US 4,814,657 A · Energy converting device

Abstract

An energy converting device utilizes a plurality of variable capacitors each having a pair of electrodes and arranged at a predetermined spacing. An actuator is arranged to be slidable relative to the electrodes in the sliding direction. The actuator has a dielectric permittivity that varies periodically in the sliding direction to change the capacitance of the capacitors, during the sliding movement. A detector detects the position of capacitors relative to the actuator and a controller operates to charge or discharge the capacitors via the electrodes according to the detection of the capacitor position. The movement of the actuator produces a change in capacitance due to the displacement relative to the capacitors, and by charging/discharging the capacitors at a predetermined timing, electrical energy stored in the capacitors can be converted into mechanical energy or vice versa.

Claims27

Dependent claims

An energy converting device for converting electrical energy into mechanical energy or mechanical energy into electrical energy, the device comprising:

a plurality of capacitors each having a pair of electrodes and being arranged at a predetermined spacing;
an actuator formed of a dielectric material having high-permittivity and low-permittivity portions alternately arranged at a predetermined pitch, and disposed to be movable relative to each pair of electrodes to change the capacitance of each capacitor due to the change of permittivity within each capacitor caused by the relative movement between the actuator and each pair of electrodes;
detecting means for detecting the position of each capacitor relative to the actuator;
and
control means connected to the detecting means and operative when the actuator is displaced to charge or discharge each capacitor in synchronism with the change in the capacitance thereof due to the change in the permittivity thereof caused by the displacement of the actuator relative to each capacitor to effect electrical to mechanical or mechanical to electrical energy conversion.

2 more elements

An energy conversion device comprising:

a pair of spaced apart electrode members;
a dielectric member movably disposed between the electrode members to undergo movement in a given direction relative to the electrode members, the dielectric member having a relatively high permittivity portion and a relatively low permittivity portion adjacent to each other in the given direction and coacting with the electrode members to define a variable capacitance whose value depends on and varies according to the position of the dielectric member relative to the electrode members;
and means for selectively applying an electrostatic force to the dielectric member to effect movement of the dielectric member in the given direction thereby converting electrical energy to mechanical energy or for selectively moving the dielectric member in the given direction to accordingly vary the capacitance value of the variable capacitance thereby converting mechanical energy to electrical energy.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Energy converting device

Life of this patent

Energy converting device

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims27