PULSE-TYPE MAGNETIC-INDUCTIVE RECHARGING DEVICE
FOR ELECTRIC APPARATUSES
The present invention refers to a pulse-type magnetic-inductive recharging device for electric apparatuses .
It is known that the current, always more and more intense use of portable electric or electronic apparatuses such as, for example, cellular phones, MP3 readers, smart-phones, palmtop computers, photo-and video-cameras etc., still meets the limit of the more or less long charge length for the related supply batteries: depending therefore on the intensity of their use, such apparatuses anyway require a periodic recharge of their batteries through a mains connection. Not rarely there is the need of having to necessarily use one of such apparatuses, that is however prevented by a scarce battery charge level and the unavailability of a connection to mains, consequently temporarily impairing their use.
In order to anyway allow a recharge of such
apparatuses even without a mains connection, the art has proposed a series of portable devices that allow recharging, usually by transforming a mechanical movement manually exerted by the user into electric energy, at least partially the batteries of such apparatuses. Examples of such known devices are disclosed in WO2010014023, O2010037708, JP4684106, GB2447086, US2006139000, WO02103881.
In particular:
WO2010014023 discloses a recharging device that exploits, through a magnetic system, the vibration kinetic energy of the movement of a mechanical suspension with spring generated by the body vibration of the person wearing such device;
O2010037708 discloses an harvester with cantilever, elastic piezoelectric beam and magnetic suspension that provides using the mass of the electronic apparatus to be supplied as seismic mass: the generation frequency, anyway very high, depends on the beam stiffness and not by the masses being used;
JP4684106 discloses a circuitry for electromagnetic generators composed of a double winding cut by two magnets that have the same polarity at
their interface: two magnets are still present at the ends with the same polarity with respect to the faces of the moving magnet and the equivalent mechanical system is a double mass/spring system in series) ;
GB2447086 discloses a recharging device whose operation is again based on the oscillation of a magnet with spring caused by the vibration excitation of the human body;
- US2006139000 discloses a recharging device whose operation is based on the energy conversion from wrist vibration: in such recharging device, the magnet slides onto ball bearings and there is a generator mono-axiality that does not appear able to collect even a small part of the oscillation component in orthogonal motion;
O02103881 discloses a recharging device composed of a spherical magnet adapted to roll inside a tube, and therefore free from any type of suspension.
Object of the present invention is solving the above prior art problems, by providing a pulse-type recharging device for electric apparatuses with magnetic-inductive operation with repeated pulses.
Another object of the present invention, is
providing a pulse-type magnetic-inductive recharging device for electric apparatuses with asymmetric magnetic suspension.
Moreover, an object of the present invention, is providing a pulse-type magnetic-inductive recharging device for electric apparatuses that exploits the energy generated by the mechanical impact between magnetic elements and the relative displacement between the elements of the electro- magnetic transducer.
The above and other objects and advantages of the invention, as will appear from the following description, are obtained with a pulse-type magnetic-inductive recharging device per electric apparatuses as claimed in Claim 1. Preferred embodiments and non-trivial variations of the present invention are the subject matter of the dependent claims.
It is intended that the enclosed claims are an integral part of the present description.
It will be immediately obvious that numerous variations and modifications (for example related to shapes, sizes, arrangements and parts with equivalent functionality) could be made to what is described, without departing from the scope of the
invention, as appears from the enclosed claims.
The present invention will be better described by some preferred embodiments thereof, provided as a non-limiting example, with reference to the enclosed drawings, in which:
- Figure 1 shows a perspective, transparent view of an embodiment of the pulse-type magnetic- inductive recharging device for electric apparatuses according to the present invention;
- Figure 2 shows a sectional view of the pulse- type magnetic-inductive recharging device for electric apparatuses of Figure 1;
- Figure 3 shows an exploded view of the pulse- type magnetic-inductive recharging device for electric apparatuses of Figure 1; and
- Figure 4 shows a side schematic view of a tire on which another embodiment of the magnetic- inductive recharging device of the invention has been applied.
