Apparatus and method utilizing magnetic field
AssigneeFerro Solutions, Inc.
InventorsJiankang Huang, Hariharan Venketesh Sundram, Robert C. O'Handley, David C. Bono
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Apparatus and method for harvesting energy from the environment and/or other external sources and converting it to useful electrical energy. The harvester does not contain a permanent magnet or other local field source but instead relies on the earth's magnetic field of another source of a magnetic field that is external to the sensing device. One advantage of these new harvesters is that they can be made smaller and lighter than energy harvesters that contain a magnet and/or an inertial mass.
Claims15
An energy harvester without a local field source comprising:
- a magnetic field sensing element including one or more layers of magnetostrictive material having a magnetization vector that responds to variations in an applied magnetic field by generating a stress, and one or more layers of electroactive material, mechanically bonded to the layer of magnetostrictive material, that responds to the stress by generating a voltage;
- and
- a circuit coupled to the sensing element that converts the voltage to electrical power for immediate use or storage, wherein the sensing element either:
- a) moves relative to a remote static external magnetic field, such that changes in orientation of the sensing element with respect to the external field generates the voltage;
- or
- b) is stationary with respect to a remote changing external magnetic field, wherein the changing external field causes the sensing element to generate the voltage.
A method of harvesting energy comprising:
- providing a magnetic field sensing element including one or more layers of magnetostrictive material having a magnetization vector that responds to variations in an applied magnetic field by generating a stress, and one or more layers of an electroactive material, mechanically bonded to the layer of magnetostrictive material, that responds to the stress by generating a voltage;
- wherein the voltage is generated by either:
- moving the sensing element relative to a remote static external magnetic field, such that changes in orientation in the sensing element with respect to the external field generates the voltage;
- or
- the sensing element is stationary with respect to a remote changing external magnetic field, and the changing external field causes the sensing elemenet to generate the voltage;
- and
- converting the generated voltage to electrical power for immediate use or storage.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.