Power generation device

A power generation device, comprising:

• (a) a capacitor circuit as a circuit for connecting two capacitors that are first and second capacitors, each of which comprising at least one capacitor wherein the first and second capacitors are connected with at least two paths wherein, in one path, the first and second capacitors are in parallel and, in the other path, the first and second capacitors are in series;
• (b) an operation switch capable of selectively charging the one capacitor and the other capacitor provided in the capacitor circuit, wherein a structure of the capacitor circuit can be changed to a first mode in which the operation switch is turned “ON” to accumulate electric charge in both the one and the other capacitors, and a second mode in which the operation switch is turned “OFF” to accumulate electric charge in only the one capacitor;
• (c) a changeover switch provided in the capacitor circuit, switching between x-side and y-side,
• (d) a first DC power supply comprising a DC power supply for supplying first voltage (Va) in the capacitor circuit, a second DC power supply for supplying second voltage (Vb) and reserving increased electric charge from the capacitor circuit;
• and
• a switching drive power supply comprising a DC power supply for supplying switching voltage (Vc) in the capacitor circuit,
• (f) a first relay group and a second relay group each of which comprises at least one relay such that the first and second relay groups independently take either ON state for current running or OFF state for current not running wherein the first relay group is disposed in a circuit in which the first and second capacitors are in parallel and connected to the first DC power supply, and the second relay group is disposed on another circuit in which the first and second capacitors are in series and connected to the second DC power supply;
• wherein,
• (g) when the changeover switch takes the x-side, the first relay group turns to the ON state with the switching voltage (Vc) and the second relay group turns to the OFF state such that the first DC power supply
• is electrically connected to the first and second capacitors via the first relay group and
• accumulates electric charge in the first and second capacitors with the first voltage (Va) in accordance with a first combined capacitance of the first and second capacitors arranged in parallel;
• (i) when the changeover switch takes the y-side after accumulating the electric charge in the first and second capacitors by taking the x-side, the second relay group turns to the ON state with the switching voltage (Vc) and the first relay group turns to the OFF state such that the first and second capacitors are electrically connected to the second DC power supply via the second relay group, whereby a second combined capacitance of the first and second capacitors arranged in series becomes lower than the first combined capacitance, an excess amount of the electric charge, which corresponds to a difference between the first and second combined capacitances, is discharged to the second DC power supply via the second relay group to obtain electric energy.