An electric battery is a device having of one or more electrochemical cells that convert stored chemical energy into electrical energy. Each cell contains a positive terminal, or cathode, and a negative terminal, or anode.
Electric batteries can be rechargeable. In some cases, a power source can be used to provide power to charge a rechargeable electric battery.
Electric batteries can be used to deliver power to a load, such as an electronic device that operates upon the flow of electrical current (e.g., television, mobile computer, etc.) or power inverter or converter to drive same. One or more electric batteries can be a part of an energy storage system that can store energy for future use.
The present disclosure provides devices and systems that can include multiple mechanical and electrical components that can be used to harness kinetic energy to generate power, store energy, combine energy systems, meter power, convert power, and deliver power. Such systems can be modular. A modular energy device can harvest energy from any kinetic or thermal energy source to store, combine and/or release energy (power) for small or large personal or commercial uses.
In an aspect of the disclosure, a system for storing energy and generating electrical power can comprise a plurality of separable energy storage and power generation devices that are operatively connected in series or parallel, wherein each energy storage device of the plurality comprises a housing that includes: a magnetic member that provides a magnetic field; an armature coil that rotates relative to the magnetic field upon movement of the housing or the armature coil; and an energy storage unit electrically coupled to the armature coil and adapted to store electrical energy generated upon rotation of the armature coil in the magnetic field.
In another aspect of the disclosure, an energy storage device including a portable housing can comprise a magnetic member that provides a magnetic field; an armature coil that rotates relative to the magnetic field upon movement of the portable housing or the armature coil; a plurality of gears coupled to the armature coil, wherein each gear of the plurality effects a different frequency of rotation of the armature coil in the magnetic field; and an energy storage unit electrically coupled to the armature coil and adapted to store electrical power generated upon rotation of the armature coil relative to the magnetic field.
In another aspect of the disclosure, a method of storing energy and generating electrical power can comprise connecting two or more separable energy storage and power generation devices in series or parallel such that the two or more devices are in electrical and mechanical communication with each other, wherein each of the two or more separable energy storage and power generation devices comprises a housing containing (i) a magnetic member that provides a magnetic field, (ii) an armature coil that rotates relative to the magnetic field upon movement of the housing or the armature coil, and (iii) an energy storage unit electrically coupled to the armature coil and adapted to store electrical energy generated upon rotation of the armature coil in the magnetic field; subjecting the armature coil to motion relative to the magnetic field, thereby generating electrical current; and transmitting the electrical current to the energy storage unit.
Energy storage devices of the present disclosure can be modular for energy conversion and storage. In some cases, an energy storage device can generate an induced, inductive, or reactive current from a thermal or kinetic energy source. The generated current may be used to provide power to an outside load or to store charge in an on-board energy storage device. The energy storage device can be configured to permit a user to generate the current. The user can generate the current by providing kinetic energy to the energy storage device. In some cases, the user can connect the device to a system that generates kinetic energy to capture and/or store at least a fraction of the kinetic energy with the device. The inductive current can be generated by any movement of a conductive material in a magnetic field that can cause an induced current, for example by rotation of an armature coil in a magnetic field. A barter or trade system may arise in which individuals may charge energy storage devices and provide fully charged devices to other individuals in exchange for goods, services, or currency.
In some cases, a plurality of devices may be stacked or connected to increase their power output to provide power to a variety of loads with different and/or variable power requirements. The devices may stack together separably to increase the available power. The power/current output from the devices may be metered by an onboard or off-board processor (or other logic) or converter circuitry. The devices may be metered such that power may be drawn down or stored evenly across multiple devices when devices are connected.
Additional aspects and advantages of the present disclosure will become readily apparent to those skilled in this art from the following detailed description, wherein only illustrative embodiments of the present disclosure are shown and described. As will be realized, the present disclosure is capable of other and different embodiments, and its several details are capable of modifications in various obvious respects, all without departing from the disclosure. Accordingly, the drawings and description are to be regarded as illustrative in nature, and not as restrictive.
All publications, patents, and patent applications mentioned in this specification are herein incorporated by reference to the same extent as if each individual publication, patent, or patent application was specifically and individually indicated to be incorporated by reference.
The novel features of the invention are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. A better understanding of the features and advantages of the present invention will be obtained by reference to the following detailed description that sets forth illustrative embodiments, in which the principles of the invention are utilized, and the accompanying drawings (also “figure” and “FIG.” herein), of which:
a is a top view of a port (socket).
b is a side view of a male connection port.
c is a side view of a female connection port.
d is a side view of an example of a port-to-port connection.
