The Jetson’s Predecessor, Circa 2012

Roy Amara was a researcher, scientist and past president of the Institute for the Future. Born in Boston 1925, he has also worked at Stanford Research Institute. He held a BS in Management, an MS in the Arts and Sciences, and a Ph.D. in Systems Engineering. He died in 2007. He is possibly best known for the quotation ”We tend to overestimate the effect of a technology in the short run and underestimate the effect in the long run”, which was paraphrased by Robert X. Cringely, and is sometimes known as Amara’s Law.

Wikipedia, emphasis added

So, if we underestimate future technology (extrapolating from today’s inventions) based on Amara’s Law (Amara’s Hope?), might we expect to proceed from patent US 8,232,699 to the Jetson-mobile by 2062?

The Jetson’s, again according to Wikipedia, originally aired on the ABC television network from September 1962 to March 1963; it described the foibles of the Jetson family residing in Orbit City in 2062. A major milestone, “[a]t the time of its debut, it was the first program ever to be broadcast in color on ABC-TV.” Don’t be embarrassed to admit (nod if you’d like) that you watched the program. After all, the early 1960s were a time of great optimism about the future, and the role that technology would play in our society. Much different times than today. I miss them. But I digress.

The Patent

US Patent 8,232,699 was issued to Kyli Irene Letang (Las Vegas, NV) on the last day of July, 2012. She retained assignee rights. Her invention, “Magnetically levitating vehicle,” reaches back to July 1966 insofar as the cited patents go. Her earliest patent citation is to US 3,260,475, “Space Vehicle Directing Apparatus,” – perhaps the Jetsons reference isn’t so far fetched after all [1] … The earliest US patent granted for magnetic levitation transportation is US 782,312, “Electric Traction Apparatus,” issued to German inventor Alfred Zehden in 1905. Another early invention was memorialized in US 859,018, “Transportation System,” issued to Franklin S. Smith of Philadelphia, PA in 1907.

The ‘699 patent was issued under the USPTO Green Tech Pilot Program. Letang seeks a vehicle that hovers “above its tires with the use of magnetic levitation.” 

“[T]he present invention brings a new aspect to magnetic levitation and propulsion by not requiring its own track, as is the case with maglev trains. Thus, it can directly be incorporated into the existing transportation infrastructure. … The present invention addresses concerns regarding energy and fossil fuel consumption in the transportation industry. Also, the present invention does not use or contain a combustion engine and is powered solely through electricity. This reduces the impact the present invention has on the environment and is concurrent with the needs of the future.”

OK, so her goal is to convert an area source of air pollution (an internal combustion engine in a vehicle) to a point source (a coal or natural gas power plant). Also, the inventor knows the needs of the future.

The patent’s claim 1 states:

A magnetically levitating vehicle comprises, a frame;

a control device;
a plurality of tire chambers;
a plurality of tires;
the frame comprises of a magnetic shield, a cabin, and a under carriage guard;
the magnetic shield being positioned inside of the frame and surrounding the plurality of tire chambers;
and the undercarriage guard being positioned underneath the frame.

The Novelty

The inventor’s detailed description of the invention provides insight into the perceived novelty of the invention:

• These components include a levitation system, a control system, a propulsion system, a tire safety system, and an electromagnetic shielding system. The present invention uses magnetic properties to perform its purpose. Thus, the present invention requires no fuel to run and operate. The present invention operates with the use of a magnetic sensing system that is powered with rechargeable batteries. To hover above its own tires, the present invention contains a levitation system that is maintained through interactions between the car and the tire. To turn, the present invention uses its propulsion system to carry out inputs from the control system. Also, it implements a tire safety system to ensure that the tires remain in proper position while driving. Another safety precaution taken is a shielding system that helps to ensure the many magnetic fields involved in moving and guiding the present invention does not become unmanageable or interfere with other magnetic devices in the car (i.e. cell phones). 
• [A] major difference in the design is seen in its unique plurality of tire chambers. Traditionally, cars have exposed wheel wells on both the left and right sides, which mark the position of each of the four tires. The plurality of tire chambers are similar in shape to hemispheres, which protrudes past the surface of the present invention’s body to protect the plurality of tires. 
• Instead of using a conventional tire design, the present invention has a plurality of tires that are shaped as spheres. The tires are able to rotate in a 360° motion which allows for easier turning and steering. The lack of restriction on the rotation of the tires also means the present invention can travel in any direction. 
• [A]nother unique aspect to the tires’ design is that they contain two layers: an inner shell and outer shell. The inner shell is located inside the outer shell; in between the surfaces of the two shells is air. Inside the inner shell is an orientation device, in the present design, a gyroscope is used to maintain the proper orientation and positioning of the inner shell, while allowing the outer shell to fully rotate. 
• [A] major benefit of the Magno car is the ability to operate the car with only one hand. The present invention is controlled by a single control device, which comprises of a control stick, an accelerator button, a brake button, a levitation button, and a mounting device. 

