A coil spring type human walking energy collector

Abstract

The present invention discloses a coil spring-type human walking energy collector, comprising a transmission mechanism, a travel control mechanism, and a power generation mechanism. The transmission mechanism comprises a coil spring, an angle limiter, a one-way ratchet, a pair of gears, a flywheel, a transmission shaft, and a corresponding support shell. The travel control mechanism comprises two sets of slide rails, a pull ring, a clamping unit, a limit guide wheel, and corresponding connecting components. The power generation mechanism comprises a small DC motor energy storage mechanism connected to a driven shaft, and a piezoelectric mechanism consisting of a clamped piezoelectric cantilever beam and a pull ring. The present invention primarily utilizes the energy storage and release characteristics of coil springs to achieve one-way energy recovery and storage under low-frequency human motion input, thus having broad application prospects.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The invention belongs to the technical field of energy collection, and in particular relates to a coil spring type human walking energy collector. Background Art

[0002] In recent years, with the continuous development of human microelectronic sensor technology, human-specific vibration energy harvesters have also gained increasing attention. Vibration harvesters generate electricity using four methods: magnetoelectric, piezoelectric, electrostatic, and triboelectric. Research on human-specific energy harvesting currently focuses primarily on magnetoelectric and piezoelectric methods.

[0003] Compared to piezoelectric energy harvesters, magnetoelectric energy harvesters can harvest more energy. Currently, magnetoelectric human energy harvesters primarily include shoe-mounted energy harvesters, which harvest energy by rotating a rotor through the foot's pressing motion, cutting magnetic flux lines. While this method harvests more energy, it places a heavy load on the body, causing discomfort during walking. Backpack-type walking power generation devices primarily harvest vibration energy from changes in the body's center of gravity. This requires a certain amount of counterweight and a heavy load to stably harvest energy, limiting their applicability to a wide range of scenarios.

[0004] Therefore, in order to overcome the above problems, enable the energy collector to achieve stable energy harvesting while the human body bears a smaller load, and further expand its research field, it is necessary to design a small-load energy collector that harvests human walking energy. Summary of the Invention

[0005] The purpose of the present invention is to overcome the deficiencies of the prior art and to provide a coil spring type mechanical energy collector of human walking energy which has a compact structure, reliable performance, is easy to carry and has high energy recovery efficiency.

[0006] The purpose of the present invention is achieved through the following technical solutions: a coil spring type human walking energy mechanical energy collector, including a transmission mechanism, a stroke control mechanism, a power generation mechanism and other supporting components.

[0007] The upper plate, front plate, right plate, rear plate and left plate of the supporting shell are connected by hexagonal nuts to form a box structure, and the interior is divided into upper and lower parts by the middle plate of the supporting shell;

[0008] The transmission mechanism is located in the upper portion of the housing structure and includes a coil spring, a coil spring clasp, a buckle, an angle limit block, a driving shaft, a driven shaft, a driving gear, a ratchet, a flywheel, a motor, a motor clasp, a pawl, and multiple bearings. The coil spring clasp is bolted to the front plate of the support housing, the coil spring is mounted in the coil spring clasp and connected to the driving shaft, the driving shaft is mounted on the front plate and the rear plate of the support housing via two bearings, the angle limit block is bolted to the front plate of the support housing, the buckle is mounted on the driving shaft, and together with the angle limit block, it forms an angle limit unit to limit the initial torsion angle of the coil spring. The driving gear is mounted on the driving shaft, the ratchet is connected to the driven shaft via a bearing, the U-shaped leaf is fixedly connected to the driven shaft, the pawl is mounted on the U-shaped leaf via a bearing and contacts the ratchet, the flywheel is fixedly connected to the driven shaft at one end near the motor, the motor clasp is bolted to the rear plate of the support housing, the motor is connected to the driven shaft, and the axial rotation is limited by the motor clasp.