While various embodiments of the invention have been shown and described herein, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that such embodiments are provided by way of example only. Numerous variations, changes, and substitutions may occur to those skilled in the art without departing from the invention. It should be understood that various alternatives to the embodiments of the invention described herein may be employed.
The present disclosure provides power generation and storage systems that include one or more modular power generation and energy storage devices. A modular power generation and energy storage device can include one or more magnetic field sources (e.g., permanent or electromagnet) and circuitry for inductively generating electricity using the one or more magnetic field sources. The circuitry can be in electrical communication or contact with one or more energy storage units (e.g., rechargeable batteries) for storing electrical energy upon generation of electricity.
The present disclosure provides a system for generating and storing electrical energy using a modular energy storage device. The energy storage device can include a variety of mechanical and electrical components used to harness kinetic and/or geothermal energy using induced electrical current (“current”). The modular energy storage device may complete all or one of the tasks of generating electrical energy, storing energy, delivering power, or metering delivered power. The energy storage device may harvest kinetic energy and store energy from any source that moves, such as a user (e.g., human, animal, or machine, wind, or water). The stored energy can be used to provide power to an electronic device (e.g., mobile electronic device), for example a cellular phone, tablet, laptop computer, or other small electronic device. Furthermore, the modular stored energy device may be connected or stacked with a plurality of devices to provide power to larger electronic devices such as electric vehicles, commercial buildings, or residential buildings.
There may be various approaches for rotating an armature coil or permanent magnet. The armature coil or permanent magnet can be coupled to a moving part. The armature coil or permanent magnet can be coupled to a moving part directly or through the mechanical port. For example, a user may rotate the armature coil to generate electrical energy (or electricity). As another example, the armature coil can be directly or indirectly mechanically coupled to a moving part, such as a wheel or tire (e.g., bike tire or car tire). The mechanical coupling can be provided by the mechanical port. As another example, the armature coil can be mechanically coupled to fitness equipment, an engine shaft, rotating playground equipment, a hydraulic or wind turbine, a moving animal, or a system that produces vibration (e.g., laundry machine, vehicle on uneven road surface, or earth seismic activity).
The modular charging device may be enclosed in a container or housing. The device housing may be rugged, durable, and shock resistant, heat resistant, or water resistant. The device housing can be formed from of at least one of the following: a metallic material (e.g. aluminum, titanium, or stainless steel), a composite material (e.g. carbon fiber), or a polymeric material (e.g. plastic, EPDM, or rubber). The device housing can have The housing of the device can have a cross-section of various shapes, such as circular, elliptical triangular, square, rectangular, pentagonal, or hexagonal, or partial shapes or combinations thereof. The housing of the device can have various shapes, such as spherical, cylindrical or box-like, or partial shapes or combinations thereof.
The device may have weight and dimensions such that an individual device is portable. For example, a housing of the device may have a length of at least 1 inch (in), 2 in, 3 in, 4 in, 5 in, 10 in, 20 in, or 30 in. The housing of the device may have a cross-section of at least about 1 in, 2 in, 3 in, 4 in, 5 in, 6 in, or 12 in. The device may have a weight of at least about 0.5 pounds (lb), 1 lb, 2 lb, 3 lb, 5 lb, 10 lb, 15 lb, or 20 lb.
The device housing may contain a magnet. The magnet may be a permanent magnet. The permanent magnet may be any variety of rare earth magnet, for example sintered NdFeB, bonded NdFeB, SmCo, AlNiCo, or Ferrite. The magnet may be an electromagnet. The magnet may line the entire interior of the housing. Alternatively, the magnet may be the portion of the device that is in rotation, and in such a configuration an armature will be stationarily bonded to the housing around it. In some cases, the magnet may be confined to a region of the interior of the housing.
The device may contain a generator for converting mechanical energy into electrical energy. The generator may comprise one or all of the following; an armature coil, a magnet, a brush, and a slip ring. An armature coil may comprise a metal core wound with a conductive wire. The metal core may be iron or steel, for example. In certain configurations, it may be eliminated entirely and a self-supporting winding substituted. The conductive wire may be copper, aluminum, silver, or gold, for example. The armature may be U-shaped, ring-shaped, disk-shaped, or another shape. The armature coil may be arranged between a north pole and a south pole of a magnet, such that the armature coil is in the path lines of a magnetic field within the device. The armature coil may be able to rotate normal (perpendicular) to the magnetic field. Rotation of the armature coil in the magnetic field may generate a current in the armature wire winding. The armature coil may be rotated inside of the device housing by an energy source outside of the housing. Alternatively, the magnet may be the portion of the device which is rotated, in which case the armature winding shall enclose the magnetic core and directly provide electric current without a slip ring or brush, in a “brushless” configuration.
