Harvesting energy for a smart ring via piezoelectric charging
AssigneeBlueowl, LLC
InventorKenneth Jason Sanchez
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A smart ring is configured harvest mechanical energy using piezoelectricity. The smart ring includes a ring-shaped housing, a power source disposed within the ring-shaped housing, and a charging circuit. The charging circuit includes a piezoelectric harvesting element, and is configured to charge the power source when user motion causes a mechanical deformation in the piezoelectric harvesting element. The smart ring further includes a component, disposed within the ring-shaped housing and configured to draw energy from the power source, and further configured to perform at least one of: i) sense a physical phenomenon external to the ring-shaped housing, ii) send communication signals to a communication device external to the ring-shaped housing, or iii) implement a user interface.
Claims19
A smart ring comprising:
- a ring-shaped housing configured to be worn on a finger of a user;
- a power source, disposed within the ring-shaped housing;
- a charging circuit disposed within the ring-shaped housing and including a piezoelectric harvesting element, the charging circuit configured to charge the power source by way of electrical energy generated by mechanical deformation within the piezoelectric harvesting element, wherein the piezoelectric harvesting element includes one or more micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) components;
- and
- a component, disposed within the ring-shaped housing and configured to draw energy from the power source.
A method for operating a smart ring, the method comprising:
- generating electrical energy at a charging circuit within a smart ring by way of a mechanical deformation in a piezoelectric harvesting element of the charging circuit, wherein the piezoelectric harvesting element includes one or more micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) components;
- charging a power source disposed within the smart ring by delivering the electrical energy from the charging circuit to the power source;
- and
- causing the power source to provide power to a component, disposed within the smart ring.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.