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US 2017/0012192 A1Published application
Energy harvesting module and illumination member for a vehicle
AssigneeNissan North America, Inc.
InventorsRandall JOHNSON, Nelson PHAN
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An illumination assembly for a vehicle includes an energy harvesting module disposed on an exhaust pipe of the vehicle. The energy harvesting module includes an energy harvesting device configured to capture heat and to convert the harvested heat to electrical energy. An illumination member is electrically connected to the energy harvesting module and is configured to be illuminated by the electrical energy supplied from the energy harvesting device.
Claims20
An illumination assembly for a vehicle, comprising:
- an exhaust pipe;
- an energy harvesting module disposed on the exhaust pipe, the energy harvesting module including an energy harvesting device configured to capture heat and to convert the harvested heat to electrical energy;
- an illumination member electrically connected to the energy harvesting module and configured to be illuminated by the electrical energy supplied from the energy harvesting device.
A method of illuminating an illumination assembly of a vehicle, comprising:
- capturing heat energy with an energy harvesting device disposed on an exhaust pipe of the vehicle;
- converting the captured heat energy to electrical energy with the energy harvesting device;
- supplying the electrical energy to an illumination member electrically connected to the energy harvesting device to illuminate the illumination member.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.