In some cases, the current generated in the armature wire may be collected by a set of slip rings, if AC (alternating current) current is the desired or given output, or by a commutator if DC (direct current) current is the desired output. Slip rings may be electrically conductive rings in electrical connection with either end of the armature wire winding. The rings may be made of any electrically conductive material, for example copper, silver, gold, or aluminum. The slip rings may transfer the current generated by the armature rotation to one or more brushes. Each slip ring may be in contact with at least one brush. The brush may be stationary strips, bristles, or wires of a conductive material, for example copper, silver, gold, or aluminum. The brushes may be in electrical connection with one or more energy storage devices, for example a battery, fuel cell, or capacitor. The energy storage device may be a rechargeable battery. In some cases, the energy storage device may comprise a plurality of batteries in discreet power units, communicating with one another, to power a shared load.
In some cases, the device can comprise a motor generator assembly as show in
The device may comprise at least 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 15, or 20 connection ports. Connection ports can be mechanical ports. Connection ports can be electrical ports. Electrical ports can provide electrical communication between a device and a load and/or between a device and another device. Ports may be both inputs and outputs and may be activated (e.g., moved or rotated) to actuate the generator inside of the device housing. The ports may have various shapes, such as circular, square, rectangular, or hexagonal. The amount of current generated by rotation of the armature by movement at one of the ports may be proportional to a rotation speed of the armature.
The port may protrude from the device housing at least about ⅛″, ¼″, ½″, ¾″, 1″, 1.5″, 2″, 2.5″, 3″, 3.5″, 4″, 4.5″, or 5″. Connection ports may have male or female connections. Ports may be used to and stack the modular devices such that they may be in connection mechanically and/or electronically. Devices may be connected in series or parallel. The ports may output AC or DC current. Devices may or may not include a battery.
a shows a top view of a device with a port 400. The port can be a mechanical port or an electrical port. The port 400 can have two components, an outer ring 401 and a square region 402. The square region is designed to mate with an adjacent device when the devices are stacked or with an adapter to transmit kinetic energy, such as a crank or an attachment to a bicycle wheel. The square region can be a protrusion or an indentation. The square region can comprise an electrical contact. The square region may be part of a male or female connection. The square region can be a male connection, a female connection, or both. If the port is a male connection the square region can be an extruding peg (
Connection ports may be used to direct movements from a kinetic energy source outside of a device to an armature coil or a magnet inside of the device. For example a kinetic energy source may be a rotating wheel, a flywheel, a flowing fluid, or a human turning a crank arm. Mechanical ports may connect to an armature inside of the device housing via a rod so that activation (rotation) of the external port results in an internal rotation of the armature coil, hence generating current. Similarly, in cases where the armature coil is stationary, the mechanical ports may connect to one or more magnets inside of the device housing via a rod so that activation (rotation) of the external port results in an internal rotation of the one or more magnets, hence generating current Ports may rotate in a clockwise or counter-clockwise direction. Ports may be able to accept connections to kinetic energy sources, for example a port may mate with a crank arm attachment so that a human can turn the crank arm to rotate the ports, thereby rotating the armature and generating current. In another case a port may attach to a wheel so that when the wheel rotates the port is also rotated and therefore the armature may rotate to generate current. Generated current may be stored in the device in an energy storage unit, such as a battery (e.g., rechargeable battery) or a capacitor.
The mechanical port may be mechanically connected to the armature and/or one or more magnets inside of the housing through a gear system. They gear system may comprise a driven gear connected to the port and a driver gear connected to the armature. The gear system may be used to provide a range of torque and revolutions per minute (RPM) parameters compatible with the motive source and armature parameters to optimally generate current with the device.
Ports connected to an armature with a low gear ratio may be relatively easy (e.g., requiring less torque) to turn and thus more suited to lower torque but higher speed sources of motive force. Ports connected to an armature with a high gear ratio may be relatively difficult (requiring more torque) to turn. Gear ratio may be defined as the ratio of the angular velocity of the driver gear to the angular velocity of the driven gear.
Each electrical port may be able to act as a conductor of current. Each electrical port can have one or more electrical contacts. The current output by the port may come from the energy storage device inside of the housing. A single modular energy storage device may be used to provide power to a device. A port may be able to attach electronically to a USB, mini USB, micro USB, USB Type-C, 2-prong cord, 3-prong cord, proprietary connector, or socket cord to power a device. Furthermore a modular energy storage device may be connected or stacked with another modular energy storage device. When multiple devices are connected they may be able to deliver more kilowatts of power for larger consumption needs.
Devices may be connected and locked to together. Locking or connecting one device to another device can bring the devices in electrical communication with one another. The devices may be temporarily locked together, for example, by mating of a threaded connection, a pin connection, a snap connection, or a balled connector.
