Power generating and distribution system and method

• US 20060038083A1
• Filed: 07/18/2005
• Published: 02/23/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 07/20/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: David R. Criswell
• Original Assignee: David R. Criswell
• Inventors: Criswell, David R.
• Granted Patent: US 7,900,875 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 244/172.700
• CPC Class Codes: B64G 1/428 Power distribution and management
• CPC Class Codes: B64G 1/44 using radiation, e.g. deployable solar arrays
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/248 provided with an AC/DC converting device, e.g. rectennas
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/27 characterised by the type of receiving antennas, e.g. rectennas
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/50 using additional energy repeaters between transmitting devices and receiving devices
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/90 involving detection or optimisation of position, e.g. alignment

Abstract

A system and method of generating and distributing power includes one or more microwave power transmitters at locations on Earth adjacent natural fuel or power resources such as natural gas, oil, solid fuel, or geothermal energy. The fuel or energy source is converted into electricity on site, and the electricity is then converted into microwave power beams transmitted from the microwave power transmitter towards a redirector satellite in orbit about the Earth. The redirector satellite then sends one or more microwave beams to rectennas located in consumer nations at appropriate sites for feeding the power grid or to additional redirector satellites for directing to rectennas located on the far side of the Earth.

Claims

1. A power distribution system, comprising:

a source of electricity;

at least one microwave transmitter connected to the source of electricity for converting the electricity into a microwave beam, the transmitter including a first beam director for directing the microwave beam;

at least one redirector satellite in orbit about a celestial body for receiving the microwave beam from said transmitter; and

the satellite having a transmitter for converting the received microwave beam into a plurality of outgoing microwave beams, and a second beam director for directing the outgoing beams in predetermined directions.

2. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the source of electricity is an electricity-generating unit.

3. The system as claimed in claim 2, wherein the electricity source and microwave transmitter are located on a planetary surface.

4. The system as claimed in claim 3, wherein the planet is the Earth.

5. The system as claimed in claim 4, further comprising a plurality of rectenna stations at spaced locations on the Earth, the second beam director comprising means for directing at least one of the outgoing beams to a selected target comprising one of said rectenna stations.

6. The system as claimed in claim 5, wherein the second beam director comprises means for directing at least some of said outgoing beams to selected targets comprising rectenna stations on the Earth.

7. The system as claimed in claim 1, further comprising at least one additional redirector satellite in orbit about the celestial body, the second beam director comprising means for directing at least one of said outgoing beams to a target comprising said additional redirector satellite for direction to at least one receiver station located on the far side of the celestial body from said first mentioned redirector satellite.

8. The system as claimed in claim 4, further comprising at least one second redirector satellite in orbit about the Moon, the second beam director comprising means for directing at least one of said outgoing beams to said second redirector satellite.

9. The system as claimed in claim 4, wherein the second beam director comprises means for directing at least one of said outgoing beams to a rectenna station located on the Moon.

10. The system as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a plurality of selected targets, said second beam director comprising means for directing at least some of the outgoing beams to said selected targets, the targets being selected from the group consisting of rectenna stations at spaced locations on Earth, at least one rectenna station on the Moon, additional redirector satellites in orbit about the Earth, redirector satellites in orbit about the Moon, orbital vehicles, Earth-to-orbit vehicles, and other space vehicles.

11. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein at least one of said beam directors comprises means for directing at least one power beam to an orbital vehicle.

12. The system as claimed in claim 3, wherein said electricity source comprises an electricity-generating unit located adjacent a natural fuel source for providing fuel to said electricity-generating unit.

13. The system as claimed in claim 12, further comprising a collector located at said electricity-generating unit for collecting waste gases generated in the conversion of fuel into electricity.

14. The system as claimed in claim 13, further comprising an injector for injecting at least a portion of the collected waste gases back into the fuel supply.

15. The system as claimed in claim 13, further comprising a natural fuel reservoir and an injector for injecting the collected waste gases into said natural fuel reservoir.

16. The system as claimed in claim 12, wherein said electricity-generating unit is located at a distance of no more than one thousand miles from said natural fuel source.

17. The system as claimed in claim 12, where said electricity-generating unit and said fuel source are in close proximity at a spacing of no more than ten miles.

18. The system as claimed in claim 3, further comprising a plurality of additional electricity sources at spaced locations about the surface of said celestial body, and at least one microwave transmitter associated with each electricity source for generating at least one microwave power beam and directing said beam to at least one target.

