# US 10,319,895 B2 · Thermal energy harvesting for dispensing system

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- Number: US 10,319,895 B2
- Document ID: US10319895B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 15/069,201
- Filed: 2016-03-14
- Published: 2016-07-07
- Granted: 2019-06-11
- Earliest claimed: 2013-02-19
- Assignees: GOJO Industries, Inc.
- Applicants: GOJO Industries, Inc.
- Inventors: Jackson William Wegelin; Demetrius Henry; Nick Ermanno Ciavarella
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US10319895B2

## CPC

- H10N 10/10: operating with only the Peltier or Seebeck effects
- A47K 5/12: for liquid or pasty soap
- A47K 5/1217: {Electrical control means for the dispensing mechanism}
- H02J 7/34: Parallel operation in networks using both storage and other DC sources, e.g. providing buffering (H02J7/14 takes precedence)
- H02J 7/345: {using capacitors as storage or buffering devices}
- H02J 50/001: {Energy harvesting or scavenging}
- H10N 10/17: characterised by the structure or configuration of the cell or thermocouple forming the device
- H10N: ELECTRIC SOLID-STATE DEVICES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
- A47K: SANITARY EQUIPMENT; ACCESSORIES THEREFOR, e.g. TOILET ACCESSORIES
- H02J: ELECTRIC POWER NETWORKS; CIRCUIT ARRANGEMENTS OR SYSTEMS FOR SUPPLYING OR DISTRIBUTING ELECTRIC POWER; SYSTEMS FOR STORING ELECTRIC ENERGY

## Abstract

Among other things, one or more systems and/or techniques for harvesting thermal energy for utilization by a dispensing system are provided herein. The dispensing system may comprise one or more thermal scavenging devices configured to collect thermal energy from a user. For example, a first thermal scavenging device, coupled to a top housing portion of the dispensing system, may collect thermal energy from a palm of a user hand; a second thermal scavenging device, coupled to a bottom housing portion of the dispensing system, may collect thermal energy from a top portion of the user hand; and/or other thermal scavenging devices may be operatively coupled to the dispensing system. In this way, the collected thermal energy is transformed into electrical energy for powering the dispensing system (e.g., powering a current dispense event, stored for a subsequent dispense event, validation of a refill container, detection of a user, etc.).

## Claims

### Claim 1

A method for initiating a dispense event of a dispensing system, comprising:
collecting, via a first thermal scavenging device of the dispensing system, thermal energy from a portion of a human user when the portion of the human user enters, via an opening, a material dispense zone defined by a top boundary of a housing of the dispensing system, a bottom boundary of the housing, a side boundary of the housing and the opening such that the portion of the human user is located between the top boundary of the housing and the bottom boundary of the housing and between the side boundary of the housing and the opening, the housing comprising the first thermal scavenging device; and
initiating the dispense event of the dispensing system by transforming the thermal energy, comprising transferred heat, into electrical energy and using the electrical energy to cause the dispensing system to dispense material onto the portion of the human user.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, the side boundary comprising at least one of a first side boundary of the housing, a second side boundary of the housing or a back side boundary of the housing.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, the dispensing system configured to dispense at least one of a liquid material, a powder material or an aerosol material.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, the dispensing system configured to dispense at least one of a soap, an anti-bacterial gel, a cleanser, a disinfectant or a lotion.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, comprising:
modifying a shape of a dispenser nozzle based upon the thermal energy.

### Claim 6 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, the first thermal scavenging device oriented with respect to a zone according to a thermal collection configuration defining a first thermal collection zone for the first thermal scavenging device.

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, the collecting thermal energy comprising at least one of:
collecting the thermal energy from a first thermal collection zone associated with the top boundary of the housing;
collecting the thermal energy from a second thermal collection zone associated with the bottom boundary of the housing;
collecting the thermal energy from a third thermal collection zone associated with a first side boundary of the housing;
collecting the thermal energy from a fourth thermal collection zone associated with a second side boundary of the housing; or
collecting the thermal energy from a fifth thermal collection zone associated with a back side boundary of the housing.