The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Apr. 17, 2007
Filed:
Jul. 21, 2004
Alan B. Minick, Stuart, FL (US);
Benjamin Goldberg, Palm City, FL (US);
Alan B. Minick, Stuart, FL (US);
Benjamin Goldberg, Palm City, FL (US);
United Technologies Corporation, Hartford, CT (US);
Abstract
An ion drive system for creating a propulsion force or thrust has at least one stage having an emitter and an attractor spaced from the emitter by a gap. An ionizable dielectric media is located within the gap. The drive system further has a propellant source for introducing a propellant in the vicinity of the emitter and a power source for creating a high intensity field in the vicinity of the emitter to ionize the dielectric media and a diffused field in the vicinity of the attractor to accelerate the ions away from the emitter and thereby create a propulsive force. In a preferred embodiment, the ion drive system has a plurality of stages.