My favorite novelty aspect of this invention (setting aside levitation above the tires, spherical tires, shielding system (Kirk: “Scotty, bring up the shields.” Scott: “Aye, shields are up, Captain.”), 360° tire turning (on ice & snow? – no thanks. Maybe there’s an after-market heat-ray gun for that.), gyroscopes encased in the tires, one-hand vehicle operation using what seems to be a fighter-jet hand controller complete with multiple “pickles”, and especially discounting the purchase, maintenance, and repair costs for this bad boy) – my favorite aspect is that “the present invention requires no fuel to run and operate.” Cool.

A Green Tech Patent – Really?

And to think, the USPTO Green Tech Pilot Program actually issued a patent for this. I guess because it’s the ultimate fuel-saving vehicle.

The mind … she boggles.

Watch the video for a view of the future of this invention

1. For all you space junkies, or those that would like a taste of nostalgia, please read the articles on NASA’s Mission Control recently published by Ars Technica here  and here. Also, a detailed review of the engineering behind bringing Apollo 13 home by ieee spectrum. Do any of our readers remember Shorty Powers, the voice of Mercury Control? Did you, like me, count down with him – “5–4–3–2–1–0! We have lift-off! And the clock is running!” How sad that the United States of America, the country that put men on the moon (RIP Neil Armstrong, and other passed lunar astronauts), can’t launch a single person to even sub-orbit, in late 2012, and the nation’s imagination is captured for a day by an Austrian adventurer who ascends to 25 miles in a high-tech balloon and parachutes to earth, 65 years to the day that Chuck Yeager exceeded the speed of sound in the Bell X–1 (read Tom Wolfe’s The Right Stuff). So much for national vision, determination, and will. 

On The Railroad Redux

The Inkling's October 9, 2012 post was about patent US 8,117,969, a BNSF Railway patent for “Hydrogen fuel cell hybrid locomotives,” issued by the US Patent and Trademark Office in February 2012.  Way Better Patents took a macro view of the patent and the invention, describing the major types of railroad locomotives and the petroleum and electricity used by US locomotives. 

On October 15, 2012, David Gibbs, a contributor to Eric Lane’s Green Patent Blog posted an article on the very same patent. Gibbs provides a micro treatment, emphasizing the business aspects of BNSF, describing where the new hybrid locomotive was tested and how it might be used in BNSF’s system.

The Clean Tech universe benefits when information about important innovations that have the potentially to be transformational are disseminated to as broad an audience as possible.

Transportation Cleantech - Ships

Ship Fore Nozzle

US ships and boats, not including military vessels, used 626,000 barrels (26.3 million gallons) of petroleum per day in 2010 according to USDOE statistics (its EERE office, referred to in previous posts in this short series). With an average container ship consuming about 3600 gallons per hour, fuel costs represent a major fraction of the operation of a cargo ship.

“Device for reducing the power demand for the propulsion of a ship”

This patent, US 8,123,578, was issued to Friedrich Mewis of Dresden, Germany, (assigned to Becker Marine Systems GmbH & Co., Germany), on February 28, 2012. The invention consists of a nozzle housing fins or hydrofoils; the assembly is mounted to the ship’s hull just forward of the propeller(s).

It is a passive device (other than being able to be tilted to provide proper alignment with respect to the prop). The nozzle/hydrofoil assembly operates by increasing the speed of water flow against the propeller in areas where the main flow stream is very high, and of decreasing the flow against the propeller in areas where the main stream is low. In addition, the nozzle itself provides some thrust. The fins or hydrofoils arranged within the fore-nozzle generate a rotational swirl, that serves to counteract the swirl (and resulting energy losses) imparted by the propeller. Both of these effects increase the overall efficiency of the propulsion system.

Claim 1:

A device for reducing a power demand for the propulsion of a single-propeller or multi-propeller ship, wherein the device is attached to a hull of the ship proximate to the propeller, the device comprising a fore-nozzle with fins or hydrofoils arranged within the fore-nozzle, wherein the fore-nozzle, at a top thereof, is tilted forwards relative to a horizontal transverse axis that extends through the center of the fore-nozzle, wherein the fore-nozzle is rotation-symmetrically arranged with an upwards-shifted axis that is situated above the propeller axis, and wherein the fins or hydrofoils have different lengths.

