ELECTROMAGNETIC MOVING SYSTEM
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to electromagnetic systems for moving mechanical bodies along predefined tracks. More particularly, the present invention relates to toy and/or entertainment systems, and all subsystems in which is useful to controllably move an object upon a surface. The present invention is particularly, but not exclusively, useful for systems that relates to toy motion devices like vehicles.
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, US patents Ne 4,861,306 "Toy Cog
Railway" and JNs 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 system, for example, US patent Na 3,729,866 "Toy Railway Vehicle and Switching Section", comprises battery powered vehicle with electric motor. The most widely known electromagnetic moving system in the toy industry is applied to miniature toy railway systems include a track comprising at least two conductive bands that are connected to an electrical supply which gives a power to the electric motor of said vehicle, - see, for example, US patent Ns 4,217,727 "Miniature Monorail System".
The main problem of all such known systems is that it is difficult to provide reliable speedy motion to such vehicles because of the lack of stable attraction between the vehicle and track, especially at higher speed on turns, also with vertical or nearly vertical sections as a vertical ring or spiral. Even when track sections are located horizontally the vehicle moving at high speed can lose stability and move from the track. So, known electromagnetic moving systems must include some special means to provide reliable attraction between the driven vehicle and the track. In some cases it is done by using magnets on the bottom of the vehicle and making the track from magnetic conductive (attractive) material. But these means in known systems also add resistance to motion, or drag, to the moving vehicle and need much more power to achieve motion. Most such toys have special brushes that provide electrical contact with the electric grid. Or they might use batteries that do not require brushes, in which case they operate uncontrolled, or achieve control through the wires, or via a wireless radio or infra-red connection, but in such cases have limited operating time due to battery life.
The problems mentioned above were overcome according to the published US Patent Application No. 11/176172 filed 07/07/2005 by the same assignee. But this invention does not describe relatively complicated systems including track intersections.
Therefore, it would be generally desirable to provide an electromagnetic moving system that offers further improvements to the above mentioned invention.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to the present invention an electromagnetic moving system comprises at least one track with a contact surface, at least one moving body intended to move with respect to that contact surface, and at least one controller. The general idea of the claimed invention is that the track and the moving bodies of the system should be made as two parts of a common electromagnetic drive, which provides more functions and variety of motion the bodies along the track while retaining stable attraction between the bodies and the track.
In order to achieve these objectives, according to the first embodiment of the present invention, the track comprises electrically connected coil windings spaced apart in a series way along the track and forming a 3 -phase linear stator, powered by electrical grid and controlled by the controller in such way that at least two adjacent coil windings operate in time. The magnetic axis of each coil windings shaped circularly is substantially perpendicular to the contact surface where that coil winding is located. The moving body includes at least one magnetized object having a magnetic axis substantially perpendicular to the contact surface, thus causing interaction with the stator when it is powered and creating a force applied to the body along the track.
According to the second embodiment of the present invention, the track is configured to include at least one self-crossing thus the moving body will pass the self-crossing twice in two mutual crossing directions while making one complete route along the loop. The parts of the stator appurtenant to the self-crossing have one common phase coil winding located at the self- crossing, achieved by spacing the coils of the stator appropriately, thus maintaining an uninterrupted phase sequence along the track in each direction leading to and from the intersection.
According to the third embodiment of the present invention, the system is comprised of at least two tracks with at least two moving bodies correspondingly, and the tracks have at least two common intersections and are operated and powered by one common controller. The parts of the stators of each track appurtenant to the intersections have one common phase coil winding located at the intersections, achieved by spacing the coils of the stator appropriately, thus maintaining an uninterrupted phase sequence along the track in each direction leading to and from each intersection.
There is also a fourth embodiment of the present invention where the system is comprised of at least two identical tracks, two moving bodies, and two controllers applying independent power, therefore the two separately controlled body and track combinations can be configured as a race track toy, permitting competition. For all embodiments the magnetized object is configured as one pole of a permanent magnet where the larger dimension of the magnet is in a range of 0.8 - 1.2 of the distance between the centers of two adjacent coil windings.
The magnetized object may also be configured as two opposite poles of permanent magnets spaced apart in a distance being in a range of 1.5 - 1.6 of the distance between the centers of two adjacent coil windings.
