Smart wheel energy harvester
AssigneeTDK Corporation
InventorsRyan GRISWOLD, John SZE, Vibhu VIVEK
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Abstract
Systems and methods for an energy harvester coupled to a rotatable component of a vehicle are disclosed. In some embodiments, an energy harvester system includes at least one energy harvesting component configured to be attached to a wheel of a vehicle, wherein the at least one energy harvesting component includes a piezoelectric component configured to be directly attached to a staging surface of the wheel, wherein the piezoelectric component is configured to deform in response to a mechanical strain imparted on the piezoelectric component as the wheel rotates and generate an electric signal.
Claims20
An energy harvesting system, comprising:
- at least one energy harvesting component configured to be attached to a wheel of a vehicle, wherein the at least one energy harvesting component comprises:
- a piezoelectric component configured to be directly attached to a staging surface of the wheel, wherein the piezoelectric component is configured to deform in response to a mechanical strain imparted on the piezoelectric component as the wheel rotates and generate an electric signal.
An energy harvesting system, comprising:
- a plurality of piezoelectric components configured to be directly attached to respective staging surfaces of a wheel of a vehicle, wherein each piezoelectric component is configured to deform in response to a mechanical strain imparted on the piezoelectric component as the wheel rotates to generate an electric signal;
- and
- at least one device coupled to the wheel, wherein each device of the at least one device is configured to receive a respective electric signal generated by the plurality of piezoelectric components.
An energy harvesting system, comprising:
- a wheel of a vehicle;
- a plurality of energy harvesting components coupled to each other in a ring formation along a circumference of the wheel, wherein each of the plurality of energy harvesting components comprises:
- a piezoelectric component directly attached to a respective staging surface of the wheel, wherein each piezoelectric component deforms to conform to a shape of the respective staging surface as a result of a mechanical strain imparted on the piezoelectric component as the wheel rotates, and wherein each piezoelectric component generates an electric signal when it is deformed.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.