[0009] The travel control mechanism is located in the lower portion of the housing structure and includes a wire, a pull ring, a pull ring guide rail, a piezoelectric cantilever beam, a guide rail limiting column, an upper clamping plate page, a lower clamping plate page, a hook, a hook shaft, a hook handle, a tension spring, a torsion spring, a hook guide rail, an anti-jump wire guide wheel, and several bolts. The pull ring guide rail is fixed to the front plate of the support shell via bolts, the pull ring is mounted on the pull ring guide rail and connected to a wire groove provided in the driving shaft via a wire, the hook guide rail is fixed to the right plate of the support shell via bolts, the hook is mounted on the hook guide rail and connected to the hook handle via a tension spring, the piezoelectric cantilever beam is fixed between the upper clamping plate page and the lower clamping plate page via screws, and the upper clamping plate page is mounted on the hook via the hook shaft and the torsion spring.

[0010] The power generation mechanism includes a first power generation mechanism and a second power generation mechanism; the motor is connected to the driven shaft and together with the transmission mechanism constitutes the first power generation mechanism; the piezoelectric cantilever beam is fixed by the upper page and the lower page of the clamping plate, and there is a piezoelectric plate on the piezoelectric cantilever beam, constituting the second power generation mechanism.

[0011] Furthermore, the transmission mechanism converts the linear motion transmitted by the travel control mechanism into rotational motion of the driving shaft. When the user steps on the pedals, the coil spring contracts to store energy. This allows the ratchet to drive the pedals in one direction, separating the driving and driven shafts. When the pedaling distance reaches a threshold, the coil spring releases energy, rotating the driving shaft. The driving gear attached to the driving shaft couples with the small gear on the ratchet, driving the right-hand driven shaft, which in turn drives the motor.

[0012] Furthermore, the travel control mechanism is capable of causing the piezoelectric cantilever beam to be limited by the hook beam when a person steps on the foot, and the cantilever beam to contact the pull ring, resulting in deflection. When the coil spring contracts to the angle limit and the stepping amplitude continues to increase, the cantilever beam deforms and the deflection becomes increasingly larger. When the force on the cantilever beam reaches a threshold, it separates from the pull ring, the coil spring contracts, and the pull ring quickly returns to its original position. The piezoelectric cantilever beam then follows the hook downward until a walking process is completed. When the foot is lifted, the tension spring drives the hook to rebound upward, driving the piezoelectric cantilever beam back to its initial position. Furthermore, there is a height difference between the piezoelectric cantilever beam and the pull ring beam, and the torsion spring realizes the horizontal return of the piezoelectric cantilever beam.

[0013] Furthermore, the first power generation mechanism and the transmission mechanism realize the rotation of the driven shaft, and the flywheel and the motor rotate along with the rotation of the driven shaft. The flywheel can realize the smooth release of the spring energy, thereby realizing the conversion of mechanical energy of the motor into electrical energy and then storing it.

[0014] Furthermore, in the second power generation mechanism, the piezoelectric cantilever beam is deformed due to the travel difference between the clamping unit and the pull ring during walking, thereby utilizing the piezoelectric effect to convert deformation energy into electrical energy for storage.

[0015] The beneficial effects of the present invention are as follows: the present invention has a compact structure, reliable performance, and is easy to carry. When used for energy recovery from human walking, it places less burden on the human body and can convert the linear motion of the foot when the human body is walking into the rotational motion of the coil spring, driving the motor to rotate and generate electrical energy. Furthermore, the present invention adopts a unidirectional energy collection method, and does not generate electrical energy when the coil spring stores energy. When the coil spring releases energy, the driven shaft rotates freely after acceleration is completed, driving the motor to generate electrical energy, thus avoiding the problem of energy loss during the rotation and commutation of the coil spring. Furthermore, the present invention realizes the selectivity of the coil spring restoring force through the stroke control mechanism and the angle limit unit, so that the excitation force of the device is in a stable range, thereby achieving the stability of the motor energy recovery. Furthermore, the present invention converts the low-frequency vibration of walking into piezoelectric high-frequency resonance by nesting the piezoelectric cantilever beam, thereby improving the energy recovery efficiency. The present invention has high integration, high energy recovery efficiency, is suitable for people with different step frequencies and strides, and has broad application prospects. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0016] Figure 1 Schematic diagram of the structure of the energy collector of the present invention;

[0017] Figure 2 Schematic diagram of the transmission mechanism of the energy collector of the present invention;

[0018] Figure 3 This is a working diagram of the energy concentrator of the present invention;

[0019] Figure 4 The coil spring energy collection dynamics model of the energy collector of the present invention;

