82 results about "Energy harvesting" patented technology

A new High Altitude Airship (HAA) capable of various extended applications and mission scenarios utilizing inventive onboard energy harvesting and power distribution systems. The power technology comprises an advanced thermoelectric (ATE) thermal energy conversion system. The high efficiency of multiple stages of ATE materials in a tandem mode, each suited for best performance within a particular temperature range, permits the ATE system to generate a high quantity of harvested energy for the extended mission scenarios. When the figure of merit 5 is considered, the cascaded efficiency of the three-stage ATE system approaches an efficiency greater than 60 percent.

Described is a wireless hemodynamic monitoring system that is integrated with implantable cardiac devices. The system includes at least one sensory component that is adapted to measure one or more hemodynamic parameters inside a cardiac chamber of a subject. At least one transceiver is attached with the sensory component to transmit a signal containing data corresponding to the hemodynamic parameters and receive control signals from an external control device. An energy harvesting system is attached with the sensory component to measure pressures within the cardiac chamber and generate power for the monitoring system. The monitoring system can be attached with a heart valve or other cardiac device and implanted within a patient.

A backscatter modulation radio-frequency (RF) sensor and method for using the same are disclosed herein. In one embodiment, the RF sensor comprises: an energy harvesting unit operable to convert incident RF energy to direct current (DC); a storage unit operable to store recovered DC power; one or more sensors for sensing; a backscatter communication interface to backscatter energy to communicate one or more packets using a frequency-shift keying (FSK) modulator; and a microcontroller coupled to the energy harvesting and storage units, the one or more sensors, and the backscatter communicator, the microcontroller operable to cause the backscatter communication interface to communicate sensed data from at least one of the one or more sensors while powered by energy previously harvested and stored by the energy harvesting and storage unit.

The invention relates to an offshore generating system capable of artificially producing sea wind, gathering wind to increase waves and gathering energies of sea wind, sea waves and sea currents, which comprises energy gathering devices capable of artificially producing sea wind and comprehensively gathering various sea energies, generators and generators capable of gathering wind to increase waves. The offshore generating system is characterized in that a plurality of integral unit plants can be connected to form a long ribbon-shaped large-scale offshore generating system capable of blocking the spread of waves; and the generators capable of gathering wind to increase waves can be connected to form a long high wind-shield wall which is capable of gathering wind on sea to increase waves and can not be blown down by a typhoon.

A method, system and tag for low power radio frequency communication is described. In one embodiment, the RF tag comprises: an energy harvesting unit operable to convert incident RF energy to direct current (DC); a storage unit operable to store recovered DC power; one or more sensors for sensing; a backscatter communicator to backscatter energy to communicate; and a microcontroller coupled to the energy harvesting and storage units, the one or more sensors, and the backscatter communicator, the microcontroller operable to wake up from a sleep state and cause the radio to communicate sensed data from at least one of the one or more sensors while powered by energy previously harvested and stored by the energy harvesting and storage unit.

An energy collection system is provided. The system can include an energy collection device and an energy concentration device disposed proximate at least a portion of the energy collection device. The energy concentration device includes a non-periodic, sub-wavelength, dielectric grating.

A system is provided that includes a gateway node and terminal node. The gateway node may be configured to produce a continuous acoustic wave for propagation through a fluid such as water, and detect an echo thereof. The terminal node may be configured to control a piezoelectric layer to switchably reflect or transmit the acoustic wave incident thereon to produce and modulate the echo with a data stream to thereby convey the data stream within the echo, which the sensor of the gateway node may detect. The terminal node may be further configured to capture and store energy produced by the piezoelectric layer while the piezoelectric layer is controlled to transmit the incident acoustic wave. And at least a portion of the terminal node may be powerable from the stored energy.

Aluminum may be used as a fuel source to power small vehicles, unmanned vehicles or underwater vehicles, other small robotics, backup or regular underwater power sources (e.g., for oil rigs), or as an emergency power source in flooded or disaster areas. Reactors are described that harvest energy produced by the exothermic oxidative reaction of aluminum or an aluminum alloy with water, with the assistance of liquid gallium as a depassivating agent.

