Method and system for energy reclamation and reuse

• US 7,268,517 B2
• Filed: 04/18/2005
• Issued: 09/11/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 09/27/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Leidos, Inc. (Leidos Holdings, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Science Applications International Corporation
• Inventors: Rahmel, Ronald S., Gerace, Gerald C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen; Simon
• Application Number:
  US11/107,841
• Publication Number:
  US 20050186994A1
• Time in Patent Office: 876 Days
• Field of Search: 455572-573, 455/343.1, 455/343.5, 455/343.6, 320101-102, 320116-123, 320/134
• US Class Current: 320/101
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/001 Energy harvesting or scavenging
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/005 Mechanical details of housing or structure aiming to accommodate the power transfer means, e.g. mechanical integration of coils, antennas or transducers into emitting or receiving devices
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/27 characterised by the type of receiving antennas, e.g. rectennas
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/402 the two or more transmitting or the two or more receiving devices being integrated in the same unit, e.g. power mats with several coils or antennas with several sub-antennas
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/70 involving the reduction of electric, magnetic or electromagnetic leakage fields

Abstract

The present invention relates to a system and method for harvesting ambient electromagnetic energy, and more particularly, to the integration of antennas and electronics for harvesting ubiquitous radio frequency (RF) energy, transforming such electromagnetic energy into electrical power, and storing such power for usage with a wide range of electrical/electronic circuits and modules.

Claims

1. An energy reclamation device, comprising:

a radio frequency (RF) energy collector for receiving ambient RF energy;

a solar energy collector for receiving ambient solar energy;

a vibration energy collector for receiving ambient vibration energy;

at least one conversion circuit for converting the ambient RF energy, the ambient solar energy, and the ambient vibration energy to electrical power; and

a power storage for storing the electrical power;

wherein the RF energy collector comprises one antenna to receive RF signals and wherein the received RF signals are sent to the at least one conversion circuit only when the energy reclamation device is in standby mode.

2. The energy reclamation device of claim 1, wherein the at least one antenna is designed to receive ambient RF energy in a selected frequency range.

3. The energy reclamation device of claim 1, wherein the RF energy collector comprises a plurality of antennas.

4. The energy reclamation device of claim 3, wherein an antenna in the plurality of antennas transmits and receives RF signals used for communications.

5. The energy reclamation device of claim 1, wherein the ambient RF energy comprises ambient RF signals.

6. The energy reclamation device of claim 1, wherein the solar energy collector comprises an array of solar cells.

7. The energy reclamation device of claim 1, wherein the vibration energy collector comprises a piezoelectric transducer.

8. The energy reclamation device of claim 1, wherein the ambient vibration energy comprises ambient acoustic energy.

9. The energy reclamation device of claim 1, further comprising a mechanical energy collector for receiving ambient mechanical energy and using the at least one conversion circuit to convert the ambient mechanical energy to electrical power.

10. The energy reclamation device of claim 9, wherein the mechanical energy collector comprises a mechanical transducer.

11. The energy reclamation device of claim 9, wherein the ambient mechanical energy is derived from acceleration of the energy reclamation device.

12. The energy reclamation device of claim 1, wherein at least one conversion circuit comprises a rectifier.

13. The energy reclamation device of claim 1, wherein the at least one conversion circuit is formed on an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) chip that is integrated with the RF energy collector, solar energy collector, and the vibration energy collector.

14. The energy reclamation device of claim 1, wherein the power storage comprises a battery.

15. The energy reclamation device of claim 14, wherein the battery comprises a plurality of battery micro-cells.

16. The energy reclamation device of claim 15, further comprising a trickle charger for charging the battery micro-cells on a cell by cell basis.

17. The energy reclamation device of claim 1, wherein the power storage comprises a plurality of batteries.

18. The energy reclamation device of claim 1, wherein the electrical power is equal to or less than five watts.

19. The energy reclamation device of claim 1, wherein the RF antenna to receives RF signals comprising ambient RF signals and RF signals used for communications.

