Loading patent…
AssigneeKoninklijke Philips N.V.
InventorsMark Thomas Johnson, Lutz Christian Gerhardt, Steven Ernest Franklin, Alan James Davie, Neil Francis Joye, Andrew Ulrich Rutgers
Estimating the term…
The invention provides an energy generation and/or conversion system and method wherein an electrical power generator is controlled to periodically alternate between a contact-mode, during which elements of the generator are brought into contact to induce a state of charging, and a non-contact mode, during which plates of the generator are separated from one another and electrical energy is generated through electrostatic induction. Timing and duration of contact and non-contact modes are controlled by a controller, or by user commands, in dependence on a charge state of the elements of the generator: In this way elements are controlled to come into contact only when surface charge has fallen below a certain level, and re-charging is necessary; contact time between the elements may hence be minimised—thereby minimising incurred noise and surface wear—whilst still maintaining a given desired threshold power output.
A system, comprising:
A method of operating an electrical power generator for generating electrical power, the electrical power generator comprising a first element and a second element configured to have a state of charging and configured to be moveable with respect to each other for generating the electrical power, the first element and second element being further configured such that they can be brought into and out of contact with each other, the method comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.