Capacitive method of mechanical energy conversion into electric energy and capacitive high voltage DC generator
The invention relates to a method and device for conversion of mechanical energy into high voltage DC.
It is known that existing electric generators use electromagnetic method of mechanical energy conversion into electric one. Electromagnetic generators work well if relatively low voltage and high current are needed. Special methods and devices must be used to increase the voltage to high and very high level of about 0,1 to 10 MV.
Due to a technical and technological progress various types of high voltage suppliers are available now.
Their typical voltage range is up to about 400 kV.
This voltage range is adequate for many scientific, medical and industrial applications.
However in several other fields much higher DC voltage sources are required.
An interesting and important field is the ability to produce simple and compact linear electron and ion accelerators.
Such accelerators can be widely used for scientific, medical and industrial purposes.
It is the object of the invention to create a capacitive method of converting mechanical energy into electric energy and direct high voltage DC generation and to create a device using the capacitive method to supply high voltage DC current, whereby the device should be of a small size.
The object is achieved by the features stated in the claims 1 and 2. Preferred developments are described in the subordinate claims .
The invention is an alternative method of mechanical energy conversion into electric energy which allows direct very high voltage generation without any intermediate stages.
It is based on a variable capacitor charging and discharging.
In the moment, when a variable capacitor Cvar has its maximum capacitance CmaX/ it is charged by a DC voltage source E, for example by a rechargeable battery, to a voltage Uin and got a charge Q = Uin x Cmax.
If there is no current between the Cvar plates, the charge Q is a constant .
Changing Cvar capacitance to a minimum value with a mechanical force will create another voltage between Cvar plates Uout = Q /
Cmin.
It means that voltage between the Cvar plates rises inversion- ally proportional to Cvar capacitance.
In the case of a flat capacitor, its capacitance is r_ε0-ε-S
C~ L ' where ε0 - absolute dielectric constant (ε0 = 8,85 • 10"12) , ε - relative dielectric constant, S - smaller plate area and L - distance between the plates.
The simplest way to realize the method of mechanical energy conversion into electric energy is to build the variable capacitor from a metal disc which is positioned over a metal plate with a small distance between them.
The plate and the disc originate a flat capacitor with capacitance Cmax.
The capacitor is charged by connecting to external source of voltage Uin and disconnected from the source.
An increasing of the distance between the disc and the plate decreases the initial capacitance.
The voltage between the plates rises correspondingly.
The operation of a capacitive generator is based on the ca- pacitive method of mechanical energy conversion into electric energy, which is described before. The generator can be realized as a compact device with stable output DC voltage changeable in the range 0,1 - 5 MV or even more if it is required.
Limited output current (refer Table) is sufficient for many of linear accelerators.
Many various types of capacitive generator can be developed using capacitive method.
The basic element of a practical device is a cycle variable capacitor.
It can have a different mechanical structure with rotary plates, moving up and down plate, with a very high dielectric constant material which is moving inside and outside of a capacitor increasing and decreasing its capacitance.
The advantages of the invention consists in particular in the facts that
a) high and very high voltage can be generated by a simple and reliable capacitive conversion of mechanical work without any intermediate devices, b) nearly to 100% conversion coefficient can be achieved, c) very simple and reliable different size devices can be used widely when high voltage source is needed and d) any kind of mechanical energy can be used with a capacitive generator including wind, water flow, sea waves etc.
The following table shows the dependence between input and output voltages, maximum output current and the motor speed of the capacitive high voltage generator, if maximum output power is 200 W.
The element sizes, materials and other details are given as an example and they can be changed to satisfy particular reguire- ments.
An example for carrying out the invention is shown in the drawings and described in detail as follows:
Fig. 1 shows as capacitive method works increasing input voltage and electric energy in 100 and more times,
Fig. 2 shows as input energy Win spent for initial charging of a variable capacitor can be returned back, saving low voltage source energy,
Fig. 3 shows a structure of a insulating band with metal strips used to multiply individual strip voltage,
Fig. 4 shows a band formed as a loop moving around a metal cylinder and insulating cylinder,
Fig. 5 shows as individual strips on the band are charged one by one with a low voltage source,
Fig. 6 shows an example as gradual decrease of a strip to ground capacitance can be organized and
Fig. 7 shows as very high voltage appeared on every strip due to its very small final capacitance is transferred one by one to an internal surface of a output sphere by electric contact.
The capacitive method is illustrated in Fig. 1 after what a metal disc 1 is positioned over a grounded metal plate 2 with a distance between them of at least 0,1 mm.
A gap 3 between the metal disc 1 and the metal plate 2 can be filled by an insulating foil 4, for example made from poly- imid, like Kapton by DuPont.
The metal plate 2 and the metal disc 1 originate a flat capacitor with capacitance Cmaχ.
The insulating foil 4 makes initial capacitance approximately 3 times higher.
The capacitor is charged by connecting to external source of voltage Uin and disconnected from the source.
An increasing of the distance between the metal disc 1 and the metal plate 2 from 0,1 mm to 10 mm decreases the initial capacitance in 100 times or, if there is the insulating foil 4 between the plates with ε * 3, approximately in 300 times.
The voltage between the plates 1 and 2 rises correspondingly in 100, respectively 300 times.
If, for example, initial voltage was 5 JcV, one can get 500 kV, respectively 1500 kV voltage with insulating foil 4, simply moving up the metal disc 1 to 10 mm.
It is known that electric energy W accumulated within a ca-
CU2 pacitor W =
It means that the energy W increases proportionally the voltage U rise.
In the example a final energy Wout will be 100, respectively 300 times higher than initial energy Win .
It is clear that additional energy source is a work A against a force of attraction F between Cvar plates.
