Sonic Dynamics LLC based in Elmhurst, Illinois has developed new groundbreaking techniques for matching sound frequency, oscillator design, and work applications that make it practical for the first time to use low frequency oscillators to produce efficient useful work in real-life conditions and without having to be confined in a closed space. Sonic Dynamics has intellectual property rights, including U.S. and international patent applications in this platform technology that has potential applications in a broad range of industries. Acoustic oscillators have been used to generate sound fields in various specialized applications. However, the highly restricted operating parameters required for these applications have prevented the practical development of the techniques in energy production. Sonic Dynamics is developing products that use sound to produce useful work that can be used as a viable addition to the alternative energy portfolio.

The basic principle behind Sonic Dynamics acoustic driven piston is the following:

Properties of low frequency sound are used to produce a pressure difference on two opposite sides of an object. The pressure difference causes the object to move. The mathematical model on which this technology is based was developed by Dr. James K Thurber.

Sonic Dynamics has working proof of concept prototypes that can be reconfigured to fit a standard gasoline HEV.

Until now, acoustic or sound energy has not been used effectively to impose thrust or force on an object for purposes of providing useful work.

Acoustic speakers are generally constructed with a vibrating diaphragm that is driven by a voice coil. While voice coils are considered efficient for producing sound waves in general applications (e.g., playing music and voice), voice coil based speakers are inefficient in transforming electrical energy into sound energy as a low frequency acoustic signal. In particular, the amount of energy that is wasted in voice coil operation may not provide an efficient electrical to mechanical energy transformation when low frequency signals are used. In particular, acoustic or sound energy may be used to impose thrust or force on an object for purposes of providing useful work using single low frequency signals. Efficient means of transforming electrical energy into sound may improve the operation of such a thrust application. In contrast to high frequency sound waves which may behave like streams of particles emanating from the source or oscillator, this disclosure is directed toward the use of low frequency sound waves that behave like surface waves. In Sonic Dynamics first prototype, low frequency oscillators were externally attached to an object immersed in a fluid medium (e.g., air). The low frequency sound waves generated by the acoustic oscillators move the fluid in which an object is immersed away from the region of the oscillators, which produces a vacuum or very low pressure region in front of the acoustic oscillator. The side of an attached object opposite to the oscillators will have normal fluid pressure, resulting in force acting on the object in the direction of the low frequency acoustic oscillators. The sound energy is used in order to transform pressure in a fluid into useful mechanical energy or work. Heat energy (in air as an example of an ambient fluid surrounding such an object) is converted into useful kinetic energy which drives the object. The mechanism driving the oscillator which produces the sound can be operated by an electrical, hydraulic or pneumatic power source.

Jon Thurber will be presenting a brief overview of this new technology at EVS-23 during the small lecture series on December 3rd, 2007 in Anaheim California. The International Electric Vehicle Symposium and Exposition (EVS) series, organized by the World Electric Vehicle Association (WEVA), has long been recognized as the premier event for business, technology, policy and academic leaders involved in electric drive technologies. The EVS series began in 1969 as an academic forum for global networking and the exchange of technical information. As electric drive technologies progressed from the classrooms and laboratories into the marketplace, EVS blossomed into an event that is both academic and business oriented.

Today, the EVS series is recognized as the global electric transportation industry's premier and largest forum, showcasing all forms of technologies in the market place and on the drawing boards--from low speed battery electric vehicles to fuel cell electric buses. The event attracts academic, government and industry leaders from around the world who are interested in exploring and understanding the technical, policy and market challenges to a paradigm shift toward use of electric transportation technologies.

About the Inventors:

James K. Thurber Ph.D., Professor emeritus of Mathematics at Purdue University, has had a productive career in applied mathematics spanning more than forty years. A graduate of Brooklyn College, Thurber received his Doctorate in Mathematics at NYU and began his professional career at NYU’s Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences and later at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory. He was active in research and teaching at Purdue for 31 years and published more than 30 papers in various math and science journals. Throughout his career, he worked in several areas of applied mathematics, including transport theory, asymptotic analysis, and quantum field theory, before making the breakthrough underlying the practical application of acoustic work.

His son, Jonathan L. Thurber, is the president of Sonic Dynamics LLC, a start-up venture created in 2004 to develop Dr. James K. Thurber’s groundbreaking research. He attended Purdue University and prior to forming Sonic Dynamics worked in engineering and sales, most recently at Bradco Supply Company (2006 annual company sales $1.92 billion).

For further information, please contact:

Pamela L. Cox, Partner, Marshall, Gerstein & Borun LLP. 6300 Sears Tower, 233 South Wacker Drive, Chicago, Illinois, 60606 pcox@marshallip.com 

Dr. James K. Thurber jim.thurber@sonic-dynamics.com 

JONATHAN L. THURBER jon.thurber@sonic-dynamics.com 

Sonic Dynamics LLC PO Box 5053 Oak Brook, IL 60523

630-330-8046 (Phone) 630-516-0238 (Fax)