repulsion, making it necessary to press them together until the separating space is reduced to a minimum, as a result of which a fixed core is obtained with a positive and a negative side and at the connections of the magnets a highly compressed bipolar magnetic energy line is produced, which allows for the directioning of the mobile core(s). In  FIGS. 1 and 2  the positive side has been indicated with a “+” sign and the opposite side with a “−”. The repulsion force between the peripheral edges of the magnetic units  8  are indicated with double pointed arrows that cross the connection line between the edges. The method by which the units  8  are held against each other under said repulsion force can be any type of retention capable of keeping the units  8  forced together. For example, these retention means can consist of a peripheral ring  15  that is partially illustrated in section in correspondence with block  7  but is continuous all around body or core  1 . 
         [0029]    As will be explained in relation with  FIGS. 4 and 5 , the magnetic assembly or device works using two cores, one fixed core and a mobile core, each of them made up by magnetic units  8 , specifically designed to increase the curvature of the magnetic force lines and the compression. The bigger the amount of units that are used, the bigger the displacement and the force within the circumference will be, as well as the degree of transfer. The magnets are aligned in order to form a quasi-circumference, without reaching 360°, leaving a block  7  with free space equivalent to the size of a magnetic unit  8 . Consequently, the circle is closed with block  7 , missing a magnetic unit. 
         [0030]    In  FIG. 3 , an alternative embodiment is illustrated of the magnetic unit which has been indicated with numeral  16 , which has edges  17  and  18  on a concave side of the polygon and edges  19  and  20  on a convex side of the polygon. As mentioned before, the magnetic units  8  and  16  can adopt several concave polygonal figures, preferably but not limited to hexagonal and pentagonal shapes. 
         [0031]    As illustrated in  FIGS. 4 and 5 , the magnetic cores consist of a composed drive assembly, in agreement with one of the embodiments of the invention, a fixed core  21  and two mobile cores  22  and  23 . For the sake of clarity, in  FIG. 4  only the fixed core  21  has been illustrated. The cores or rotors  22  and  23  can be independent, i.e. mounted on their own rotation axis and separated or can adopt the configuration illustrated in  FIGS. 4 and 5 . For this purpose, a central vertex of each magnetic unit of said fixed magnetic core shows a circular section  24  so the fixed magnetic core shows a central through orifice  25 . Consequently, the mobile magnetic cores  22  and  23  will be joined by means of a central rotation shaft  26  which passes through said orifice  25  of the fixed magnetic core. The axis  26  of the mobile magnetic core has an external diameter that is inferior to the internal diameter of said orifice  25  of the fixed magnetic core  21  in such a way that the axis  26  does not only rotate within the orifice  25  but also moves inside of it, hereby defining an orbit  27  indicated as a full-line circle in  FIG. 4 . For reasons of comparability, an orbit  28 , which corresponds to the center of the fixed core  21 , is indicated with a dashed line 
         [0032]    The pattern of providing a mobile core on each side of the fixed core can be repeated as many times as needed to obtain a multiplication of the resulting forces. Note that between a mobile core and a fixed core the polarity of the cores is identical and consequently a repulsion camp is established which, as a result of the curve forces on these opposed faces, and the free block  7  generate magnetic forces that cause the mobile core to rotate with respect to the fixed core. Furthermore, two or more magnets of the fixed core can be superposed and two or more magnets of the mobile core can be joined symmetrically. The magnetic units can also be joined symmetrically using a central unit to compress the magnetic force lines into a conical spiral shape. The units can also be placed at a distance and at different convenient angles depending on the degrees of rotation that are needed. 
         [0033]    The magnets can have any thickness and size and it is possible to potentiate the units by increasing their volume and/or size and/or thickness and/or using several cores in series until the required amount of power is reached. The position of axis  26  and fixed core  21  is important as it should be positioned on the lower side where the fixed core  21  does not have a magnetic unit. The mobile core rotates freely and takes position above the center of the fixed core, which imports, as has been explained, a differentiated orbit  27  into the mobile core, compared to the circular orbit  28  of the fixed core, which is fundamental for the correct functioning of the magnetic mechanics. Said mobile magnetic cores can be at the same or a different height and also present their angularly offset magnetic units. Obviously, the drive assembly can be integrated into an electrical motor and alternator that produces electricity. 
