Imagine an efficient engine that runs on sugar!

Informal Description of the Invention: The molecules that make a muscle pull can be coated onto the inner surfaces of a rotating bearing to create a wheel that rotates itself. By nesting a series of such wheels, the outer edge of the wheel could be made to move at any desired speed. By making a longer cylinder, the power can be increased. The power source of the engine is ATP, so the fuel can be grown (to make sugar and then ATP) and the engine could be highly efficient. On a microscopic scale, the device could be used to power other nanotechnologies or it could be used as a sensor for cellular conditions. On a macroscopic scale the motor could be a pollution-free source of power. Because the motor does not produce any pollution, widespread use for transportation would reduce CO₂ emissions responsible for global warming and could reduce diseases from air pollution such as emphysema and cancer. For example, a major component of gasoline is benzene, which is known to cause leukemia. This engine would eliminate exposure at the gas pump, automobile exhaust fumes and from working in oil or chemical companies.

Formal Description of Invention:
The present application describes a molecular-based macroscopic rotating engine. The engine is constructed of two cylinders, one inner and one outer whose inner surfaces are coated with oriented mobility or contractile proteins. In the presence of ATP the cylinders rotate relative to each other. Speed of relative rotation is controlled by the concentration of ATP or by nesting a series of cylinders inside each other. Power is controlled by adjusting the length of the cylinders. One advantage of this technology over other macroscopic motors is that it can be used to supply power to prosthetic implants and medical devices without the drawbacks associated with conventional power sources. Other advantages are that the motor operates at room temperature, fuels can be prepared by growing sugar so the motor does not contribute to carbon dioxide pollution and the waste products are biologically safe.

Inventors:
Thomas D. Schneider (NCI) and Ilya G. Lyakhov

Patent Status:
DHHS Reference No. E-018-99/0 filed 03 Aug 1999

Portfolio:
Devices/Instrumentation - Therapeutics, methods of using devices

• Federal Register announcement vol 64, no. 179, page 50291, Thursday, September 16, 1999, in pdf format
• The PCT Database has released the the international patent application (use Username: guest and Password: guest to log in, click on "view images" and then use the Next button). Patent number: WO0109181
• The United States Patent and Trademark Office published the patent application on July 4, 2002 as publication number US-2002-0083710-A1. Patent full text can be found at: http://www.uspto.gov/patft. You can search for document 20020083710.
• Because links to the PCT repeatedly fail I have put the PCT application below.

• PCT Application Cover page information (html)
• Description and claims (html)
• Figures:
  • cover page
  • Fig 1 - 2
  • Fig 3
  • Fig 4 - 5
  • Fig 6 - 7
  • Fig 8 - 9

• United States Patent and Trademark Office Patent Application Information Retrieval search for Application Number: 10/061,377
  (sorry, they don't give absolute links!!)
• patent allowed in Australia
• Freepatentsonline for 7349834
• Freepatentsonline for 8086432. This was noted to be the last nanotech patent of the year 2011. (link fails now)
• Freepatentsonline for 8798980

Schneider Lab
origin: 1999 September 21
updated: 2016 Jan 07