As part of his invention summary, Mewis states:

"With a device constructed in this manner it is possible to reduce the power demand for the propulsion of a ship. The possible gain increases as the extent of thrust loading on the propeller increases. The device is particularly suitable for slow, broad-built ships, such as tankers, bulk transports and tugs, and also for not-very-fast ships of any type. The device itself is affixed to the hull so that it is upstream of the propeller of the ship, with said device comprising the two functional elements of fore-nozzle and fins or hydrofoils."

He estimates that,

"[t]he power savings which can be achieved by the device depend substantially on the propeller load, they are from 3% for small multi-purpose ships to 9% for big tankers and bulkers. The power savings are almost independent of the draught of the ship and from the speed."

A potential 9% power saving for large tankers and cargo vessels translates to a significant fuel and cost savings.

2012 Transportation Cleantech - Locomotives

2012 Transportation Cleantech – Part 2, Locomotives

Railroads are one of the most efficient means for transporting freight and passengers over relatively long distances. In the US, two major forms of railroad locomotive are currently in use, as pointed out by the inventors of our next patent:

Diesel-electric locomotives employ a diesel engine to drive an electric power generator, which in turn drives a set of traction motors that rotate the locomotive wheels. Diesel-electric locomotives have the advantage of requiring a minimal amount of support infrastructure and thus are particularly suited for providing transport across remote geographical regions. On the other hand, because diesel-electric locomotives consume diesel, they contribute to urban air pollution and are subject to operating costs tied directly to the cost of oil.
Catenary-electric locomotives run directly from an electricity source, typically electric lines running above the railroad tracks. Catenary-electric locomotives are cleaner-operating on a locomotive-by-locomotive basis than diesel-electric locomotives; however, catenary-electric locomotives must be viewed as small parts of a much larger distributed power system, which includes an electricity generation plant, transformers, and a system of transmission lines required to bring electricity to the locomotives as they run down the tracks. This large distributed power system is typically unsuitable for remove geographic regions and overall is less efficient than a system utilizing diesel locomotives.

Back to the 2010 USDOE EERE statistics. Railroad locomotives consumed a daily average of 240,000 barrels of petroleum (10.1 million gallons). Electric locomotives (whether the catenary type, or the electrified third-rail type – think Washington DC’s Metro subway system) used about 20,870 million kW-hrs of electricity in 2010, roughly the equivalent used by 1.82 million average US homes.

It’s An Engine, Or a Mobile Electricity Source

Arnold R. Miller of Lakewood, CO and three co-inventors were granted patent 8,117,969 in February, 2012 for “Hydrogen fuel cell hybrid locomotives,” their patent is assigned to the BNSF Railway Company. The invention provides a set of batteries for driving multiple electric traction motors (as are currently used in diesel-electric locomotives) for moving the locomotive “and a fuel cell power plant for charging the set of batteries and driving the electric traction motors. The fuel cell power plant includes at least one fuel cell power module for generating electrical current by reacting hydrogen fuel and oxygen from intake air, the amount of electrical current being proportional to an air mass flow of the intake air. An air system selectively provides an air mass flow to the fuel cell module to generate an amount of electrical current required for corresponding operating conditions of the locomotive. A cooling system cools the at least one fuel cell power module in response to the amount of current being generated.”

Advantages of a hydrogen fuel cell locomotive include

[a]mong other things, such hydrogen hybrid fuel cell locomotives help reduce particulate air pollution in urban rail yards, as well as reduce the amount of greenhouse gases expelled into the atmosphere. Furthermore, the use of hydrogen as a fuel reduces the dependency of the railroads on imported oil and decouples locomotive operating costs from the volatile fossil fuel markets. Moreover, hydrogen hybrid fuel cell locomotives can act as mobile electricity sources, for example in disaster recovery scenarios.

Riding With Cleantech Business Methods

I recently received an offer notice for “one-way car service to either Dulles International or Reagan National airport by Enviroride, a leader in green limousine and sedan services.” They promise that riders will have “[l]ower stress and stay stylish … [w]ith the assistance of a professional driver … your travel-day anxiety (and your carbon footprint), will decrease substantially.” The notice didn’t indicate any means by which this service will decrease one’s “carbon footprint” — after all, you are still using a carbon-based fuel vehicle in a point-to-point mode from your departure location to the airport, or vice versa. The company’s web page, however, states that EnviroRide “is an environmentally responsible personal transportation company in [the] Baltimore and Washington DC Metropolitan Area. With time, the entire EnviroRide vehicle fleet will be fueled by alternative fuel with the first cars using emission reducing and electric hybrid technology.”

