Electrical power generation and architecture structure for controlling an acoustic fire suppression system
AssigneeIncaendium Initiative Corporation
InventorsGeoffrey Adam Bruder, Michael Steven Thomas
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An electrical scheme and architecture intended for a Fire Suppression System utilizing resonant or impulsive acoustic waves. The system is capable of surviving within an active wildfire environment and harvesting energy from the fire to power itself or actively diverting thermal energy for temporary cooling. The electrical systems optimize and modulate the fire suppression acoustic wave output for the changing ambient environment and actively tune the system to reduce power requirements.
Claims14
A command module for controlling an acoustic fire suppression system, comprising:
- a battery charging circuit coupled to a battery;
- a thermal energy conversion system that converts energy from an ambient environment into power for use by the battery charging circuit to charge the battery;
- and
- a tuning circuit coupled to the battery for power conditioning of a DC power signal output from the battery to the acoustic fire suppression system,
- wherein the power conditioning includes DC to AC conversion of the DC power signal into an AC power signal utilizing pulse width modulation at an operating frequency of the acoustic fire suppression system and driving the AC power signal through a reactive power conditioner to counteract an imaginary portion of the AC power signal;
- wherein the reactive power conditioner is (i) a capacitive element where the acoustic fire suppression system includes any one of an electro-mechanical driver and a magnetostrictive driver, and wherein the reactive power conditioner is (ii) an inductive element where the acoustic fire suppression system includes a Piezoelectric driver.
A command module for controlling an acoustic fire suppression system, comprising:
- a battery that outputs power to an acoustic fire suppression system and a propulsion system;
- a battery charging circuit that charges the battery;
- a thermal energy conversion system that converts energy from an ambient environment into power that is used by the battery charging circuit to charge the battery, wherein the thermal energy conversion system is one of a thermoelectric generator and a thermophotovoltaic generator;
- a load balance circuit for adding a supplemental resistive load to the thermal energy conversion system if the battery, the propulsion system, and the acoustic fire suppression systems are not drawing power sufficient to maintain an operating temperature at a hot end of the thermal energy conversion system that is no greater than 850° C., wherein the load balance circuit uses temperature feedback for autonomous determination of the supplemental resistive load.
A command module for controlling an acoustic fire suppression system, comprising:
- a battery and a battery charging circuit that charges the battery;
- a thermal energy conversion system that converts energy from an ambient environment into power that is used by the battery charging circuit to charge the battery, wherein the thermal energy conversion system is one of a thermoelectric generator and a thermophotovoltaic generator;
- and
- a safety module that disables the battery charging circuit if the battery is fully charged or if the battery is becoming overheated,
- wherein the battery charging circuit includes a DC-DC convertor to match an output voltage of the thermal energy conversion system with an optimal voltage for charging the battery, and
- wherein the battery charging circuit further includes a current sensor which works with operational amplifiers in a comparator circuit to maintain a constant current during a charging cycle.
A command module for controlling an acoustic fire suppression system, comprising:
- a battery charging circuit coupled to a battery;
- a thermal energy conversion system that converts energy from an ambient environment into power for use by the battery charging circuit to charge the battery;
- and
- a tuning circuit coupled to the battery for power conditioning of a DC power signal output from the battery to the acoustic fire suppression system, wherein the power conditioning includes DC to AC conversion of the DC power signal into an AC power signal utilizing pulse width modulation at an operating frequency of the acoustic fire suppression system;
- and
- temperature and pressure sensors for determining the operating frequency of the acoustic fire suppression system based on an appropriate wavelength in the ambient environment.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.