Apparatus for electrical signal generation based upon movement and associated methods

Abstract

A generator / sensor may include a pair of arcuate swing arms having respective opposing ends pivotally carried by a base so that the arcuate swing arms are transverse to one another and define a movable crossing point therebetween. A body may be carried by the arcuate swing arms at the crossing point therebetween. At least one electrical generator may be driven by relative movement between the body and the base, such as to generate electrical power or to sense movement, for example. The body may be a pendulum mass or sail responsive to fluid flow.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0001] The invention relates to the field of generators and sensors, and, more particularly, to a generator / sensor operated by movement and related methods. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] The relative motion between two bodies may be used to generate electrical power and this technique has been used to power remote sensors such as waterway buoys. Waterway buoys range from simple channel marking devices to complex data gathering sensors that collect information such as wind speed, air temperature, water temperature, wave heights, and the like. For example, a simple channel marking device is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,423,334 to Jacobi et al. The Jacobi et al. patent discloses a spherical buoy carrying a battery and an arcuate member having two ends surrounded by magnetic loops. A body having two windings at its ends travels along the arcuate member in response to the buoy being moved by wave action. The movement of the body winding through a respective ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0013] The body may comprise a pendulum mass in some embodiments. For example, the pendulum mass may include an electrical storage battery connected to the electrical generator. This takes advantage of the typically large mass of a storage battery to also serve as the pendulum mass. In other embodiments, the body may comprise a sail responsive to a fluid flow, such as the flow of air or water, for example.

Problems solved by technology

Unfortunately, the above described conventional systems may be inefficient at generating electrical power for self-powering applications for movements along multiple degrees of freedom, or for movement sensing systems.

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