19. A method of transporting energy, comprising the steps of:

converting a power or fuel source into electricity;

converting the electricity into at least one microwave power beam at a transmitter;

providing at least one redirector satellite in orbit about a celestial body;

directing at least one microwave power beam from said transmitter to said redirector satellite;

converting said microwave power beam into a plurality of outgoing microwave power beams at said redirector satellite; and

directing said outgoing power beams towards a plurality of selected targets.

20. The method as claimed in claim 19, wherein the step of directing said outgoing power beams comprises relaying at least one microwave power beam from the redirector satellite to at least one second redirector satellite.

21. The method as claimed in claim 19, wherein the step of directing said outgoing power beams comprises directing at least one outgoing power beam from said redirector satellite to at least one rectenna site located on the surface of said celestial body.

22. The method as claimed in claim 21, wherein the step of directing said outgoing power beams comprises directing at least some of said outgoing power beams from said redirector satellite to a plurality of spaced rectenna sites located on the surface of said celestial body.

23. The method as claimed in claim 19, wherein said redirector satellite is in orbit about the Earth and the step of directing said outgoing power beams comprises directing at least one of said outgoing power beams to the Moon.

24. The method as claimed in claim 19, wherein said redirector satellite is in orbit about the Earth and the step of directing said outgoing power beams comprises directing at least one of said outgoing power beams to a second redirector satellite in orbit about the Moon.

25. The method as claimed in claim 19, further comprising the steps of providing a plurality of power-generating stations at a plurality of locations about the surface of said celestial body, each station comprising an electricity-generating unit for converting a source of power or fuel into electricity and a microwave transmitter for converting said electricity into at least one microwave beam and directing said beam towards at least one selected target.

26. The method as claimed in claim 25, wherein each location is adjacent a natural source of fuel selected from the group consisting of oil, coal, methane and natural gas, further comprising the steps of collecting waste gases generated in the conversion of fuel into electricity, and injecting the waste gases back into a fuel source for enhancing fuel recovery from the source.

27. The method as claimed in claim 19, wherein the step of converting the electricity comprises creating a plurality of microwave power beams and directing each beam to selected redirector satellites in orbit about the celestial body.

28. The method as claimed in claim 19, further comprising the step of re-directing the outgoing microwave beams to different targets based on power demand.

29. The method as claimed in claim 19, further comprising the step of powering a vehicle from the surface of said celestial body towards orbit using one or more microwave power beams transmitted from the transmitter.

30. The method as claimed in claim 19, wherein the redirector satellite is in orbit about the Earth, further comprising the step of using the microwave power beams transmitted from the transmitter and from the orbital redirector satellite to power a cargo vessel to transport equipment from the Earth to the vicinity of the Moon, or to the Moon, and using the equipment and lunar material to construct a solar power collection and transmission system on the Moon.

31. The method as claimed in claim 19, further comprising the step of controlling the microwave beam such that each target to which a beam is directed is located in the near field of the received microwave beam.

32. The method as claimed in claim 22, further comprising the step of detecting the position of the incoming microwave beam at a rectenna site, cutting off the beam and sending a beam imbalance signal to the orbiting redirector satellite if the microwave beam is not properly centered on the rectenna site, and steering the microwave beam onto the rectenna site from the orbiting redirector satellite based on the imbalance signal.

33. The method as claimed in claim 19, wherein the step of directing the beam from the transmitter comprises transmitting a plurality of microwave beams to different orbiting redirector satellites.

34. The method as claimed in claim 33, wherein the step of directing the beam further comprises relaying at least some beams from one redirector satellite to at least one other redirector satellite whereby beams can be directed to rectenna sites on the far side of the celestial body from said transmitter.

35. The method as claimed in claim 19, further comprising the step of directing at least one microwave power beam from said transmitter on said celestial body to an operating station on a Moon of said celestial body.

36. The method as claimed in claim 35, wherein the celestial body comprises the Earth and the transmitter directs at least one microwave power beam directly to the Moon.

37. The method as claimed in claim 19, wherein said celestial body is the Earth, further comprising the steps of directing at least one microwave power beam from said transmitter to a lunar redirector satellite in orbit about the Moon, and directing said beam from said lunar redirector satellite to an operating station on the far side of the Moon from the Earth.

38. A power-generating and distributing system, comprising:

at least one power-generating station comprising an electricity-generating unit for converting a power source into electricity, and a microwave transmitter unit associated with the electricity-generating unit for converting the electricity into at least one microwave beam, the transmitter unit including a beam director to direct the microwave beam;

at least one orbiting redirector satellite for receiving the microwave beam; and

a plurality of rectenna stations on Earth for receiving one or more microwave beams, converting the received microwaves into electricity, and providing the electricity to a local or regional power grid;

the satellite having a beam-directing means for directing at least one selected microwave beam to a rectenna station selected from a plurality of rectenna stations distributed about the Earth depending on real time power requirements.