The invention relates to an energy collection and power control method for a cognitive radio sensor network. According to the method, with the purpose of maximizing network throughput, through adoption of a mathematical optimization method, optimized resource allocation is carried out on data transmission time and transmitting power of cognitive sensor nodes in the network. According to the methodprovided by the invention, on the premise of not influencing a primary user, continuous transmission of the cognitive radio sensor network can be realized in a licensed band; and moreover, fixed energy sources do not need to be configured for the cognitive sensor nodes, so long-term working and flexible deployment can be realized. Through adoption of the method provided by the invention, the spectral efficiency and the energy efficiency can be improved at the same time, and green coexistence of the cognitive radio sensor network and a primary user network can be realized.

A potential energy storage type device for collecting and storing scattered energy comprises an energy input shaft, wherein the energy input shaft is connected with a front half shaft by a retarding mechanism and the front half shaft is connected with a rear half shaft by a clutch. The rear half shaft is connected with a potential energy storage unit which is used for receiving the kinetic energy acquired by the rear half shaft and transforming the kinetic energy to the potential energy to store. An energy transformation control system is arranged inside the clutch to control the clutch actions. The potential energy storage type device has the advantages that, according to the law of the conservation of mechanical energy, scattered kinetic energy can be transformed to potential energy for storage temporarily; when the kinetic energy accumulates to a certain extent, constant and stable kinetic energy is released to drive an electric energy transducer. Compared with using flywheels as an energy storage unit, the potential energy storage type device is capable of realizing long-hour energy storage; while compared with the energy collecting mode of electricity generation, defects of electricity generation can be avoided so as to significantly improve the energy efficiency and the stability of generating capacity.

A method and apparatus for harvesting energy in a fuel cell powered vehicle has first and second energy harvesting elements with at least two ends, the first end being electrically insulated from and in thermal communication with a high temperature reservoir associated with the fuel cell, the second end being electrically insulated from and in thermal communication with a low temperature reservoir associated with an exterior of the vehicle. The apparatus has particular utility for use in watercraft, specifically an underwater vehicle. The energy harvesting apparatus can include an electrical storage means for storing the energy harvested, and/or an electric load for consuming the energy harvested.

The invention provides a joint computing unloading method and device based on an energy collection technology, and the method comprises the steps: collecting the real-time information of a mobile terminal and an edge server in each preset time slice, and building a virtual energy queue of each mobile terminal according to the real-time information of the mobile terminal; Constructing a task execution cost model, a terminal energy consumption model and an energy collection model; Constructing a Lyapunov drift and penalty function according to the real-time information of the edge server, the real-time information of all mobile terminals, the constructed task execution cost model, the terminal energy consumption model and the energy collection model, and further obtaining an objective function; And taking the virtual energy queue as a queue needing to be stabilized, and solving a calculation unloading decision in the current time slice by minimizing an objective function. The technical effects of effectively reducing the average execution cost of the tasks and the abandoning rate of the tasks and improving the performance of an edge computing system are achieved.

An energy harvesting device includes at least one first magnet configured to rotate along a first circular path in a first plane. The energy harvesting device includes at least one piezo-electric cantilever spaced apart from the first plane, the at least one piezo-electric cantilever being configured to bend in a direction substantially perpendicular to the first plane. The energy harvesting device also includes at least one second magnet coupled to the at least one cantilever and configured to overlap the at least one first magnet.

An energy generating mechanism includes an energy producing device and an energy collection device for collecting energy produced from the energy producing device. The energy producing device includes a truss, a first link and a second link which is pivotably perpendicularly connected to the first link on the truss. Each of the first link and the second link has two boxes on two ends thereof and each box has blocks movably received therein. The first and second links rotate continuously by changing the positions of the blocks so as

A mobile user interface with energy harvesting is presented. In one embodiment, the mobile user interface comprises a striker, a piezoelectronic element to generate electric energy in response to being struck by the striker under control of an elastic mechanism, and a transmitter coupled to use the electric energy to transmit a signal wirelessly.

