The Serrano's Field Propulsion Thruster
SFPT v1.0
Built and tested by Jean-Louis Naudin
created on January 19, 2002 - JLN Labs - Last update February 17, 2002
All informations in this page are published free and are intended for private/educational purposes and not for commercial applications


On October 5, 2000, the Hector Serrano's patent WO 00/58623 " Propulsion device and method employing electric fields for producing thrust " has been granted.

This patent is very close to the Aymmetrical Capacitor Thruster ( ACT ) patented by the NASA ( patent US 6,317,310 , granted on Nov 2001 ) that I have already tested successfully in Nov 18, 2001 ( see the NASA ACT v1.0 experiment ) . These two devices use the Biefeld-Brown Effect for producing a thrust Vs the surrounding medium ( this effect was discovered by Townsend Brown in 1928 in his Gravitator, see the GB Patent N°300311 filed on Nov 15, 1928 "A method of and an apparatus or machine for producing force or motion" from T.Townsend Brown ).

The Serrano's patent WO 00/58623 contains some very interesting key points :

________________________

On January 19, 2002, I have fully replicated and tested successfully this Electric Field Propulsion Thruster patented by Hector Serrano from Gravitec Inc. ( see the photo below ).

Tested apparatus description :

I have used the same design as described in the Serrano's patent at the page 12 : << As earlier described with reference to FIG 11, the dielectric matrial in the channel 42 is preferably of a relative lower dielectric constant than the dielectric 36 on which the electrode 38 is placed to allow for a non-linear relationship to form between plates 26 and their respective electrodes. Futher, there is a layer of dielectric material between the cells 22 created by the lower dielectric 40 of lower dielectric strength as for material in the channels 42. This allows the desirable formation of the non-linearity in the field. The plate 26 can be arranged so that the channels 42 are aligned with the next set of plates as earlier described with reference to FIG 11, or staggered to cause a larger non-linearity effect, as earlier described with reference to FIG 14 >> ( see the photo above and the diagram below )

The Serrano's Field Propulsion Thruster v1.0 specifications
  • Conductive Armatures :
    - Aluminum sheet

  • Dielectric material #1 :
    - Air, K=1, Dielectric strength = 3e6 V/m

  • Dielectric material #2 :
    - Extruded Polystyrene ( Polyfoam XPS ),
    - thickness = 20 mm, K=2.53, Dielectric strength =
    24e6 V/m

  • Total Weight : 268 g

  • Main diameter : 210 mm

  • Height : 130 mm

Click here to see some construction details of the apparatus


The SFPT v1.0 is hanged on a free rotating apparatus.
The High Voltage is sent through thin wires coming from the top and the bottom.

TESTS RESULTS ( 01-19-02 ) :

When the HV power supply is switched on, the Field Propulsion Thruster v1.0 is rapidly set in motion. The voltage used is 27 KV DC @ 480 uA. The turn speed observed is low. This is due to the low dielectric constant difference producing a weak non-linearity between the two dielectrics used in this experiment ( K=2.53 for the Polyfoam XPS and and K = 1 for the Air ).

The motion of the SFPT v1.0 and the net resulting thrust observed in the direction of the conductive armature when the High Voltage is applied confirms the field propulsion effect claimed by Hector Serrano in his patent.

See the video of Serrano's Field Propulsion Thruster v1.0 experiment

To see the videos, the free downloadable RealPlayer is required

Click on the picture above to see the video ( 631 Kb )

Some documents references :

  • Patent WO 00/58623 ( Oct 5, 2000 ) " Propulsion device and method employing electric fields for producing thrust " from H. Serrano.
  • GB Patent N°300311 filed on Nov 15, 1928 "A method of and an apparatus or machine for producing force or motion" from T.Townsend Brown
  • NASA patent US 6,317,310 ( Nov 13, 2001 ) "Apparatus and Method for generating a thrust using a two dimensional asymmetrical capacitor module"
  • AIAA-2001-3659 ( withdrawn ) - Anomalous Electrical Field Force Generation Experiment by H. Serrano, Gravitec, Inc., Kissimmee, FL; W. Hammond, NASA Marshall, Huntsville, AL; J. Rusek, Purdue Univ., West Lafayette, IN
  • Link to the Gravitec, inc web site.
  • Electrokinetic Propulsion: The Ionic Wind Argument by William B. Stein - Purdue University - Energy Conversion Lab
  • The " Electrick Rocket "- Capacitor array, Gravity warp drive from Tom Kennedy
  • The " Electrick Rocket " ( Original document with additional datas, August 1991 ) from Tom Kennedy ( gravcap.zip )
  • FR Patent N°2651388 "Isolated systems self-propelled by electrostatic forces" by Lafforgue Jean-Claude - March 1, 1991
  • Dielectric constant reference guide
  • See also :

    The SFPT v1.0 : Tests and measurements

    The NASA Two Dimensional Asymmetrical Capacitor Thruster


    Email : JNaudin509@aol.com


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