A cluster of connected devices may be enclosed in a cluster housing (or container). The cluster housing may be sized to hold a given or predetermined number of devices, or the housing may be adjustable to fit a variable number of devices. In some instances, the cluster housing may be formed of one or more of the following: a metallic material (e.g. aluminum, titanium, or stainless steel), a composite material (e.g. carbon fiber), and a polymeric material (e.g. plastic, EPDM, or rubber). The cluster housing can have a cross-section of various shapes, such as circular, elliptical triangular, square, rectangular, pentagonal, or hexagonal, or partial shapes or combinations thereof. The cluster housing may be in electrical communication with the clustered devices. The cluster housing can hold at least 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 1000, or 10,000 devices of the present disclosure. The cluster housing may have a current inlet and outlet for a load attachment to access energy stored in the cluster, as well as cooling input/outputs.
An example of a cluster housing is shown in
The modular energy storage device may have three basic modes of operation. A “charge” mode is engaged when the device is being used to harvest kinetic energy by turning the armature coil to store energy in the energy storage device. A “power” mode is engaged when energy is drained from the storage device to provide power to an exterior load. A “share” mode can be chosen when the devices are stacked into an energy storage system to in series, parallel, or a combination of series and parallel. In some configurations, “power” and “share” mode may be automatically selected by an onboard or outboard processing unit or converter board, based on inter-device communication or sensed parameters.
In some cases, an energy storage device may comprise an exterior switch to toggle between these modes of operation.
In power and sharing modes, current can be electrically routed from an energy storage device to an adjacent device and eventually to a load (sharing) or directly to a load. The current path of each device can be connected to the energy storage device and may be managed by a CPU or micro-controller, which may be activated by a switch or user interface (UI). The micro-controller may control the release and metering of power from the energy storage device. In an example, the device may utilize a micro-controller (e.g., a tiny wafer of semiconducting material used to make an integrated circuit) that contains a central processing unit (CPU). When devices are stacked, the CPU may accept digital input from connected devices and processes the data as instructed for the release and metering of the current. The CPU may also measure and indicates the remaining charge and power available from the energy storage device. The CPU, or associated sensors, may be in series with the conductor path of the energy storage device.
The CPU may regulate the release of power from the energy storage device using a smart meter. The smart meter may regulate power release autonomously or in response to a user input. The smart meter may include a user interface to communicate the remaining charge available in an energy storage device when the device is in “power” or “share” operation mode. Alternatively, in “charge” mode the smart meter user interface may communicate how close the energy storage device is to achieving full charge so that a user may determine how much more kinetic energy needs to be harvested. An example of a user interface (UI) for a smart meter is shown in
A modular energy storage device may also utilize a mobile operating system for advanced connectivity and operation. Simple UI's can display a wide range of power consumption efficiencies. Advanced options include entire operating systems for modular energy device specific application development. Specific application may include without limitation; crowdsourcing platforms to locate nearby sources of kinetic energy for harvesting to recharge the modular device, estimated range (if devices are being used power a vehicle) or time remaining on current charge capacity, and audible or visual alerts to notify the user when device power is near depleted.
Modular energy storage devices of the present disclosure can include communications interfaces for bringing the energy storage devices in communication with external electronic devices, such as a mobile electronic device of a user. This can enable the user to communicate with a module electronic device, such as to determine a level of charge of the device or a power output of the device, and/or to determine whether the device is functioning properly. A communications interface can be wired or wireless. Examples of wireless communications interfaces include WiFi and Bluetooth, BLE 4.0, MNO, Wireless cell, GPRS, UMTS, GSM.
A user has two modular energy storage devices, each being as shown in
A first user has access to at least one modular energy storage device, such as the device of
While preferred embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described herein, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that such embodiments are provided by way of example only. It is not intended that the invention be limited by the specific examples provided within the specification. While the invention has been described with reference to the aforementioned specification, the descriptions and illustrations of the embodiments herein are not meant to be construed in a limiting sense. Numerous variations, changes, and substitutions will now occur to those skilled in the art without departing from the invention. Furthermore, it shall be understood that all aspects of the invention are not limited to the specific depictions, configurations or relative proportions set forth herein which depend upon a variety of conditions and variables. It should be understood that various alternatives to the embodiments of the invention described herein may be employed in practicing the invention. It is therefore contemplated that the invention shall also cover any such alternatives, modifications, variations or equivalents. It is intended that the following claims define the scope of the invention and that methods and structures within the scope of these claims and their equivalents be covered thereby.
This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 62/002,061 filed May 22, 2014, which is entirely incorporated herein by reference.
Number | Date | Country | |
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62002061 | May 2014 | US |