A high voltage electric power line monitor includes a current sensor, and voltage sensor, an energy harvesting power supply, and communication device. The monitor is configured to be supported by a structure, such a sectionalizing switch disposed within an insulator cylinder. The current sensor coil and an energy harvesting coils are configured to surround and be positioned transverse to the monitored power line with the power line extending through an aperture formed by the current sensor. A foil patch voltage sensor is carried on an electronics board configured to be positioned parallel to the monitored power line, typically below the current sensor. Both the current sensor and the voltage sensor are configured to positioned adjacent to, but spaced apart from, the monitored power line. The sensors are housed within a Faraday cage to shield the current sensor from electromagnetic contamination.

An air duct cover provides a sensor platform that contains a rich set of sensors. In addition, the air duct cover may include an energy harvesting capability, thereby increasing efficiency in an HVAC system and sustaining the sensors on the sensor platform. The air duct cover may also integrate a smoke detection device. As power is provided by the air duct cover, maintenance requirements for the smoke detection device are substantially eliminated. The air duct cover may also serve as an air quality control device, with dust, smoke, and carbon monoxide (CO) sensors that allow it to detect the amount of dust flowing through and to serve as a smoke detector.

An energy harvesting apparatus utilizes a modular structure to preserve the proper alignment between a chain of energy-producing elements and an energy-producing channel (within which the chain is located and free to slide along, creating electrical energy from mechanical movement). The channel includes a plurality of rigid modules that are separated by flexible segments of tubing. The rigid channel modules house the energy-producing electrodes and/or coils. The chain includes a plurality of rigid modules that are attached along a flexible string in a spaced-apart configuration. The rigid chain modules house the energy-producing magnets and/or conductive droplets. The combination of the flexible channel segments and chain string allow for freedom of motion of the apparatus (required for human locomotion, for example), while providing the desired “fixed” alignment between the rigid energy-producing modules.

The invention discloses a three-phase flyback voltage-multiplying single-switch rectifying circuit for small-scale wind power generation. The circuit comprises a three-phase AC (Alternating Current) power supply, filtering capacitors C1, C2 and C3, a three-phase single-switch BOOST rectifying circuit, three flyback voltage-multiplying rectifying circuits, a signal acquisition circuit and a control circuit; the three-phase single-switch BOOST rectifying circuit comprises an uncontrollable rectifier bridge and a BOOST booster circuit; a three-phase single switch VT is controlled to be switched on and off by adopting a pulse frequency modulation (PFM) technology; an output voltage of the integral three-phase single-switch BOOST voltage-multiplying rectifying circuit is the sum of voltages on output capacitors Ca, Cb and Cc of a three-phase voltage-multiplying circuit and an output capacitor Co of a main circuit, so that the rectified output voltage is improved. Compared with the prior art, the rectifying circuit has the characteristics of high efficiency, high output voltage and the like compared with a conventional three-phase uncontrollable rectifying circuit and is very suitable for being used under the conditions with a lower wind speed and difficulty and high requirements on energy harvesting.

The invention discloses a relay transmission system based on an FSO/RF link. The system comprises a photoelectric converter, an energy harvesting device, an energy control device and an RF signal transmitter. The energy harvesting device is connected with the photoelectric converter, thereby harvesting a direct current component output by the photoelectric converter. The energy control device is connected with the energy harvesting device, thereby converting the direct current component into a working voltage/direct for the RF transmitter to transmit an RF signal when the direct current component harvested by the energy harvesting device is equal to a target threshold. According to the scheme, the direct current component in the signal converted by the photoelectric converter is harvestedby the energy harvesting device, and the direct current component is converted by the energy control device into the working voltage/direct for the RF transmitter to transmit the RF signal. Accordingto the scheme, the direct current component can be harvested effectively and the direct current component is used as the working voltage/direct for the RF transmitter to transmit the RF signal, so theresource waste is avoided. The invention also discloses an energy harvesting method. The method has the benefits as above.