The coil windings may be also shaped rectangularly while the magnetized object is made as one pole of a permanent magnet shaped circularly with the diameter of the magnet in a range of 0.8 - 1.2 of the distance between the centers of two adjacent coil windings, thus the moving body is permitted to randomly rotate around the magnetic axis of the magnet. According to another variant, the magnetized object is made as one pole of a permanent magnet shaped rectangularly with the larger dimension of the magnet in a range of 0.8 - 1.2 of the distance between the centers of two adjacent coil windings, thus the moving body is permitted to move along the track with no rotation around the magnetic axis of the magnet.
According to the present invention the coils windings may be made as at least a one layer printed circuit board and the controller may be made as a sensorless controller, without feedback.
The track may further comprise at least one ferromagnetic layer placed at the side of the track opposite to the moving body, thus shortening magnetic fluxes generated by an interaction of electro-magnetic fields of the magnetized object and the stator. The ferromagnetic layer may be made from silicon steel comprising of at least 3% of silicium and at least partially covers the coil windings in the direction perpendicular to the contact surface.
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 perspective view showing the first embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 2 is a perspective view showing the first embodiment of the present invention when the track is placed on the base substrate;
Fig. 3 is a perspective view showing the second embodiment of the present invention when the track has a self-crossing;
Fig. 4 is a partial perspective view of Fig. 3 showing the self-crossing; Fig. 5 is a perspective view showing the third embodiment of the present invention when two tracks have two intersections;
Fig. 6 is a partial perspective view of Fig. 5 showing the intersection;
Fig. 7 is a perspective view showing the forth embodiment of the present invention when two identical tracks are spaced apart; Fig. 8 is a partial perspective view showing the part of track according to the present invention when the magnetized object is made as one pole of a permanent magnet;
Fig. 9 is a partial perspective view showing the part of track according to the present invention when the magnetized object made as two opposite poles of permanent magnets;
Fig. 10 is a partial perspective view showing the part of the track according to the present invention when the coil windings are shaped rectangularly and the magnetized object is made as one pole of a permanent magnet shaped circularly, as a cylinder;
Fig. 11 is a partial perspective view showing the part of track according to the present invention when the coil windings are shaped rectangularly and the magnetized object made as one pole of a permanent magnet shaped rectangularly; Fig. HA is an enlarged perspective view A of Fig. 11 showing when the coil windings are made as a one layer printed circuit board;
Fig. 12 is a perspective view of the electromagnetic moving system according to the present invention when the track made as a spatial construction with a vertical loop.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Figs. 1 - 12 show embodiments of the present invention. The electromagnetic moving system 1 according to the preferred embodiment (Figs. 1, 2, 8 - 12) comprises at least one track 2 with a contact surface 3, at least one moving body 4 located on the contact surface 3 and at least one controller 5 (Fig. 5). The track 2 comprises electrically connected coil windings 6 spaced apart in a series way along the track 2 and forming a multi-phase linear stator 7. The magnetic axis of each coil windings 6 shaped circularly is substantially perpendicular to the contact surface 3 where such coil winding 6 is located. The moving body 4 comprises at least one magnetized object 8 having magnetic axes substantially perpendicular to the contact surface 3 such as to cause interaction with the stator 7 when it is powered, thus providing a force creating the possibility of movement of the body 4 along the track 2 made like a closed loop 9. The multi-phase linear stator 7 is made as 3-phase linear stator 7, powered by electrical grid and controlled by the controller 5 in such way that at least two adjacent coil windings 6 are operating in time.
The magnetized object 8 is configured as one pole of a permanent magnet 20 with the larger dimension L (Figs. 8 and 11) of the magnet 20 in a range of 0.8 - 1.2 of the distance Ll between the centers of two adjacent coil windings 6. According to a design option the magnetized object 8 may also be configured as two opposite poles of permanent magnets 19 and 19A (Figs. 1 -3, 5, 7, 9 and 12) spaced apart in a distance L in a range of 1.5 - 1.6 of the distance Ll between the centers of two adjacent coil windings 6.
