Abstract: A nuclear power plant installation comprises a nuclear reactor that is disposed in an underground reactor room and connected to power generating equipment on the ground surface by pipes which pass between the underground reactor room and the ground surface. A plurality of underground cavities are disposed above the underground reactor room, each of said cavities comprising steel bridgework that defines the sides and tops of the cavity and an unreinforced concrete floor which supports a mass of particulate shielding material within the cavity. An explosive charge embedded within each such mass may be detonated in the event of a malfunction of the reactor to fracture the floor structure in the cavity if the floor has not been fractured by the reactor malfunction, thereby to cause tons of mixed sand and boron powder to fall from said cavities into the reactor room and bury the malfunctioning reactor within a few seconds after the explosion.

Abstract: An energy economizing AC power control system for energizing the stator windings of a three phase induction motor comprises an AC generator connected to the motor rotor shaft for generating an AC signal that is frequency modulated in response to load induced speed variations of the rotor, a variable resistance whose magnitude is responsive to the frequency modulated signal, an AC power proportioning switch which produces a single phase output consisting of pulses whose widths vary with variations in the magnitude of the variable resistance, a single phase-to-three phase converter coupled to the output of the proportioning switch for producing three control signals that occur respectively at the frequency of and during each voltage phase alternation of a three phase sine wave power supply, and three solid state switches that are respectively controlled by said control signals for controlling the time duration that each alternation of the three phase power supply is coupled via an associated one of the solid st

Abstract: An energy economizing AC power control system for energizing an induction motor comprises a sine wave power source which is connected via a triac to the motor, and a control circuit which controls the conduction of the triac as a function of the load on the motor to provide the motor with short bursts of energy. The control circuit includes a field effect transistor having a gate electrode which is energized by a train of sawtooth shaped control signals having a repetition rate which is twice the frequency of the power source, and DC bias potential is also applied to the gate electrode with the magnitude of the DC bias potential being varied with variations in the current flowing through the motor stator winding.

Abstract: A Direct Current electric motor comprises a stator consisting of a plurality of coils interconnected to one another, and a plurality of gate controlled solid state rectifiers responsive to forced commutation below a particular rpm and self-commutation above said rpm which are connected to the junctions of the coils for selectively conducting current into and out of the stator coil junctions in dependence upon which of said rectifiers is rendered operative. This produces a plurality of stator poles which are angularly displaced from the poles of the rotor of the motor and which shift in position as the rotor rotates. A plurality of trigger assemblies are provided for controlling the energization of the various gate electrodes, each of said trigger assemblies comprising a pick-up coil which forms a portion of a frequency selective circuit whose resonance frequency varies in dependence on the position of a magnetic element that is moved relative to the pick-up coils as the rotor rotates.

Abstract: A flat plate solar boiler, having one face which is exposed to solar radiation to heat a liquid within the boiler, also has its opposing face, or the dark side of the boiler, indirectly heated by solar radiation thereby to minimize heat losses from the boiler and to apply further input heat to the boiler. The dark side or second face of the solar boiler is indirectly heated through a metallic plate which is in conductive engagement with the second face of the boiler, extends beyond at least one of the side edges of the boiler, and has a radiation absorptive material on an extension portion of the plate facing the sun. In an alternative embodiment, the second face of the boiler is heated by use of a second solar boiler which is disposed in laterally spaced relation to the first boiler to provide a heated liquid which is circulated past the second face of the first boiler.

Abstract: A standard, unmodified AC induction motor has its stator winding energized from a sine wave power source through a signal-responsive wave modifier operative to control the portion of each cycle of the swine wave which is coupled from said source to the stator winding. Load detecting means, comprising a comparatively small AC generator coupled to the rotor of the motor, produces a control signal, varying with variations in the load on the motor, for controlling the wave modifier to increase the field density of the stator winding with increases in load on the motor, and to decrease the field density of the stator winding with decreases in said load.

Abstract: An induction motor has its stator winding energized from a sine wave power source through a signal-responsive wave modifier operative to control the portion of each cycle of the sine wave which is coupled from said source to the stator winding. The induction motor includes a squirrel cage rotor which carries an additional windings operative during rotation of the rotor to generate a polyphase AC voltage having an amplitude which is proportional to the load on the motor, and the AC voltage so generated is rectified to produce a DC signal which is coupled to a DC amplifier which in turn produces a control voltage for controlling the wave modifier.

Abstract: A direct current motor comprises a stator having a plurality of coils connected in series with one another located around a circle in a closed loop configuration, with the junctions between adjacent pairs of coils being in turn connected to diametrically opposed ones of said junctions in said closed loop configuration. A plurality of pairs of oppositely poled silicon controlled rectifiers are connected respectively to the junctions of different adjacent pairs of the coils for conducting current from a DC source into and out of the junctions. A wound rotor energized by the DC source drives a distributor which is arranged to energize the gate electrodes of different ones of the silicon controlled rectifiers in sequence so as to produce a plurality of stator poles which, at any instant of time, are angularly displaced from the rotor poles, and which stator poles shift in position about the closed loop coil configuration with rotation of the rotor.

Abstract: A solar heater comprising two or more containers nested one within the other for the solar heating of a gaseous medium such as air therein. Each container is provided, near its lower end, with a solar radiation absorbing metal sheet which, when it becomes hot, raises the temperature of the air within the container causing the heated air to rise to the top of the container where it transfers some of its heat to the adjacent container and to the outside air, thereby creating convection currents. The innermost container is provided with a boiler structure positioned to be heated by incident solar radiation to a temperature sufficiently high to convert water within the boiler structure to stem.

Abstract: A polyphase motor of the wound rotor type has the rotor of a polyphase generator, smaller in size than said motor, mounted on the motor shaft. Polyphase voltages produced across the generator rotor are coupled to the input of an amplifier having an output power commensurate with the size of the motor and the amplifier output is connected to the windings of the motor rotor to supply the current to the motor rotor windings. The frequency of the voltage fed to the motor rotor is inversely proportional to the motor speed, and a frequency sensitive filter is provided to adjust the output of the amplifier thereby to control the motor speed and to maintain said speed at a selected predetermined value regardless of the motor load.