[0020] Explanation of reference numerals: 1-upper plate of support shell, 2-hexagonal nut, 3-front plate of support shell, 4-driving gear, 5-ratchet, 6-driven shaft, 7-driving shaft, 8-middle plate of support shell, 9-hook guide rail, 10-piezoelectric sheet, 11-piezoelectric cantilever beam, 12-guide rail limiting column, 13-pull ring, 14-upper page of clamping sheet, 15-lower page of clamping sheet, 16-torsion spring, 17-right plate of support shell, 18-ratchet, 1 9-U-shaped page, 20-flywheel, 21-motor, 22-motor snap ring, 23-hook handle, 24-tension spring, 25-hook, 26-hook shaft, 27-hook guide rail, 28-anti-jump guide wheel, 29-pinion, 30-clip, 31-housing handle, 32-coil spring snap ring, 33-angle limit block, 34-coil spring, 35-wire trough, 36-support shell rear plate, 37 support shell left plate. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0021] The technical solution of the present invention is further described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0022] like Figure 1 、 Figure 2 The coil spring type human walking energy collector shown includes a transmission mechanism, a travel control mechanism, a power generation mechanism and other supporting components;

[0023] The support shell upper plate 1, the support shell front plate 3, the support shell right plate 17, the support shell rear plate 36, and the support shell left plate 37 are connected by hexagonal nuts 2 to form a box structure, and the interior is divided into two parts, upper and lower, by the support shell middle plate 8; a shell handle 31 is installed on the box structure.

[0024] The transmission mechanism is arranged in the upper part of the box structure, including a coil spring 34, a coil spring snap ring 32, a buckle 30, an angle limit block 33, a driving shaft 7, a driven shaft 6, a driving gear 4, a ratchet 18, a flywheel 20, a motor 21, a motor snap ring 22, a pawl 5, and a ball bearing; the coil spring snap ring 32 is connected to the front plate 3 of the support shell by bolts, the coil spring 34 is installed in the coil spring snap ring 32, and is connected to the driving shaft 7, and the driving shaft 7 is installed on the front plate 3 of the support shell and the rear plate 36 of the support shell through two bearings, the angle limit block 33 is fixed to the front plate 3 of the support shell by bolts, the buckle 30 is installed on the driving shaft 7, and together with the angle limit block 33 limits the initial torsion angle of the coil spring 34. The driving gear 4 is mounted on the driving shaft 7, the ratchet 18 is connected to the driven shaft 6 through a bearing, the pawl 5 is mounted on the U-shaped page 19 of the driven shaft through a bearing and contacts the ratchet 18, the flywheel 20 is fixed on the driven shaft 6, the motor retaining ring 22 is fixed to the rear plate 36 of the support shell by bolts, the motor 21 is connected to the driven shaft 7, and the motor retaining ring 22 limits the circumferential movement of the motor 21.

[0025] The travel control mechanism is located in the lower portion of the housing and includes wires, a pull ring 13, a pull ring guide rail 9, a piezoelectric cantilever beam 11, an upper clamping plate 14, a lower clamping plate 15, a hook 25, a hook shaft 26, a hook handle 23, a tension spring 24, a torsion spring 16, a hook guide rail 27, and several screws. The pull ring guide rail 27 is bolted to the support housing front plate 3. The pull ring 13 is mounted on the pull ring guide rail 9 and connected to the wire groove 35 provided in the driving shaft 7 via wires. The wire travel is fixed due to the guide rail limiter 12. The hook guide rail 21 is screwed to the support housing right plate 17. The hook 25 is mounted on the hook guide rail 27 and connected to the hook handle 23 via a tension spring 24. The piezoelectric cantilever beam 11 is screwed between the upper clamping plate 14 and the lower clamping plate 15. When no excitation is applied, there is a certain height difference between the piezoelectric cantilever beam 11 and the pull ring 13 beam, and the clamping piece upper page 14 and the clamping piece lower page 15 are installed on the hook 25 through the hook shaft 26 and the torsion spring 16.

