OSAKA, JAPAN- From the 22nd floor of the Nakanoshima Central Tower, the offices of Hisao Fukami, comes news of Toyota's newest patent as filed with the WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization) International Bureau, and released for international publication July 17, 2008. The Fukami Patent Office is listed as the agent for Toyota, who applied for the patent and worldwide rights January 11, 2007. The motor is interesting in its use of an "externally applied light" to a light sensitive rotor kept in a "permanent magnetic state" to generate torque.
Much of the ground breaking research and development was conducted in Brussels with at least seven research specialists working with Hidetoshi Kusumi.
The idea of a motor utilizing a concept of quantum mechanics is not new. Many have been intrigued with the idea of getting a motor to operate on changes in energy states. The problem has been that the "quanta" or changes in state occur in very small fields, and no one has been able to extrapolate the theory into anything plausible. To quote an alumni from my alma mater back home, "That dog just won't hunt."
It seems the Brussels team has expanded on the concept of quantum as disclosed in Japanese Patent 2001-268957, which lays out the concept for the quantum motor. The problem with the conventional quantum motor is that in application, no one has been able to obtain sufficient rotation force as to make it other than an esoteric item of water cooler discussion. Until now.
Toyota's idea is to use laser diodes and a novel flat matrix of copper surrounded by nitrogen and benzene rings bound to the surface of the rotors. The light emitted from the laser triggers the change in state within the matrix, causing current to flow from an irradiated portion to another portion. Thus the rotor rotates as the result of interaction between the current and the magnetic field, which is supplied by stationary magnets.
It remains to be seen what, if any, powerplant Toyota develops using this new technology. But the future is bright with possibilities of yet another alternative to the internal combustion engine.
(The actual transcript of the WIPO document, complete with technical drawings and claims, can be seen at:
http://www.wipo.int/pctdb/images4/PCT-PAGES/2008/292008/08084559/08084559.pdf