OK, fair enough. I’m curious about the business aspects of the service, and how they relate to clean tech.

The company’s web site accepts online reservations, which are found in Way Better Patents Exchanging Money for Stuff business methods group, with overlap into Minding the Store (which includes scheduling your ride).

Suppose you and several colleagues use the service to pick you up from the office to head out on a cross-country business trip. If you coordinated the schedule of your project team with your company’s internal calendar-based scheduling software, you entered the realm of the Planning an Innovation group of business methods patents. Because you are coordinating multiple people for your trip to comply with your company’s policies to reduce individual travel as a means of meeting its Clean Tech Vision 2020 goals and policies, you’ve automatically used patentECO innovations.

Oh, one last aspect. The email offer notice with a reduced price coupon I received? Also a business method (and it’s cleantech for having been sent via email rather than surface snail mail delivered by carbon-spewing vehicles) found in the Way Better Patents Marketing, Selling, Evangelizing business methods group.

Business methods patents, although frequently maligned (“software shouldn’t be patented, it should be free”), help to encourage innovation, and protect important intellectual property components of our market-based economy, and they directly support clean tech.

Image source: LimousinesWorld.com

A Multitudinous Hybrid Vehicle

A Multitudinous Hybrid Vehicle

A recent search turned up 2,137 US patents with the words “hybrid vehicle” in the title or abstract; these span the years from 1971-2012. At least one of these inventions is a multi-mode, multi-power source vehicle.

Patent Number 7,398,841, “Vehicle power assist by brake, shock, solar, and wind energy recovery,” was issued to Jay Stephen Kaufman of Kingston, NH on July 15, 2008. The patent is classified as 180/2.2, placing it in a class for motor vehicles, and with inventions whose motor is supplied with power from an external source, with that source comprising or including energy derived from a force of nature (e.g., sun, wind). 143 other inventions share this classification; the earliest (209,862) was issued in November 1878 to John Cook (Kirkwood, IL) for “Improvement in Wind-Engines”, his invention consisting of “construction and arrangement of a wind-power for stationary or moving machinery or other purposes . . .” This was basically a windmill on a moving vehicle.

Returning to the ‘841 patent, claim 1 states:

“A method for recovering, storing and transferring energy dissipated by a vehicle, comprising the steps of:

driving a wind energy recovery means by differential pressure between air impacting said vehicle and air in selected wake regions of said vehicle, and by air flow through said recovery means due to said differential pressure, transferring liquefied air from a source external to said vehicle to a liquefied air storage means connected to said vehicle, producing additional liquefied air by a liquefier means driven by said wind energy recovery means, cooling atmospheric air drawn from around said vehicle with said liquefied air and said additional liquefied air in a heat exchange means connected to said vehicle, while producing vaporized liquefied air and cooled atmospheric air, pressurizing said cooled atmospheric air by a cryogenic compression means driven by said wind energy recovery means to produce compressed atmospheric air, and transferring any excess liquefied air from said vehicle.”

Inventor Kaufman wants to provide:

• Systems for recovering energy dissipated by a motor vehicle, as well as solar radiation.
• Systems for storage, transfer, and efficient consumption of recovered energy.
• A prime mover capable of burning renewable fuel with improved emissions.

The features that provide these systems include:

• An energy recovery transmission for recovery of vehicle deceleration energy by compression of atmospheric air.
• Energy recovery shock absorbers with cryogenic cooling for efficient compression of atmospheric air.
• An energy recovery turbine to drive an atmospheric air compressor.
• An energy recovery solar-electric panel to drive an atmospheric air compressor. Energy is recovered during parking, stopping and driving of a vehicle.
• Providing air compression and liquefied air storage of recovered energy, plus capability to transfer liquefied air between vehicles or between vehicles and stationary sites. In addition, air compression provides vehicle braking assist.
• On-board vehicle air liquefier to liquefy suitably pure atmospheric air.
• A compact and efficient gas turbine prime mover.
• A quasi-isothermal liquefied air expander for urban driving.
• Providing a gas turbine/air expander with virtual compression to power a hybrid vehicle.

This means we have a compressed air energy storage, regenerative braking and transmission deceleration and shock absorbing, solar-electric, gas turbine, methanol fueled hybrid vehicle.

I shudder to think about the repair bills.

Environmentally Friendly Transportation

How Many Environmentally/Ecologically Friendly Inventions?

