Patent ID: 8783192

Claim:
A roadway comprising a conductive surface disposed on a weight-bearing structure, said conductive surface operative to urge, in a primary direction of travel, a powered vehicle (a) disposed above said conductive surface and (b) having linear induction drive element arrays on a lower surface substantially parallel to and in close proximity to said conductive surface, said conductive surface having a nested pattern of regularly spaced non-conductive voids defining first and second current loop pathways in portions of said conductive surface surrounding said voids, wherein said nested pattern of voids includes: (i) a coarse pattern defined by an array of coarse conductive strips, each coarse strip having a long dimension transverse to said primary direction of travel, in combination with coarse conductive borders disposed transversely with respect to the long dimension of the coarse strips, so that adjacent pairs of coarse strips have a coarse void therebetween, (ii) a plurality of fine patterns, each fine pattern defined by an array of fine conductive strips in combination with fine conductive borders and disposed in one of the coarse voids and; (iii) an array of fine voids in each of said coarse conductive strips where each of said fine voids is rectangular and said array of fine voids is disposed transverse to said primary direction of travel, said linear induction drive element arrays on said powered vehicle said lower surface being further characterized in that a) at least one array of coarse linear induction drive elements is parallel to said array of coarse conductive strips and induces first currents in first conductive loops defined by said coarse conductive strips and first borders at edges of said coarse conductive strips, said first currents in said coarse conductive strips imparting forward or reverse forces on said coarse linear induction drive elements, said forward or reverse forces having vector amplitude with horizontal and vertical components and b) at least one array of fine linear induction drive elements is parallel to said array of fine voids and induces second currents in second current loop pathways defined by fine conductive strips and second borders surrounding each of said fine void array elements, said second currents in said fine conductive strips imparting lateral forces on said fine linear induction drive elements, said lateral forces having vector amplitude with horizontal and vertical components.