The coils windings may be also shaped rectangularly (Figs. 10 - HA) while the magnetized object 8 is made as one pole of a permanent magnet 20 shaped circularly (Fig. 10) with the diameter D of the magnet 20 in a range of 0.8 - 1.2 of the distance Ll between the centers of two adjacent coil windings 6, thus the moving body 8 is permitted to randomly rotate around the magnetic axis of the magnet 20. According to another variant, the magnetized object 8 is made as one pole of a permanent magnet 20 shaped rectangularly (Fig. 11) with the larger dimension L of the magnet 20 in a range of 0.8 - 1.2 of the distance Ll between the centers of two adjacent coil windings 6 thus the moving body 8 is permitted to move along the track 2 with no rotation around the magnetic axis of the magnet 20.
The coils windings 6 may be made as at least one layer printed circuit board 21 (Figs. 11 and 1 IA) and the controller 5 may be made as a sensorless controller 22 (Fig. 11). The track 2 may further comprise at least one ferromagnetic layer 23 (Figs. 11 and 1 IA) placed at the side of the track 2 opposite to the moving body 4, thus shortening- magnetic fluxes generated by an interaction of electro-magnetic fields of the magnetized object 8 and the stator 7. The ferromagnetic layer 23 may be made from silicon steel comprised of at least 3% of silicium and at least partially covering the coil windings 6 in the direction perpendicular to the contact surface 3.
According to the second embodiment of the present invention (Figs. 3 and 4) the track 2 is configured to include at least one self-crossing 10, thus the body 4 passes the self-crossing 10 twice in two mutual crossing directions 11 and HA while making one complete route along the loop 9. The parts 12 and 12A of the stator 7 appurtenant to the self-crossing 10 have one common phase coil winding 13 located at the self-crossing 10 thus maintaining an uninterrupted phase sequence 14 along the track 2.
According to the third embodiment of the present invention (Figs. 5 and 6) the system 1 is comprised of at least two tracks 2 and 2A with three moving bodies 4, 4A and 4B, the tracks 2 and 2 A have two common intersections 15 and 15A and operate by one common controller (not shown). The parts 12 and 12A of the stators 7 and 7A of each track 2 and 2 A appurtenant to the intersections 15 and 15A have one common phase coil winding 16 and 16A located at the intersections 15 and 15A thus maintaining an uninterrupted phase sequence 17 formed by the coil windings 6A5 6B, 16, 6C and 6D and 17A along each of the tracks 2 and 2 A.
There is also a fourth embodiment of the present invention (Fig. 7) where the system 1 comprises two identical tracks 2 and 2A5 two moving bodies 8 and 8A and two controllers (not shown) correspondingly, the tracks 2 and 2A are spaced apart, thus the system 1 is configuring as a race track toy 18. According to another design option the track 2 may have a spatial configuration (Fig. 12) with a vertical loop 25.
The electromagnetic moving system 1 operates in the following ways. When electrical power is supplied from the power source (not shown) to the coils windings 6 of the track 2 that operate together as the stator 7, alternating electromagnetic fields are created. First, the electrical power is supplied to two adjacent coils windings 6 of the linear stator 7 located on a part of the track 2 where the body 4 is located at this moment. The electromagnetic field created by two adjacent coils windings 6 interacts with a magnetic field created by the permanent magnet(s) of object 8, which serve as the moving body 4. As a result, the body 4 is propelled along the track 2 to the next segment of coils of the track 2 with two adjacent coils windings 6, where the polarity of electrical power is switched by the controller 5, further propelling the body 4, and the body 4 continues to move to subsequent coils windings 6, and so on.
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 6 of the track 2 and the magnetized object 8 of the body 4 provides reliable attraction between the body 4 and the track 2 in any possible configuration and location of the track 2 and the body 4 without any special means for it. It makes the electromagnetic moving system 1 much more reliable and gives the possibility to operate at the higher speed of body 4 and in any position of it; thus providing the possibility to make the part of the track 2 as a vertical ring or a spiral or in any other configuration. It also makes the electromagnetic moving system 1, especially for the preferred embodiment, very easily controlled electronically (speed, time, turns, and etc.). It also simplifies the system 1 and makes it more durable because it is not necessary to use any kind of brushes.