The invention provides a multi-arm coupled collision piezoelectric energy collection device and is intended to solve the technical problem that an existing piezoelectric energy collection device has low energy collection efficiency; the multi-arm coupled collision piezoelectric energy collection device comprises an outer frame, piezoelectric vibrators, a first base, a simple pendulum structure, a first magnet and a second magnet; the piezoelectric vibrators at least include a first piezoelectric vibrator and a second piezoelectric vibrator, the bottom ends of the vibrators are fixed to the first base and may generate high mutual coupling upon resonance, the simple pendulum structure comprises a second base, a link, a rocker and a striker ball, the bottom end of the link is fixed to the second base, the top end of the link is movably connected with the upper end of the rocker, the striker ball is fixed to the lower end of the rocker, and the striker ball may collide with the free end of the first piezoelectric vibrator or second piezoelectric vibrator while rocking, the first base and the second base are fixed to the bottom of the outer frame, the side of the outer frame close to the simple pendulum structure is fixedly provided with the first magnet, and the top of the outer frame close to the piezoelectric vibrators is fixedly provided with the second magnet. The multi-arm coupled collision piezoelectric energy collection device has effectively improved energy collection efficiency.

A transducer for generating electrical energy from an expected force includes a single crystal ferroelectric material having a phase transition stress level. Mechanical stress is provided to this crystal at a level approaching the phase transition stress level, such that the expected external force will cause the phase transition. At least two electrodes are joined to the single crystal for receiving electrical energy created by the phase transition. The electrodes can be joined to conditioning and storage circuitry. In further embodiments, the phase transition is induced by an expected temperature change.

The invention belongs to the technical field of mobile communication, and particularly relates to a distributed task unloading and computing resource management method based on energy harvesting, which comprises the following steps: establishing a task local computing model and an edge cloud computing model; establishing a target function for maximizing the revenue of the equipment end based on disturbance Lyapunov optimization and a target function for maximizing the revenue of the moving edge computing server; the equipment pre-selecting a mobile edge computing service server to unload the task according to a pre-screening criterion; utilizing a Lagrange multiplier method and a KKT condition to calculate an optimal task quantity strategy for unloading from the equipment end to the selected mobile edge computing server; obtaining an optimal quotation strategy of the mobile edge computing server to the equipment end in each time slot; and obtaining a solution of the optimal task quantity strategy and the optimal dynamic quotation strategy meeting the Steinkelberg equilibrium as a resource allocation strategy. According to the invention, stable management of the battery energy level and on-demand allocation of computing resources for heterogeneous users are realized.

The invention discloses an Internet of things-based public transportation system management device and an Internet of things-based public transportation system management method, relates to the technical field of transportation, and particularly provide a system device and a system method for performing transportation management by using the Internet of things. The device is characterized in that the device is provided with a control box (1), an LED (light-emitting diode) display device (2), illumination devices (3) and a broadcasting device, wherein the control box is connected with the LED display device, the illumination devices and the broadcasting device respectively; a bus station end information processor (4), information transceiver equipment (5) and a sensor device (6) are arranged in the control box; an energy collection device (7) is arranged on the outer side of the control box; the bus station end information process can be connected with an Internet of things-based intelligent public transportation center control module (8), and is also connected with the information transceiver equipment. The device and the method have the positive effects of high efficiency, high speed, improvement in riding efficiency, time saving, convenience and intelligence.

The invention relates to a reliable, eco-friendly, and reactive device for storing large amounts of recoverable energy with high overall energy efficiency, which enables the electrical energy on a grid to be collected when there is an abundant amount of available electrical energy on said grid, and redistributes the electrical energy to the grid when the electrical energy is running out. The device mainly includes a compact, dense ballast, said ballast having a matching hydrodynamic and aerodynamic shape, and a flow cavity suitable for holding energy corresponding to the maximum energy of said ballast in said cavity, said ballast being capable of moving along the main axis of flow in said cavity, said device further including an energy collection and recovery means and a control means. A braking coefficient and a safety factor are defined and adjusted on the basis of the nature of the movement of the ballast in the flow cavity. The device according to the invention is particularly intended for the storage of electrical energy.

