Vibration energy conversion device
First Claim
1. A vibration energy conversion device, comprising:
- a casing;
a magnet disposed in the casing;
an untethered object in the casing attracted to the magnet and free to move relative to the magnet in at least two translational degrees of freedom; and
at least one transducer element positioned to be affected by changes in a magnetic field of the magnet;
wherein movement of the object relative to the magnet varies the magnetic field through the at least one transducer element, thereby generating electrical potential across at least a part of the at least one transducer element; and
wherein, in the absence of vibration experienced by the casing, the magnet tends to retain the object in a rest position.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
Some embodiments relate to an energy conversion device comprising: a casing; a magnet disposed in the casing: an object in the casing attracted to the magnet and free to move relative to the magnet in at least two degrees of freedom; and at least one transducer element positioned to be affected by changes in a magnetic field of the magnet; wherein movement of the object relative to the magnet varies the magnetic field through the at least one transducer element, thereby generating electrical potential across a part of the at least one transducer element. In some embodiments, the transducer element may comprise a magnetostrictive piezoelectric (MP) element and the electrical potential may be generated across a piezoelectric part of the MP element. Alternatively, the transducer element may comprise an electromagnetic (EM) coil element.
31 Citations
27 Claims
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1. A vibration energy conversion device, comprising:
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a casing; a magnet disposed in the casing; an untethered object in the casing attracted to the magnet and free to move relative to the magnet in at least two translational degrees of freedom; and at least one transducer element positioned to be affected by changes in a magnetic field of the magnet; wherein movement of the object relative to the magnet varies the magnetic field through the at least one transducer element, thereby generating electrical potential across at least a part of the at least one transducer element; and wherein, in the absence of vibration experienced by the casing, the magnet tends to retain the object in a rest position. - View Dependent Claims (17)
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2. An energy conversion device comprising:
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a casing; a magnet disposed in the casing; an object in the casing attracted to the magnet and free to move relative to the magnet in at least two translational degrees of freedom; and at least one transducer element positioned to be affected by changes in a magnetic field of the magnet; wherein movement of the object relative to the magnet varies the magnetic field through the at least one transducer element, thereby generating electrical potential across at least a part of the at least one transducer element; and wherein the magnet is positioned to exert a magnetic restoring force on the object to bias the object to a rest position. - View Dependent Claims (3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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Specification