Pulse Protection Circuits for Guided Surface Wave Energy Theft Deterrence
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Solution Overview
Problem
For over a century, there has been no practical structure for efficiently launching open surface guided waves over planar or spherical surfaces of lossy, homogeneous media, despite theoretical possibilities.
Innovation Solution
Guided surface waveguide probes are configured to excite electric fields that couple into a guided surface waveguide mode along the surface of a lossy conducting medium, such as the Earth, by synthesizing a wave front incident at a complex Brewster angle, resulting in zero reflection and launching a guided electromagnetic field as a guided surface wave.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Illumination intensity
If conventional antenna structures are used to transmit signals by radio waves, then radiation fields can be launched, but field strength decreases rapidly with distance and energy loss increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces conventional radiating antenna structures with a guided surface waveguide probe system that launches electromagnetic waves along the surface of the Earth rather than radiating them into free space. This substitution of the transmission mechanism allows energy to be guided along a lossy conducting medium (the Earth's surface) with significantly reduced energy loss and maintained field strength over distance, directly resolving the contradiction between field strength and energy loss
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces the Earth's surface (lossy conducting medium) as an intermediary medium to guide the electromagnetic waves. Instead of waves propagating directly through air from conventional antennas, the guided surface wave system uses the Earth's surface as a waveguide, which acts as an intermediary that confines and directs the energy, reducing both field strength decay and energy loss simultaneously
2Illumination intensity
If guided surface waveguide probes are configured to excite electric fields at complex Brewster angle, then reflection is reduced to zero and field strength near source increases, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the operational parameters of the waveguide probe by exciting electric fields at a complex Brewster angle rather than conventional angles. This parameter change in the excitation geometry optimizes the coupling between the probe and the guided surface wave mode, resulting in zero reflection and significantly enhanced field strength near the source, while the increased device complexity is offset by the substantial performance improvement
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution enables the efficient propagation of guided surface waves along lossy conducting media with significantly higher field strength near the source and reduced reflection, overcoming the limitations of existing technologies.
Implementation Method 1
Guided surface waveguide probes are configured to excite electric fields that couple into a guided surface waveguide mode along the surface of a lossy conducting medium
Implementation Method 2
by synthesizing a wave front incident at a complex Brewster angle, resulting in zero reflection
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed are various embodiments for preventing theft of energy transmitted as a guided surface wave along the surface of a terrestrial medium, by pulsing the transmitted energy and protecting authorized devices from the pulse. In one embodiment, a guided surface wave receive structure is configured to obtain electrical energy from a guided surface wave. An electrical load coupled to the guided surface wave receive structure. The electrical load is experienced as a load at an excitation source coupled to a guided surface waveguide probe that is generating the guided surface wave with an electrical field strength that may be selectively increased. A pulse protection circuit is employed to selectively protect the electrical load from an increase in electrical energy received by the guided surface wave receive structure when the electrical field strength is selectively increased, while unprotected circuits may be damaged or disrupted by the pulse.