[0026] Furthermore, the power generation mechanism includes a flywheel 20, a motor 21, a piezoelectric cantilever beam 11, a piezoelectric sheet 10, and a pull ring 13; piezoelectric sheets 10 are arranged on both sides of the piezoelectric cantilever beam 11, and the piezoelectric cantilever beam 11 is fixed by the upper page 14 and the lower page 15 of the clamping sheet, and constitutes a first power generation mechanism with the pull ring 13; the flywheel 20 is connected to the driven shaft 6, and the rotor of the motor 21 rotates with the driven shaft 6, constituting a second power generation mechanism.

[0027] Furthermore, the transmission mechanism can convert the reciprocating motion of the pull ring 13 into the rotational motion of the driving shaft 7, driving the motor 21 to rotate and generate electrical energy. When walking, the stroke control mechanism twists the driving shaft 7 to drive, and the coil spring 34 stores energy. Due to the unidirectional rotation of the ratchet 18, although the driving gear 4 is engaged with the small gear 29 on the ratchet 18, it does not drive the driven shaft 6; and when the walking stroke reaches the threshold, the stroke control mechanism stops twisting the coil spring 34, and the coil spring 34 freely releases elastic potential energy to drive the driving shaft 7 to rotate. The driving gear 4 on the driving shaft 7 is coupled with the small gear 29 on the ratchet 18 and drives the driven shaft 6 on the right side of the energy collector to rotate, and the driven shaft 6 drives the flywheel 20 and the motor 21 to rotate.

[0028] Furthermore, the flywheel 20 is fixed on the driven shaft 6, and the flywheel 20 is used to store the mechanical energy transmitted by the transmission mechanism. The rotation of the driven shaft 6 drives the rotation of the rotor of the motor 21, thereby converting the mechanical energy into electrical energy, and the stable rotation of the flywheel 20 can realize the continuous collection, storage and stable output of the energy released by the coil spring 34.

[0029] Furthermore, in the initial state of the travel control mechanism, the piezoelectric cantilever beam 11 is held horizontally by the torsion spring 16. The tension spring 24 limits the vertical position of the hook 25, thereby limiting the vertical position of the piezoelectric cantilever beam 11. The guide rail limiter 12 ensures that the pull ring 13 returns to its initial position after rebounding, and there is a certain height difference between the piezoelectric cantilever beam 11 and the crossbeam of the pull ring 13. The wire at the lower end of the hook 25 is connected to the foot, and an anti-jump wire guide wheel 28 is installed at the lower end of the hook guide rail 27 to convert lateral displacement during walking into vertical displacement. When stepping down while walking, the piezoelectric cantilever beam 11 contacts the pull ring 13 and generates deflection. As the stepping stroke increases, the deformation of the piezoelectric cantilever beam 11 and the pull ring 13 gradually increases. When the pull ring 13 reaches its maximum stroke and the force on the piezoelectric cantilever beam 11 reaches the threshold, it separates from the pull ring 13, and the coil spring 34 is released to drive the pull ring 13 back to its original position. The piezoelectric cantilever beam 11 then follows the foot's movement and continues downward until a stepping down is completed. When the foot is lifted, the tension spring 24 drives the hook 25 to rebound upward, while the piezoelectric cantilever beam 11 follows the hook 25 back to its initial position. When returning to its original position, the piezoelectric cantilever beam 11 first contacts the lower end of the pull ring 13 beam. The torsion spring 16 can cause the piezoelectric cantilever beam 11 to bend downward before returning to its initial horizontal position.

[0030] Furthermore, the second power generation mechanism, the piezoelectric cantilever beam 11 and the pull ring 13 are deformed due to the travel difference during walking, converting the low-frequency vibration generated by walking into piezoelectric high-frequency resonance power generation, and the second power generation mechanism will not affect the energy collection of the first power generation mechanism.

[0031] Furthermore, the one-way ratchet 18 in the transmission mechanism can separate the process of storing and releasing energy of the coil spring, thereby avoiding energy loss caused by impact in the transmission mechanism when the rotation direction changes.

