Method and device for transporting, distributing and managing electrical energy by remote longitudinal coupling in near field between electric dipoles

Abstract

The apparatus according to the invention is composed of one or plural generator devices connected to an energy source and of one or plural loads (which may be mobile). Each load is powered by the intermediary of a limited spatial zone where an electric field that is intense and rapidly varying is present, and this is achieved without wires or electrical contact or use of an earth connection. The intense field is created locally between certain sub-electrodes located on the surface of the generator and an electrode or several sub-electrodes on the load side and located opposite. The active sub-electrodes on the generator side are selected by switches, for example magnetic switches activated by a permanent magnet located at the load. On the load side, a passive electrode is used which can be considered as mainly coupled to the surrounding dielectric medium. The invention targets, in particular, the tele-supply of energy to low and medium power fixed or mobile electric devices.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of transporting electrical energy at a distance, the method comprising:
 providing a generator device comprising a first pair of electrodes, a first electrode of the first pair of electrodes being an active electrode and a second electrode of the first pair of electrodes being a passive electrode, the first pair of electrodes being connected to the terminals of a generator of electric energy at high frequency and high voltage, the active electrode being segmented into a plurality of sub-electrodes, wherein one terminal of the generator is connected to a sub-electrode of the plurality of sub-electrodes of the active electrode via a switching system, and the other terminal of the generator is connected, without an intervening switch, to the passive electrode, and the switching system is arranged to selectively control which sub-electrodes of the active electrode are connected to said one terminal of the generator;   providing at least one load device, the load device comprising a second pair of electrodes one being an active electrode and the other being a passive electrode, the second pair of electrodes being connected to a load;   positioning the active electrode of the at least one load device in the vicinity of a sub-electrode of the generator device;   automatically detecting the sub-electrode in whose vicinity the active electrode of said at least one load device is positioned, and   transporting electrical energy to said at least one load device by activating the switching system to connect, to said one terminal of the generator, said sub-electrode detected in the detecting step, while the other sub-electrodes are not connected to the generator, creating a region of intense electric field localized in the vicinity of said sub-electrode, the region being located in the vicinity of said at least one load device, whereby said intense electric field region induces an electric charge in the active electrode of said at least one load device, capacitively coupling said sub-electrode detected in the detecting step to the active electrode of said at least one load device, thereby transferring electrical energy to the load device.   
     
     
         2 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein information is transmitted mono-or bi-directionally using modulation and demodulation units integrated in the generator device and the load device. 
     
     
         3 . The method according to  claim 2 , wherein electrical energy is transmitted to the at least one load device according to a communication protocol enabling each load device to itself trigger the energy transfer, this protocol being implemented by a device using detection, control and switching means situated at each active sub-electrode of the generator device and/or at the load device. 
     
     
         4 . The method according to  claim 3 , wherein said communication protocol comprises protection-type or standby-type modes when the transport of energy between said generator device and at least one of the load devices is no longer necessary or can no longer be implemented correctly. 
     
     
         5 . A system for transporting electrical energy at a distance by near-field longitudinal electric coupling between at least two oscillating electric dipoles, the system comprising:
 at least one generator device, said generator device being provided with a first pair of electrodes, one being an active electrode and the other being a passive electrode, the first pair of electrodes being connected to the terminals of a generator of electric energy at high frequency and high voltage, wherein one terminal of the generator is connected to the active electrode via a switching system, and the other terminal of the generator is connected, without an intervening switch, to the passive electrode, the active electrode being segmented into a plurality of sub-electrodes, wherein the generator is configured to supply the high frequency high voltage to the plurality of sub-electrodes via a single conductor and said switching system, the switching system being configured to selectively connect a sub-electrode of the plurality of sub-electrodes to the single conductor;   at least one load device comprising a second pair of electrodes one being an active electrode and the other being a passive electrode, the second pair of electrodes being connected to a load; and   a control for selectively activating the switching system to connect one of the sub-electrodes to the generator, while the other sub-electrodes are not connected to the generator, said activated sub-electrode thus constituting one of the ends of an electric dipole while the other end is constituted by the passive electrode of the generator device;   said control being further adapted to activate a sub-electrode facing an active electrode of one of the at least one load devices, said active electrode of the at least one load device constituting a first end of a second electric dipole while a second end of the second electric dipole is constituted by the passive electrode of the load device.   
     
     
         6 . The system according to  claim 5 , wherein the passive electrode of at least one of the generator device and the load device is replaced by a connection to the primary ground or to the earth. 
     
     
         7 . The system according to  claim 5 , wherein the generator comprises an electronic device and at least one voltage step-up transformer. 
     
     
         8 . The system according to  claim 5 , wherein the load devices operate directly at high voltage or are constituted by a voltage step-down device associated with a conventional low-voltage load. 
     
     
         9 . The system according to  claim 7 , wherein the passive electrode of the load device is metallic shielding of a low-voltage load or low-impedance circuits of a conventional low-voltage load. 
     
     
         10 . The system according to  claim 5 , wherein the connections between the generators and the electrodes associated therewith and the loads comprised in the load devices and their associated electrodes are implemented using conductor wires, and the conductor wires, the electrodes and the switching system, are constituted by conductive materials deposited or included in dielectric materials. 
     
     
         11 . The system according to  claim 5 , wherein a size, number, shape and position of the sub-electrodes of the generator is sufficient so as to ensure at each moment coverage of the load-side active electrode. 
     
     
         12 . The system according to  claim 5 , wherein the switching system and a detector at a distance are positioned close to the sub-electrodes, the switching system being positioned upstream of the generators when the generator is situated at each sub-electrode. 
     
     
         13 . The system according to  claim 12 , wherein electronics integrated into a switch forming part of the switching system, or in close vicinity thereof, is powered by a potential difference existing between terminals of said switch forming part. 
     
     
         14 . The system according to  claim 12 , wherein an electronic control controlling the switching system is partly or totally grouped within specialized integrated circuits and are associated with an electronic communicator that operates using a common link as that used for the transport of energy. 
     
     
         15 . The system according to  claim 5 , further comprising supplementary circuits, integrated into said control, enabling the system to adopt protection or standby modes when the transport of energy between said at least one generator device and the load device is no longer necessary or can no longer be achieved correctly. 
     
     
         16 . The system according to  claim 6 , wherein the generator comprises an electronic device and at least one voltage step-up transformer. 
     
     
         17 . The system according to  claim 16 , wherein the passive electrode of the load device is metallic shielding of a low-voltage load or low-impedance circuits of the low-voltage load. 
     
     
         18 . The system according to  claim 7 , wherein the voltage step-up transformer is an induction transformer of resonant type, or a piezoelectric transformer. 
     
     
         19 . The system according to  claim 16 , wherein the voltage step-up transformer is an induction transformer of resonant type, or a piezoelectric transformer. 
     
     
         20 . The system according to  claim 5 , wherein there are plural active electrodes and each has a switching system associated therewith.