_ S0 - S - U2
F = — ; — , and
2 -U
In the example initial voltage and energy Win were only 1/100, respectively 1/300 with the insulating foil 4, of the final energy Wout.
It means that conversion coefficient is ≥ 99% if initial energy is not compensated.
But using a simple electric circuit illustrated in Fig.2 Win can be compensated and practically 100% efficiency of energy conversion can be achieved.
In accordance with Fig. 2, a rechargeable battery 5 charges a variable capacitor 6 Cvar through a first diode 7 to voltage U1n as a first step of the process.
Then Cvar capacitance of the variable capacitor 6 decreases, U rises, cuts off the first diode 7 and opens a second diode 8 charging a buffer capacitor 9 CbUf»
In the next step of the cycle the variable capacitor 6 Cvar goes up, U goes down, the second diode 8 cuts off, the buffer capacitor 9 CbUf keeps its charge, the rechargeable battery 5 charges the variable capacitor 6 Cvar once more through the first diode 7 to Uin repeating the cycle.
Because the load is connected to the buffer capacitor 9 CbUf , all the current which goes through the buffer capacitor 9 Cbuf and the load is going back to the rechargeable battery 5, saving its energy.
A capacitive generator for conversation of mechanical energy into electric energy with high DC voltage comprises at least two electrodes with an insulating distance between them to originate a capacitor, whereby at least one electrode is move- able relating the other to change the distance.
As illustrated in Fig. 3 a basic element of a possible device is a cycle variable capacitor in the type of a tape 10 as the
insulating foil 4, which is about 60 mm wide and 50 μm thick made of well insulating strong material like Kapton by DuPont.
On one side of the tape 10 there are perpendicular metal strips 11.
Each of them is about 1 mm wide and 50 mm long and a strip pitch 12 is about 2 mm.
The tape 10 with the strips 11 acts as a charging tape.
Total length of the tape 10 is about 1,2 m and both ends are closed making a loop.
Fig. 4 illustrates that tape 10 goes around a first cylinder 13 and a second cylinder 14 with an diameter of about 6 cm each, positioned on a distance around 55 cm.
The first cylinder 13 is a metal one which is grounded. Going around this grounded first cylinder 13, each metal strip 11 creates a capacitor of a maximum capacity of about Cs max = 30 pF.
The second cylinder 14 is made of a insulating material.
As shown in Fig. 5 a flexible contact 15 charges Cs max to a voltage U coming from a small stable power source 16, which supplies initial voltage from 0,5 to 10 kV.
The first cylinder 13 is revolved by a DC electric motor. The motor speed can be changed within a wide range.
The tape 10 moved by the first cylinder 13, moves the charged metal strip 11 away from the grounded surface of the first cylinder 13, decreasing the capacitance Cs of the metal strip 11 and increasing its potential relative to the ground, like a chassis .
Without a special structure, this potential rise will be very fast, and breakdowns between neighbour metal strips 11 may occur.
To prevent this effect and to optimize the system an equal voltage difference between neighbour metal strips 11 has to be kept on all their way from the first cylinder 13 to the second cylinder 14.
This can be achieved if capacitance C3 of the metal strip 11 will be decreased slowly according to well done calculations.
Practically it can be realized in such a way as illustrated in Fig. 6.
A wedge-shaped element 17 made of an insulating solid material keeps a certain distance between the metal strips 11 on the tape 10 and an additional grounded metal layer 18, like a metal tape, on the other side of the wedge-shaped element 17.
The thickness of the wedge-shaped element 17 rises according to the calculations.
It provides equal voltage between neighbour metal strips 11 and necessary insulation between the metal strips 11 and ground.
According Fig. 7 the second cylinder 14 on the other side of the device is positioned within non-closed a metal sphere 19 with an insulating layer at its outer surface.
Internal surface of the metal sphere 19 contacts one particular metal strip 11 after another by a second flexible contact 20, accepting the charge, which immediately goes to the outer surface of the metal sphere 19, creating high voltage potential, relative to the ground, like the chassis.
A high voltage cable 21 is connected to outer surface of the metal sphere 19 through the insulation and transfers high voltage to a consumption device.
Output high voltage control and stabilization are provided by not shown two feedback systems Al and A2.
A chain of many resistors with high resistivity is connected to the outer side of the metal sphere 11.
It is positioned along the device inside well-insulated tube to low voltage end, creating a resistive divider about
1:1,000,000.
For example, 1 MV output voltage corresponds to 1 V potential on the low voltage end.
An electronic control system compares the values with previously fixed voltage.
If output voltage becomes too low, the first system Al speeds up the DC electric motor, moving charging the tape 10 faster. In the opposite case, if output voltage is too high, the DC electric motor speed will be reduced.
The feedback first system Al works well if output current is more-less stable. If the current strongly changes, the DC electric motor speed can become either too fast, or too slow. In this case the second feedback system A2 changes input voltage .
An increase of the input voltage proportionally increases each metal strip 11 charge, i.e. increasing output current and keeping the same speed of the DC electric motor. With relatively short device, which can be about 70 cm long, it is complicated to achieve output voltage higher then 5 MV.
To achieve about 10 MV output voltage, it is necessary to increase the length of the device up to 120 cm or longer.
List of reference numerals used
1 metal disk
2 metal plate
3 gap
4 insulating foil
5 battery
6 variable capacitor
7 first diode
8 second diode
9 buffer capacitor
10 tape
11 metal strip
12 strip pitch
13 first cylinder
14 second cylinder
15 flexible contact
16 power source
17 wedge-shaped element
18 metal layer
19 metal sphere
20 second flexible contact
21 high voltage cable