         [0034]    As can be seen in the previous description, the current invention concerns a mechanical device that allows for the generation of force, regulated speed, without the need for gears, energy or external force. Said device uses functional magnetic mechanics which we prefer to call activated universal structure, by means of magnetic multipolar interactions and of a structure created to guide the magnetic flow, as can be seen in  FIGS. 1 ,  2  and  4 , which allows for the transfer of the force and mass of 0° to almost 360°, without the need for external force. Only the force is created in the structure or configuration is used, making it possible to control and regulate this magnetic phenomenon, hereby obtaining any relation force/speed in agreement with the specific needs and scale that are required. This novel configuration has been created based on the magnetic mechanics and allows for the use of this medium to perform multiple mechanical tasks, among which the production of electrical energy. The magnetic mechanics make it possible to use little energy for its activation and immediately offer a better relation of generated energy/force that is used, even more than double, and the overload of energy/force can be used for another activity such as the production of electrical energy. The difference between the energy/force at the inlet and the energy/force at the outlet is very wide and can be adapted to any specific need. Another important characteristic of the magnetic mechanics is that the initial force needed to activate it causes low wear, i.e. that while active, the external force works at minimum power, the kinetic force, centrifugation and gravity are fundamental elements of the magnetic mechanics. 
         [0035]    In a practical example, an electrical motor has been used with an initial drag force of 300 grams with 500 revolutions per minute, with the creation of magnetic mechanics with initial drag force of 1 kilogram at the activation of the described configuration. The magnetic mechanics directed to a specific point allows for the electrical motor to start working and after a couple of revolutions the electrical motor was working almost without effort and the magnetic mechanics facilitated the creation of one kilo of mass at 500 revolutions per minute. In other words, greater energy and force has been generated than there was present at the inlet, which can be used for any other activity. This configuration, taken as an example, is completely scalable for bigger differences. 
         [0036]    According to another aspect of the present invention, the disk-like shaped body and the magnetic units with a concave polygonal concave of the embodiments illustrated in  FIGS. 1 to 5 , have been modified into a disk-shaped body and crescent-shaped units, such as will be described hereinbelow. 
         [0037]      FIG. 6  is a schematic perspective view of a drive assembly marked with general numeral  29 , comprising one fixed central core  30  and two mobile cores  31 ,  31 A. Only the magnetic units have been schematically illustrated in this Figure, so that the arrangement of the units relative to each other can be clearly seen; therefore other structural portions of the assembly are not shown. 
         [0038]    As seen in  FIG. 6 , each of said fixed magnetic core  30  and mobile magnetic cores  31 ,  31 A, comprise at least one disk-shaped body. Thus, the fixed magnetic core  30  comprises 7 magnetic bodies  32 - 39 , while the mobile magnetic cores  31  and  31 A comprise the bodies  40 - 42  and  43 - 45 , respectively. In the description of the disk-shaped bodies  32 - 45 , reference will be made only to disk-shaped body  40 , since its illustration will allow for a better understanding of its parts. However it should be noted that the description of body  40  is also valid for all the other magnetic bodies. Each magnetic body comprises multiple radial blocks, in this particular case one block  46  and one block  47  defined by the dotted line. Block  47  is an empty block space or a block made of a non-magnetic material, while the other block  46  comprises a crescent-shaped magnetic unit  48 . Each crescent-shaped magnetic unit  48  has two opposing sides, one of which is shown as upper side  49  while the other cannot be seen in  FIG. 6 . Said opposing sides have different magnetic polarities, as shown with the symbols (+) and (−) next to each magnetic unit. The magnetic units  48  of bodies  40 - 42  within magnetic core  31  are fixed to each other by their sides with opposing polarities, so that the magnetic attraction force keeps them together. The same applies to magnetic units in bodies  43 - 45  within core  31 A and magnetic units in bodies  32 - 39  within magnetic core  30 . 
         [0039]    According to the present invention, each fixed magnetic core  30  faces at least one mobile magnetic core, in this case cores  31 ,  31 A, so that the sides of fixed and mobile magnetic cores facing each other are of the same polarity, thus generating a mutually repulsive force between the cores. In other words, the lower side of magnetic unit in body  42  has the same polarity as the upper side, with numeral  50 , of the magnetic unit of body  32 , thereby creating a repulsion force between magnetic cores  30  and  31 . The same applies to magnetic cores  30  and  31 , since the lower side of magnetic unit of body  39  has the same polarity as the upper side, marked with numeral  51 , of magnetic unit of body  43 , thereby generating a repulsion force between magnetic cores  30  and  31 A. 
         [0040]    Also according to the teachings of the present invention, the fixed magnetic core has its magnetic burring bodies aligned along a first longitudinal axis X-X, while the one or more mobile magnetic cores have their magnetic bodies aligned along a second longitudinal axis Y-Y, so that such first axis X-X and second axis Y-Y are offset and parallel to each other. 
