Patent Application
20100294937
Several companies, such as Verve Living Systems, have wireless and battery-less motion-sensing products. In addition, there are several companies that provide wired and/or battery-powered motion sensing products.
According to the invention, a self-powered energy harvesting sensor/controller receives data from one or more sensors. These several sensing elements are connected to the harvesting unit by a low power cable.
According to an embodiment of the invention, the energy harvesting sensor/controller sends signals wirelessly to a system to perform certain functions as a result of received sensed signals or the absence of such signals.
Since the multipoint sensing/energy harvesting system of this invention requires no external power to operate, the number of separate sensing units needed for complete spatial coverage is minimized, especially in rooms with complicated geometry or where hardwired power dictates the location of sensors. The energy harvester is placed where light is available.
Additional sensing elements can be placed in the optimal locations for best sensing coverage. Since there is no need to keep the harvesting unit close to the sensors, the harvesting unit can be placed in an optimal location, i.e., near a constant source of light like, for instance, a continuously lit exit sign, for more efficient energy harvesting to optimize the performance of harvesting and sensing.
These and other features of the present invention can be best understood from the following specification and drawings, the following of which is a brief description.
Referring to
The HU 10 has one or more photovoltaic (PV) cells 70 that collect light that is converted to and stored as electrical energy to provide for the operation of controller 65 and to send motion signals to the load controller 20. One of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that the HU may also be powered by other forms of accessible energy such as heat or microwave energy among other things.
The controller 65 in HU 10 manages power collected by the PVs 70, provides power to and receives signals from the PIRs 50, 60 and sends signals to the control unit 20. The Verve Living Systems Company provides a HU 10, part number X4110. The HU 10, as noted above, may also be equipped with a PIR 50 integral therein though it is not always necessary depending on a user's needs.
The load controller 20 may be controlled by a remote manual actuator 40 to turn the load 30 on and off, or perform any other relevant function as may be necessary. Load 30 may be an alarm, a phone signaling device to inform a monitoring company, a lock down system, a lighting system or any other of a plurality of functions.
Referring to
In operation, an installer or a user determines what areas of a structure or an environment need to be monitored for motion or other parameter. The PIRs 60 are connected to the HU 10 by means of low voltage cable 100. Typically, the harvesting unit 10 needs little light. However, the harvesting unit 10 may be placed near a window or other source of light such as exit lights in commercial buildings, or the like. If the HU 10 receives a signal that motion (or other parameter) has been sensed from any of the PIRs 60, the HU 10 sends a signal to the load controller to actuate the load 30.
Because the system operates with little power, the controller must manage the power sent to the PIRs. In one embodiment, after sensing a parameter such as motion from the PIRs and sending a signal to the load controller 20 to actuate the load 30, the HU will not send power to the PIRs for a given amount of time. For instance, if the load 30 that is activated is a lighting system, the HU will recharge its system through its cells 70 for a period of time than is less than the period of time that the load 30 (e.g., the lighting system) is programmed to be “on”, thereby giving the HU time to recharge.
Because of the efficiency of the system therefore, wire is not required to connect the solar harvesting unit to the load controller 20 or an external power source. Because of the flexibility of the system, the distribution of existing (or, more importantly, non-existing) power outlets to the area to be monitored may be ignored. The sensors 50, 60 may then be arrayed in many different areas to create ideal monitoring patterns. If additional sensors are required, other sensors may be daisy-chained to the system by the convenient plug-in features 95, 120 (see
Although a preferred embodiment of this invention has been disclosed, a worker of ordinary skill in this art would recognize that certain modifications would come within the scope of this invention. Most applications relate to intrusion/motion alarms but other applications can be imagined, such as a counting system or the like, door obstruction control, sensing a time in which a guard passes through an area, etc. For that reason, the following claims should be studied to determine the true scope and content of this invention.