A wave energy converter includes a buoyant body and an acceleration tube with a working cylinder and working piston movable therein, a mooring system, and at least one energy collecting device including a differential cylinder having an internal pump piston connected to the working piston via a piston rod. The differential cylinder includes a pumping chamber and an annular pumping chamber. When decreasing volume of the annular gap-shaped pumping chamber, the pump piston expels hydraulic fluid from the pumping chamber toward the pressure accumulator and draws hydraulic fluid from the fluid tank into the substantially cylindrical pumping chamber. During a working stroke causing a decrease in volume of the substantially cylindrical pumping chamber, the pump piston causes hydraulic fluid to bypass the pump piston through a fluid connection from the substantially cylindrical pumping chamber into the annular gap-shaped pumping chamber and further in a direction toward the pressure accumulator.

Provided herein is a modulating retroreflective multilayer film comprising retroreflective elements, a piezoelectric layer, a photovoltaic layer, and an energy storage device. The stacked and transparent layered configuration of the film allows the retroreflective elements and the photovoltaic layer to be simultaneously illuminated by a narrow beam. The low power piezoelectric layer and the energy harvesting of the photovoltaic layer allow the retroreflector to be energetically self-sufficient and suitable for remote deployment. The flexible properties of the component layers allow the retroreflector to be adhered to nonplanar or irregular surfaces for the purpose of labeling and tagging.

The invention discloses a vibration energy capturing wireless sensor network node for monitoring gas under a coal mine, and the node comprises a piezoelectric power generation device which is used forcollecting underground vibration energy and converting the vibration energy into electric energy, an intrinsic-safety type energy collection management module, a gas sensor, a signal conditioning andcontrol module and a wireless receiving and transmitting module. The output end of the piezoelectric power generation device is connected with the intrinsic-safety type energy collection management module, and the output end of the intrinsic-safety type energy collection management module is connected with the gas sensor, the signal conditioning and control module and the wireless receiving and transmitting module. The output end of the gas sensor is connected with the signal conditioning and control module, and the signal conditioning and control module is connected with the wireless receiving and transmitting module. The node is high in energy conversion rate, is stable in supply voltage, is long in service life, reduces the maintenance cost, can achieve the all-weather operation, and guarantees the safety of the coal mine.

The invention discloses a Massive MIMO information and energy simultaneous transmission system optimization method for hardware damage, and the method comprises the steps: establishing a Massive MIMOdownlink signal-energy simultaneous transmission system model, and respectively discussing the hardware damage at a base station transmitter, the hardware damage at an information receiver of a user,and the hardware damage at an energy receiver of the user; according to hardware damage models at a base station, an information receiver and an energy receiver, ensuring that the total power constraint sent by the base station and the energy collected at the user energy receiver are greater than a threshold, and expresing the maximum and minimum reachable rate optimization problem of the user; introducing an auxiliary variable and taking a nonlinear energy collection function as a monotone increasing function, and converting the problem P1 into a problem P2; expressing the energy collection constraint of the user, the total power constraint of the base station and the reachable rate constraint of the information user as a function of a sending signal variance and a pseudo variance; and solving the maximum and minimum reachable rates of the users, and realizing system optimization by adopting an iterative optimization algorithm. According to the method, an additional degree of freedomis provided by using an asymmetric Gaussian signal.

The invention provides an intermittent digital sensor working power supply for supplying power with weak environment energy, which relates to the technical field of weak-current power supply, and aims to reduce the construction workload of a sensor and alleviate the influence on surrounding electric equipment by wiring of the sensor. The power supply comprises an energy storage loop, a voltage switching loop and a weak energy collecting device, wherein the weak energy collecting device is used for collecting the weak environment energy for charging the energy storage loop; the energy storage loop consists of an energy storage capacitor and is used for storing and outputting electric energy; the voltage switching loop comprises a switching comparer and an electronic selector switch; the energy storage loop outputs the electric energy through the electronic selector switch; and the switching comparer is used for detecting end voltage of the energy storage loop and controlling the intermittent on and off of the electronic selector switch according to a value of the end voltage of the energy storage loop. The power supply provided by the invention is suitable for supplying the working power to the micro-power-consumption sensor intermittently used by an internal circuit.