System and method for generating electric power from a rotating tire's mechanical energy

Abstract

A tire assembly with integrated power generation features includes one or more piezoelectric devices and power conditioning modules. Piezoelectric devices may include a plurality of piezoelectric fibers embedded in a generally unidirectional fashion within an epoxy matrix, a piezoceramic wafer provided on a substrate and substantially surrounded by a protective casing, or a piezoceramic unimorph structure adhered with a thermoplastic polyimide to respective top and bottom conductive layers. Each piezoelectric device may include multiple piezoelectric elements connected in series and / or parallel arrangements, configured with respective poling directions in opposing or in-phase arrangements and / or configured in d33 or d31 displacement modes. Piezoelectric devices are preferably mounted within a tire or wheel assembly such that electric charge is generated therein as the wheel assembly moves along a ground surface and is subsequently stored in one or more energy storage devices. Stored energy may then be used to power electronics such as a tire monitoring system that wirelessly transmits such information as tire pressure, temperature and identification variables to a remote receiver location.

Description

[0001] priority statement [0002] This application is filed by the same inventor with Assignment No. USSN 10 / 143535, filed May 10, 2002, and entitled "System and Method for Generating Electrical Power from Mechanical Energy of Rotating Tire Using Combination of Piezoelectric Optical Fibers" A continuation-in-part of a prior-filed U.S. patent application, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference. field of invention [0003] The present invention generally relates to systems and methods for subjecting piezoelectric structures to the mechanical energy of conventional tire rotation, thereby generating electrical energy for integrated tire electronics. Piezoelectric technology is used to convert the mechanical strain associated with tire flexion into an electrical charge, which is then conditioned and stored in an energy storage device. Sufficient accumulation of this stored energy is then able to power an electronic system including components for identi...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

Although various tire electronics and energy generation systems have been developed, no design has yet emerged that generally includes all of the desirable features that follow from the subject technology

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