Patent Application
20070159011
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to electrical generators which can be utilized as power sources for various devices and products, especially those which are portable and thus capable of self generating operating or stored power without the need for access to an external source of electricity.
2. Disadvantages in Prior Systems
The present applicants are co-inventors of prior inventions described in earlier filed copending applications, Ser. No. 11/120,255, entitled “Self Powered Cell Phone”; Ser. No. 11/130,093, entitled “Automated Motion Provider for Self Powered Cell Phones”; Ser. No. 11/191,890, entitled “Armature Type Electrical Generators for Self Powered Cell Phones”; and Ser. No. 11/199,309, entitled “Enhanced Internal Electrical Generators”, the disclosures of which are incorporated by reference herein.
These prior systems are based on permanent magnets moving through conductive wire spirals or coils and designed such that the wire conductors intersect the magnetic flux lines of the moving magnets to generate electric voltage and current in the conductors by the Faraday effect.
Some of these systems involve spherical or cylindrical magnets sliding through raceways having external wire coils surrounding tubular cross sections to enable such motion. However, frictional resistance is encountered in such motion which limits the velocity and/or acceleration that the magnets can reach.
Others of the prior systems involve magnets that oscillate on pendulum-like armatures swinging adjacent wire coils. These require ball bearing pivots to maximize the capability of the swinging motion of the armatures with the least amount of friction. Such bearings are costly, occupy significant internal space within a device or product and are difficult to manufacture and assemble.
The present invention overcomes or mitigates the above noted difficulties of the prior systems by utilizing disc-shaped permanent magnets the opposite faces of which comprise opposite magnetic poles. These magnets are inserted in passageways which have complementary cross sectional shapes that enable the magnetic discs to freely roll on their edges through the passageways. This simplifies both the components and the manufacturing and assembly of electrical generators designed to function in this manner. As a result, electrical generators constructed and operated in accordance with the present invention are optimized for use as internal electrical power sources for a wide variety of consumer devices and products, without any need for an external source of electricity.
Further details of the invention will be readily understood by reference to the following drawings of which:
Referring to
The magnet is shaped and dimensioned to be inserted on its edge within a passageway 12 having a complementary cross section. That is to say, the passageway provides a tunnel for the magnet having slight clearances of space between its internal walls and the surfaces of the magnet.
These clearances can be seen in the
The banks 14A and 14B are fixed against the sidewalls of passageway 12. As illustrated in
When this assembly is vertically oriented as represented in
Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the electrical generator illustrated in
Tilting of the passageway 12 to cause the magnetic disc 10 to roll therethrough can be carried out in repeated opposite directions, clockwise and counterclockwise, to cause generation of electrical currents of opposite polarities on a substantially continuous basis. Such tilting can be performed manually by a user, or automatically with various mechanical means as described in copending applications Ser. No. 11/133,093, entitled “Automated Motion provider for Self Powered Cell Phones”, and Ser. No. 11/199,309, entitled “Enhanced Electrical Generators”. The frequency of such repeated oscillations can be readily synchronized so that the magnetic disc 10 is caused to switch between its rolling opposite directions just when it reaches the lower end of the passageway 12 and begins to tilt in the opposite direction, thus achieving substantially continuous generation of voltage and current. The opposite polarities of such current can be converted into direct current by transmitting the opposite polarities, for example, to a full wave diode rectifier as described in copending application Ser. No. 11/120,255, entitled “Self Powered Cell Phone.”
The rectified direct current can be transmitted, for example, to rechargeable batteries or capacitors in a wide range of consumer devices or products, for example, cell phones, MP3 players, I-pods, digital cameras, video players, video game players, laser beam levels, satellite ground locators, inclinometers, radios, pagers, Blackberrys or other personal digital assistants, or flashlights.
The invention has been described in terms of its functional principles and several embodiments. Many variations of such embodiments will be apparent to those skilled to the art. In essence, the invention can be practiced with one or more disc-shaped magnets in one or more passageways configured and dimensioned to enable the magnetic discs to roll through the passageway, the latter having one or more groups or patterns of electrically conductive conductors, arranged to intersect the magnetic flux lines of the rolling magnetic discs, thereby generating electrical voltage and current in the conductors. Also, multiple banks of such generators can be stacked in a device, product or housing and connected in parallel to an output lead to increase the magnitude of the generated current.
In the application and use of such generators, one illustrative example is to incorporate an embodiment in a cell phone and connect its output to the cell phone's rechargeable battery. If such a phone is placed in a holster or other carrier attached to a person's body, for example, an arm, leg or hip, the normal motions of such body parts during the course of a day will generate sufficient electrical current to maintain the cell phone operable during that period. Similarly, such cell phones can be kept charged for blind persons by being carried in holsters secured to their seeing eye dogs. Likewise, the tracking collars of endangered wildlife species can be kept operable by including a generator embodiment of the invention in a pouch or other holder on such collars. In fact, electrically or electronically operated consumer devices or products that are portable by a human being or other living creature can be kept operable by generators made and used in accordance with the invention, as described above.
The utility of the invention in non-portable applications can be exemplified in oceanographic devices. For instance, floating buoys can be equipped with one or multiple, electrically interconnected banks of the
Before closing, it should be noted that, while rolling of the magnetic discs on their edges through the passageways is the ideal manner of operating the invention, as previously described, as a practical matter this cannot be expected to occur at all times during tilting of the passageways about a horizontal axis. Since there are clearances between the internal passageway walls and the surfaces of the discs, and since it is not possible to always maintain the discs in a perfectly vertical orientation, the discs will likely wobble slightly and glance off, or rub or slide against, the passageway walls as they move down the tilted passageways. Furthermore, it is preferable for the corner edges at the faces of the disc to be slightly rounded both to enhance rolling motion and to minimize distortion of the magnetic flux lines which can occur from sharp, right-angled corners. Therefore, the term “rolling” in context of the present invention is not to be interpreted as requiring absolute or perfect rolling of the discs through the passageways without any contact between the two. Even with a perfect vertical orientation, the discs will move with random slight glancing, rubbing, sliding or similar occasional contacts with the passageway walls, and it is hereby defined that such motions and contacts are within the scope of the term “rolling”.
In fact, in some extraordinary circumstances, sliding contact between one face of a magnetic disc and an internal wall of the passageway may be advantageous. For example, if a cell phone containing the
The important point is that in the generators of this invention, the axis of the magnetic flux lines is always oriented in substantial perpendicularity relative to the length of the passageway. Therefore, whatever the position of the generator in space, there will be optimum generation of voltage and current due to the perpendicular intersection of the magnetic flux lines by the conductive conductors when the generator is oscillated in opposite directions. Accordingly, the term “rolling” of the magnetic discs is hereby defined to mean and encompass all of the foregoing descriptions of how the invention can be carried out. Likewise, equivalent flat magnets having non-circular perimeters and sliding through the passageways are within the scope of the invention and the term “rolling”
It should be understood that it is intended to cover all variations or modifications of the illustrative embodiments of the present invention that fall within the scope of the appended claims and all equivalents thereof.
