Energy harvester device and method of manufacturing same
AssigneesHyundai Motor Company, Kia Corporation
InventorsDae-Sung Kwon, Il-Seon Yoo, Hyun-Soo Kim
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Abstract
An embodiment energy harvester device includes a metal foam including a conductive material and having a plurality of fluid flow holes disposed in an outer surface thereof and a plurality of beads comprising a non-conductive material and disposed separately inside the metal foam, wherein the beads are configured to be moved by a fluid passing through the fluid flow holes to cause movement of electrons due to a change in contact state between the beads and the metal foam.
Claims20
An energy harvester device comprising:
- a metal foam comprising a conductive material and having a plurality of fluid flow holes disposed in an outer surface thereof;
- and
- a plurality of beads comprising a non-conductive material and disposed separately inside the metal foam, wherein the beads are configured to be moved by a fluid passing through the fluid flow holes to cause movement of electrons due to a change in contact state between the beads and the metal foam.
A method of manufacturing an energy harvester device, the method comprising:
- arranging a first metal foam and a second metal foam to face each other, wherein each of the first metal foam and the second metal foam comprise a conductive material and have a plurality of fluid flow holes formed in outer surfaces thereof;
- arranging a plurality of cavity formation beads between the first metal foam and the second metal foam;
- pressing the first metal foam and the second metal foam together with the cavity formation beads disposed between the first metal foam and the second metal foam;
- separating the first metal foam and the second metal foam and removing the cavity formation beads leaving a plurality of bead cavities formed on facing surfaces of the first metal foam and the second metal foam;
- respectively inserting a plurality of beads into the plurality of bead cavities, each of the beads comprising a non-conductive material;
- and
- bonding the facing surfaces of the first metal foam and the second metal foam to form a metal foam.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.