Part 5 — Transportation

Transportation is a big arena for environmentally friendly innovations. Recreational eco-friendly vehicles from California; what’s not to like?

The nine Transportation Index patents are evenly spread over eight USPC classes:

• chairs and seats
• automatic temperature and humidity regulation
• railways: surface track
• prime-mover dynamo plants
• electric resistance heating devices
• marine propulsion
• buoys, rafts, and aquatic devices
• data processing: vehicles, navigation, and relative location.

We’ll consider “Clean energy powered surfboards,” an invention of Kendyl A. Roman of Sunnyvale, CA. The patent (8,070,544) was issued on December 6, 2011 and is classified as 441/74, which is a surfboard.

I believe you’ll see the novelty of the invention, and its environmental friendliness, by reading the abstract:

“Clean energy powered surfboard having various advantages that make for easy to learn, easy to use, safer, exciting, high performance, environmentally friendly surfing on any ocean wave in the world. The various embodiments include novel motor, turbine, or electric motor generator surfboards comprising hydrogen or electric-powered motors, which can be switch-activated and which drive jet pumps. Energy can be stored as compressed gas, including air and hydrogen. Energy can be stored in novel capacitors that are incorporated in the body of the surfboard. Energy can be generated by solar or water power while surfing or by passing waves, for example, while waiting for a big wave. An output jet provides thrust to catch a wave, to return to the wave breaks, or to avoid a hazard. A novel fin output jet increases stability and maximizes thrust. Self-contained, self-recharging embodiments are low cost, lightweight, safer, and good for the environment.”

Hang 10!

patentECO - The Way Better Patents View

The patentECO Clean Tech Ecosystem

In my introductory patentECO post, I referred to the clean technology ecosystem — what does this phrase mean?

Way Better Patents reviewed many definitions of “clean”, “green”, and “sustainable” technology. Some more accurately describe our view of clean technology than others, but we found that none capture key economic factors that are necessary for clean technology to provide viable products and services in a market-based economy.

Clean technology can be found across the innovative continuum.  Broadly clean tech is technology that uses less material and/or energy, minimizes waste, and lessen negative environmental consequences.  Clean tech can be found in the physical, chemical, electrical, biological, or computational disciplines.  

These technologies cover a wide spectrum of processes, products, services, and business models.  Clean tech delivers financial returns for investors, competitive prices for consumers, and profits for producers. The clean technology ecosystem is characterized by innovation that maintains a focus on efficient and productive use of natural and man-made resources in a sustainable manner — targeting human needs and desired products and services, while conserving resources and the environment so that these needs and desires may be met both now and in the future.

Clean technologies apply to agriculture, air pollution control and reduction, industry, energy, resource extraction or harvesting, transportation, and water and wastewater, and pertain to the resource inputs, processes, and supply chains that support them.

The Clean Tech Ecosystem

We have identified particular portions of the US Patent Classification system (USPC) and the International Patent Classification system (IPC) that cover clean technologies in these disciplines that pertain to:

• Agriculture
• Air,  air pollution control and reduction
• Industry
• Energy
• Resource extraction or harvesting
• Transportation
• Water, water and wastewater

In upcoming posts we’ll review patented technologies in these areas from the standpoint of the defining aspect of the invention, and where it lies within the innovation space of that particular technology.

Additional details may be found on our patentECO web page. 

Welcome to patentECO

Today, Way Better Patent inaugurates our new patentECO blog.  patentECO will appear here on The Inkling.

patentECO is Way Better Patents’ ecosystem of clean technology innovation, as represented by patents issued by the US Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO), the European Patent Office (EPO), and other international patent organizations comprising the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

patentECO will review cleantech inventions and the patents that define them and the role patents play in the cleantech ecosystem.  We will review cleantech news items from an intellectual property (IP) and innovation perspective. We will focus on seven major categories within the clean technology ecosystem: air, industry; energy; water; resource extraction and harvesting, transportation and agriculture. We’ll take forays into other corners of the cleantech ecosystem as our interest leads us.

Michael Bowman, the Managing Editor of patentECO, is leading this effort.  Mike has decades of experience in clean technology, intellectual property analysis and management, innovation, and high tech knowledge management solutions. We will bring a unique perspective to the clean technology discussion.

Way Better Patents builds useful, easy to understand, engaging applications that transform complex data into compelling and expressive information. We are passionate about what we do, about providing real access to information in ways that help you gain insight and create knowledge. Way Better Patents applications are tools for exploration, tools for discovery, tools for analysis so you can explore, discover, analyze and execute — information you can use.