[0032] The working principle of the present invention is: Figure 1 、 Figure 2 、 Figure 3As shown, the hook 25 is connected to the human foot through a wire, and receives displacement excitation when the human body walks, and the anti-jump wire guide wheel 28 converts the horizontal displacement of walking into vertical displacement; taking standing as the initial state, at this time, the clamping piece upper page 14, the clamping piece lower page 15 and the torsion spring 16 work together to keep the piezoelectric cantilever beam 11 in a horizontal state, and when walking, the hook 25 and the piezoelectric cantilever beam 11 are driven to gradually move downward until they contact the pull ring 13 crossbeam, and drive the pull ring 13 to continue to move downward, and the coil spring 34 contracts to store energy; as the displacement continues to increase, the piezoelectric cantilever beam 11 is deformed, but does not separate from the pull ring 13. At this time, the coil spring 34 drives the driving shaft 7 to rotate. Although the driving gear 4 drives the small gear 29 fixed to the ratchet 18 to rotate, the ratchet 18 rotates in one direction, so it will not drive the driven shaft 6 to rotate. As walking continues, the displacement reaches the travel threshold of the pull ring 13, and the travel of the hook 25 continues to increase. Once the x-direction deflection of the piezoelectric cantilever beam 11 exceeds the width of the pull ring 13 beam, the piezoelectric cantilever beam 11 continues to follow the foot's downward movement. During this process, the piezoelectric cantilever beam 11 deforms, storing kinetic energy as deformation potential energy. After separating from the pull ring 13 beam, it oscillates freely, and the piezoelectric plate 10 rapidly converts this deformation energy into electrical energy for output. After separating from the pull ring 13, the piezoelectric cantilever beam 11 continues to move downward until the foot is lifted upward, at which point the tension spring 24 pulls the hook 25 upward. Under the combined action of the torsion spring 16 and the hook 25, the piezoelectric cantilever beam 11 contacts the lower end of the pull ring 13 beam, returning to its initial position. At the same time, after the piezoelectric cantilever beam 11 separates from the pull ring 13 crossbeam, the coil spring 34 quickly releases energy, pulling the pull ring 13 back to its original position while driving the driving shaft 7. The driving gear 4 drives the pinion 29 to rotate. The ratchet 18 couples with the pawl 5 to drive the driven shaft 6. The driven shaft 6 drives the flywheel 20 and the motor 21 to rotate. The flywheel 20 stores the mechanical energy transmitted by the transmission mechanism, and the motor 21 converts the mechanical energy into electrical energy. After the coil spring 34 releases energy, the driving shaft 7 stops rotating, the driving gear 4 stops driving the pinion 29, and the pawl 5 on the driven shaft 6 separates from the ratchet 18. Due to the mechanical energy stored in the flywheel 20, the driven shaft 6 continues to rotate and drives the motor 21 to continue generating electrical energy. This is a low-frequency walking energy harvesting method that can be applied to different people and different step frequencies. It converts the kinetic energy generated by walking into electrical energy and deformation energy. This method imposes less additional load on the human body and is superior to conventional human energy harvesters. The energy collector can be worn directly on the waist of the human body, collecting the vibration energy generated when the human body walks while putting less load on the human body.

[0033] Figure 4The proposed energy collector's dynamic model is presented. This energy collector can be viewed as a multi-rigid-body, single-degree-of-freedom, damped vibration model. A coil spring 34 converts walking displacement excitation into elastic potential energy and outputs it to the driving shaft 7. The driving shaft 7 rotates clockwise and counterclockwise in response to the walking displacement excitation. Due to the presence of the ratchet 18, the driven shaft 6 maintains free rotation due to the inertia of the flywheel 20 only when the rotational speed of the driven shaft exceeds that of the driving shaft.

[0034] The coiled spring-type human walking energy harvester proposed in this invention can efficiently extract energy from low-frequency walking motion while the human body is under a small load. The device converts the linear motion of walking into rotational motion. The presence of the ratchet 18 enables unidirectional power transmission, while the flywheel 20 also enables continuous rotation of the motor to generate electricity, improving the continuity and stability of energy harvesting. The piezoelectric cantilever beam 11 collects high-frequency vibration energy, enhancing the harvester's efficiency.

[0035] Compared with conventional human energy harvesting devices, the coil spring type human walking energy collector proposed in the present invention can not only efficiently harvest the energy generated by the low-frequency movement of human walking, but also adopts the coil spring 34 as the storage unit of walking energy, which can reduce the load borne by the human body while reducing energy loss; in addition, the application of the stroke control mechanism can enable the energy collector to adapt to working conditions with different step amplitudes and different step frequencies, making the energy collector work more stably. It has been verified that the collected electrical energy can power components such as micro sensors.