39. The system as claimed in claim 38, wherein the power-generating station is located adjacent a source of fossil fuel comprising said power source, and the station further comprises a collector unit for collecting waste gases produced by the electricity-generating unit, and an injection device for injecting the waste gases back into the fossil fuel supply for enhancing recovery of fuel from the supply.

40. The system as claimed in claim 39, wherein the fossil fuel supply is selected from the group consisting of an oil field, natural gas field, and a coal mine.

41. The system as claimed in claim 38, further comprising a plurality of cargo vessels for transporting materials into Earth orbit or into space, the cargo vessels having drive means powered by microwave beams directed from said station or said redirector satellite.

42. The system as claimed in claim 38, further comprising a plurality of power-generating stations located about the Earth at selected fossil fuel supply sites, and a plurality of orbital redirector satellites for receiving microwave power beams from selected stations and redirecting the received microwave power beams to selected rectenna stations.

43. The system as claimed in claim 42, further comprising at least one lunar solar power station located on the Moon for providing additional power to said rectenna stations, the lunar solar power station comprising a plurality of solar power collectors for collecting solar radiation, a converter assembly for converting solar power into microwaves, and a microwave transmitter for transmitting one or more microwave beams to selected orbital redirector satellites where the microwave beams can be redirected to selected rectenna stations on Earth.

44. The system as claimed in claim 38, wherein the orbital redirector satellite comprises an orbital mirror and a steering device for aiming the mirror at a selected rectenna station.

45. The system as claimed in claim 38, wherein the orbital redirector satellite comprises an orbital rectenna for converting the microwave beam into electricity and a microwave transmitter powered by the converted electricity for transmitting one or more microwave beams towards one or more selected rectenna stations on Earth.

46. The system as claimed in claim 38, wherein the orbital redirector satellite comprises a reflect-array for receiving a single incoming beam of microwaves and dividing the beam into a plurality of outgoing microwave beams directed to selected rectenna stations on Earth.

47. The system as claimed in claim 38, wherein each rectenna station is in the near field of the redirected microwave beam.

48. The system as claimed in claim 38, wherein the orbital redirector satellite is in non-geosynchronous orbit.

49. The system as claimed in claim 38, further comprising a temporary rectenna station comprising a plurality of flexible rectenna panels for placing at a temporary location and means for identifying the temporary location to one or more orbiting redirector satellites whereby one or more microwave beams can be directed to the temporary rectenna station.

50. The system as claimed in claim 38, wherein each rectenna station further comprises a plurality of detectors arranged about the periphery of the rectenna station for detecting the incoming microwave beam, a balance unit connected to the output of each detector for monitoring the power received by the detectors and producing an output correction signal on detection of any imbalance in the power received by the detectors indicating the beam is not properly centered on the rectenna station, and a transmitter for transmitting the correction signal to the orbiting redirector satellite which is sending the microwave beam to the rectenna station, whereby the direction of the microwave beam can be corrected based on the detected imbalance in the received signal about the periphery of the rectenna station.

51. A method of generating and transporting power, comprising the steps of:

converting a fuel or other power source into electricity at a first location on Earth;

converting the electricity into at least one microwave power beam at a transmitter at said first location;

transmitting the power beam directly to a lunar base receiving station at a second location on the Moon; and

converting the received microwave power into electricity for powering operations on the Moon.

52. The method as claimed in claim 51, further comprising the steps of transmitting a power beam from said transmitter to a redirector satellite in orbit about the Moon, and directing the beam to a lunar base receiving station at a third location on the far side of the Moon from the Earth.

53. A method of generating and transporting power, comprising the steps of:

converting a fuel or other power source into electricity at a first location on Earth;

converting the electricity into at least one microwave power beam at a transmitter at said first location;

transmitting the power beam to an orbital space craft; and

using the power to heat air in order to propel the craft into orbit about the Earth.

54. A power-generating and distributing system, comprising:

at least one power-generating station at a first location on the Moon comprising an electricity-generating unit for converting a fuel or other power source into electricity, and a microwave transmitter unit associated with the electricity-generating unit for converting the electricity into at least one microwave beam, the transmitter unit including a beam director to direct the microwave beam;

at least one orbiting redirector satellite for receiving the microwave beam; and

at least one rectenna station at a second location on the Moon for receiving one or more microwave beams;

the satellite having a beam-directing means for directing at least one selected microwave beam to the rectenna station.