         [0041]    As seen in  FIG. 6 , the magnetic units of disk-shaped bodies  40 - 42  of core  31  match and are axially linked to each other. Similarly, the magnetic units of disk-shaped bodies  43 - 45  of core  31 A match and are axially linked to each other. However, said mobile magnetic cores  31 ,  31 A are axially arranged so that their respective crescent-shaped magnetic units are offset at a certain angle and, preferably, they are offset so as to be diametrically opposed to each other. This must be interpreted as meaning that magnetic units  48  of bodies  40 - 42  of core  31  are arranged in diametrically opposed manner to magnetic units of bodies  43 - 45  of core  45 , but preferably in such a way as not being exactly diametrically opposed. Also preferably, cores  31 ,  31 A are mobile cores, but they can be fixed as well. 
         [0042]    Magnetic core  30 , which can also be either fixed or mobile, depending whether cores  31 ,  31 A are respectively mobile or fixed, comprises the magnetic units that form magnetic bodies  32 - 39 , axially fixed to each other and with an angular offset with respect to each other. The angular offset between each magnetic unit is given by “n”, the number of magnetic bodies forming the magnetic core. For example, if the core is made of 7 bodies, as illustrated, the angular offset between two magnetic units is of 450° divided by “n”. Preferably 6 bodies per core will be used, therefore the angular offset between two magnetic units will be equal to 360° divided by “n”, that is 60°. 
         [0043]      FIG. 7  is a perspective view of a mobile magnetic core, for example core  31 , formed by three bodies  40 - 42 . Each disk-shaped body  40 - 42  is formed by a disk-shaped support plate  52 - 54 , respectively, wherein each support plate has a through opening, of which only opening  55  of plate  52  is shown, magnetic unit  48  being housed whithin said opening, which is shown in exploded view. Plates  52 - 54  are both arranged in alignment along the same geometric axis, but openings  55  will be cut in each plate so as to be in matching relationship as shown in  FIG. 6 . The plates can be fixed to each other by means of through bolts  56 ,  57 . Additionally, the plates will have a central through opening  58 , such that the openings will be aligned along a central axis Z-Z around which core  31  and the assembly rotate. The embodiment shown in  FIG. 7  for core  31  is also valid for core  31 A, except for the fact that openings  55  are cut in the plates of core  31 A so that the units of bodies  43 - 45  will be oriented as shown in  FIG. 6 . 
         [0044]      FIG. 8  is a perspective view of a fixed magnetic core, for example core  30 , which is formed by eight bodies  32 - 39 , however they could be more than eight, or seven or less as well. Each disk-shaped body  32 - 39  is formed by a disk-shaped support plate  59 - 66 , respectively, wherein each support plate has a through opening, of which only opening  66  of plate  59  is shown, within which a magnetic unit is housed. The figure shows the upper side  50  of the magnetic unit, which is also shown in  FIG. 6 . Plates  59 - 66  are aligned along the same geometrical axis Z-Z, but openings  66  will be cut in each plate so as to keep the positions of the magnetic units in bodies  32 - 39  with an offset with respect to each other as shown in  FIG. 6 . The plates can be fastened to each other by means of through bolts  67 - 68 . The plates will also have a central through opening  69 , so that the openings will be aligned along a central axis around which core  30  and the assembly rotate. 
         [0045]    As shown in  FIG. 9 , disk-shaped plates  52 - 54 ,  59 - 66  forming the disk-shaped bodies  32 - 39 ,  40 - 42  and  43 - 45  are housed in alignment along said central rotating axis Z-Z, within a fixed housing  70 , made of non-magnetic material, like, for example, aluminum or others, said housing comprising a cylindrical body  71  which is respectively closed on either end by a hood-shaped upper cap  72 , and lower cap  73 , including bearings  74 ,  75 , which support a central rotating axle or arbor  76 , which can be linked on one of its ends to a driven machine that allows the use of power and, on the opposite end, to a flywheel  77  which in turn can be connected to a motor starter  80  by means of a coupling mechanism with a pinion  79  and a crown wheel  78 . 
         [0046]    It must be noted that the concepts described for the embodiments of  FIGS. 1 to 5  are also applicable to the embodiments of  FIGS. 6 to 9 , as much as possible. The fixed and mobile cores can be interleaved in any desired number and can also be repeated either in a single axial assembly or in several parallel assemblies. Similarly, the axial arrangement of the magnetic cores can be referred to a horizontal, vertical or slanted geometrical axis, and the core diameters can be equal or different.