20. The energy reclamation device of claim 19, further comprising a filter for filtering the received RF signals into an interference portion and a communication portion.

21. The energy reclamation device of claim 19, wherein the interference portion of the received RF signals is sent to the at least one conversion circuit and the communication portion of the received RF signals is not sent to the at least one conversion circuit.

22. An energy reclamation apparatus, comprising:

a base component;

a radio frequency (RF) energy collecting component for receiving ambient RF energy;

a solar energy collecting component for receiving ambient solar energy;

a vibration energy collecting component for receiving ambient vibration energy;

at least one conversion component for converting the ambient RF energy, the ambient solar energy, and the ambient vibration energy to electrical power used to power the energy reclamation apparatus;

a power storage component for providing additional electrical power to the energy reclamation apparatus if the energy reclamation apparatus requires more electrical power than is converted by the at least one conversion component; and

wherein the RF energy collecting component, the solar energy collecting component, vibration energy collecting component, the at least one conversion component, and the power storage component are mounted onto the base component;

wherein the RF energy collecting component comprises one antenna to receive RF signals and wherein the received RF signals are sent to the at least one conversion component only when the energy reclamation device is in standby mode.

23. The energy reclamation apparatus of claim 22, further comprising a switching component for receiving an activation signal indicating whether the energy reclamation apparatus is in power-on mode or standby mode.

24. The energy reclamation apparatus of claim 23, further comprising an activation component for receiving the activation signal from the switching component.

25. The energy reclamation apparatus of claim 22, wherein the at least one antenna is designed to receive ambient RF energy in a selected frequency range.

26. The energy reclamation apparatus of claim 22, wherein the RF energy collecting component comprises a plurality of antennas.

27. The energy reclamation apparatus of claim 26, wherein an antenna in the plurality of antennas transmits and receives RF signals.

28. The energy reclamation apparatus of claim 22, wherein the ambient RF energy comprises ambient RF signals.

29. The energy reclamation apparatus of claim 22, wherein the solar energy collecting component comprises an array of solar cells.

30. The energy reclamation apparatus of claim 22, wherein the vibration energy collecting component comprises a piezoelectric transducer.

31. The energy reclamation apparatus of claim 22, wherein the ambient vibration energy comprises ambient acoustic energy.

32. The energy reclamation apparatus of claim 22, further comprising a mechanical energy collecting component for receiving ambient mechanical energy and using the at least one conversion component to convert the ambient mechanical energy to electrical power.

33. The energy reclamation apparatus of claim 32, wherein the mechanical energy collecting component comprises a mechanical transducer.

34. The energy reclamation apparatus of claim 32, wherein the ambient mechanical energy is derived from acceleration of the energy reclamation apparatus.

35. The energy reclamation apparatus of claim 22, wherein at least one conversion component comprises a rectifier.

36. The energy reclamation apparatus of claim 22, wherein the at least one conversion component is formed on an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) chip that is mounted onto the base component.

37. The energy reclamation apparatus of claim 22, wherein the power storage component comprises a battery.

38. The energy reclamation apparatus of claim 37, wherein the battery comprises a plurality of battery micro-cells.

39. The energy reclamation apparatus of claim 38, further comprising a trickle charging component for charging the battery micro-cells on a cell by cell basis.

40. The energy reclamation apparatus of claim 22, wherein the power storage component comprises a plurality of batteries.

41. The energy reclamation apparatus of claim 22, wherein the electrical power generated by the at least one conversion component is equal to or less than five watts.

42. The energy reclamation apparatus of claim 22, wherein the RF energy collecting component receives RF signals comprising ambient RF signals and RF signals used for communications.

43. The energy reclamation apparatus of claim 42, further comprising a filter component for filtering the received RF signals into an interference portion and a communication portion.

44. The energy reclamation apparatus of claim 43, wherein the interference portion of the received RF signals is sent to the at least one conversion component and the communication portion of the received RF signals is not sent to the at least one conversion component.