[0036] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the embodiments described herein are intended to help readers understand the principles of the present invention, and it should be understood that the scope of protection of the present invention is not limited to such specific descriptions and embodiments. Those skilled in the art can make various other specific variations and combinations based on the technical teachings disclosed in the present invention without departing from the essence of the present invention, and such variations and combinations are still within the scope of protection of the present invention.

Claims

1. A coil spring type human walking energy collector, characterized in that: Including transmission mechanism, stroke control mechanism, power generation mechanism; The upper plate (1) of the supporting shell, the front plate (3) of the supporting shell, the right plate (17) of the supporting shell, the rear plate (36) of the supporting shell, and the left plate (37) of the supporting shell are connected by six-sided nuts (2) to form a box structure, and the interior is divided into upper and lower parts by the middle plate (8) of the supporting shell; The transmission mechanism is arranged in the upper part of the box structure, and includes a coil spring (34), a coil spring snap ring (32), a buckle (30), an angle limit block (33), a driving shaft (7), a driven shaft (6), a driving gear (4), a ratchet (18), a flywheel (20), a motor (21), a motor snap ring (22), a pawl (5), and a plurality of bearings; the coil spring snap ring (32) is connected to the front plate (3) of the support shell by bolts, the coil spring (34) is installed in the coil spring snap ring (32), and is connected to the driving shaft (7), the driving shaft (7) is installed on the front plate (3) of the support shell and the rear plate (36) of the support shell through two bearings, and the angle limit block (33) is fixed to the support shell by bolts. The front plate (3) and the buckle (30) are mounted on the driving shaft (7) and form an angle limiting unit with the angle limiting block (33) to limit the initial torsion angle of the coil spring (34); the driving gear (4) is mounted on the driving shaft (7), the ratchet (18) is connected to the driven shaft (6) through a bearing, the U-shaped page (19) is fixedly connected to the driven shaft (6), the pawl (5) is mounted on the U-shaped page (19) through a bearing and contacts the ratchet (18), the flywheel (20) is fixedly connected to the driven shaft (6) near one end of the motor (21), the motor retaining ring (22) is mounted on the rear plate (36) of the support shell by bolts, the motor (21) is connected to the driven shaft (6), and the axial rotation is limited by the motor retaining ring (22); The stroke control mechanism is arranged in the lower part of the box structure, including a wire, a pull ring (13), a pull ring guide rail (9), a piezoelectric cantilever beam (11), a guide rail limit column (12), a clamping plate upper page (14), a clamping plate lower page (15), a hook (25), a hook shaft (26), a hook handle (23), a tension spring (24), a torsion spring (16), a hook guide rail (27), an anti-jump wire guide wheel (28) and a plurality of bolts; the pull ring guide rail (9) is fixed to the front plate (3) of the support shell by bolts. ), the pull ring (13) is mounted on the pull ring guide rail (9) and is connected to the wire groove (35) provided in the driving shaft (7) through a wire, the hook guide rail (27) is fixed to the right plate (17) of the support shell by bolts, the hook (25) is mounted on the hook guide rail (27) and is connected to the hook handle (23) through a tension spring (24), the piezoelectric cantilever beam (11) is fixed between the clamping sheet upper page (14) and the clamping sheet lower page (15) by screws, and the clamping sheet upper page (14) is mounted on the hook (25) through the hook shaft (26) and the torsion spring (16); The power generation mechanism includes a first power generation mechanism and a second power generation mechanism; the motor (21) is connected to the driven shaft (6), and together with the transmission mechanism, constitutes the first power generation mechanism; the piezoelectric cantilever beam (11) is fixed by the upper page (14) of the clamping plate and the lower page (15) of the clamping plate, and a piezoelectric sheet (10) is provided on the piezoelectric cantilever beam (11), constituting the second power generation mechanism.

2. The coil spring type human walking energy collector according to claim 1, characterized in that: The coil spring (34) is mounted on the driving shaft (7) and limits the initial torsion angle via an angle limiting unit, and the ratchet (18) rotates in one direction.

3. The coil spring type human walking energy collector according to claim 1, characterized in that: When the piezoelectric cantilever beam (11) moves downward, it comes into flexible contact with the pull ring (13), and the piezoelectric cantilever beam (11) deforms during the movement.

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