In general, as will be seen below in more detail, the operation of the pulse-type magnetic- inductive recharging device for electric apparatuses according to the present invention is based on the impulsive interaction effect between moving and fixed magnetic elements of an electro-
magnetic transducer.
With reference therefore to the Figures, it is possible to note that the pulse-type magnetic- inductive recharging device 1 for electric apparatuses according to the present invention comprises :
at least one moving magnetic element 3 sliding along at least one sliding guide 5;
at least one element made of ferromagnetic material 7, preferably with a through-hole, arranged in a first end of such sliding guide 5; at least one fixed magnetic element 9 arranged into a second end of such sliding guide 5, such fixed magnetic element 9 and such moving magnetic element 3 sliding along the sliding guide 5 being mutually oriented in such a ay as to oppose the two faces with the same polarity in order to generate a repulsion force;
at least one first coil 11 made of electrically conductive material adapted to concatenate the magnetic field of such moving magnetic element 3 sliding along the sliding guide 5 and at least one second coil 13 made of electrically conductive material adapted to concatenate the magnetic field generated by the
interaction between such moving magnetic element 3 and such element made of ferromagnetic material 7 ; at least one control means 15 whose operation is adapted to trigger the impulsive detaching motion of such moving magnetic element 3 from the ferromagnetic element 7 along the sliding guide 5 towards the fixed magnetic element 9.
Obviously, the device 1 according to the present invention can further comprise managing means 16 of the operation of the device 1 itself: in particular, such managing means 16 comprise at least one electronic recharging card equipped with electric current rectifying means, such rectifying means preferably comprising preferably at least one diode bridge, electric current stabilising means, such stabilising means preferably comprising at least one capacitor, preferably of the electrolytic type, means for accumulating electric energy, comprising for example at least one rechargeable backup battery and at least one diode, preferably of the germanium type, arranged between such rectifying means and such means for accumulating electric energy. Each one of the coils 11, 13 is connected to the above diode bridge, which is, in turn, connected to the capacitor. The capacitor is
finally connected to the backup battery. The electrodes of the backup battery are then connected to at least one connecting means, made for example as at least one USB port, that allows connecting the device 1 to the recharging socket of the electric apparatus' to be supplied with current.
Preferably, the sliding guide 5 is composed of at least one PVC tube, around which at least la first coil 11, is wound, inside which the moving magnetic element 3 slides, preferably composed of at least one cylindrical magnet whose diameter is equal to the diameter of such tube.
Preferably, the control means 15 are composed of at least one control push-button 17 connected to the moving magnetic element 3 through at least one stem 19, preferably made of an non-magnetic material passing through at least one through- opening 21 of such element made of ferromagnetic material 7.
Preferably, the element made of ferromagnetic material 7 is composed of a cylindrical ferromagnetic core, that axially has the through- opening 21, and around which at least the second coil 13 is wound, and the fixed magnetic element 9 is composed of at least one magnet, preferably
toroidal .
Therefore, when the device 1 according to the present invention is in a rest condition, the moving magnetic element 3 is attracted by the element made of ferromagnetic material 7 and spontaneously slides Si along the sliding guide 5 (for example inside the PVC tube) due to magnetic attraction till it gets preferably in contact with such element made of ferromagnetic material 7, consequently taking the control means 15, and in particular the control push-button 17 to which it is integrally connected through the stem 19, in an actuation position.
In the example, but not limiting, embodiment of the device 1 according to the present invention shown in Figure 1, it is possible to note that, following the actuation of the control means 15, for example by pressing the control push-button 17 with a finger along the direction shown by arrow Flr the non-magnetic stem 19 is consequently taken to slide inside the through-opening 21, inducing the moving magnetic element 3 to be impulsively detached from the element made of ferromagnetic material 7 and to slide S2 along the sliding guide 5 (for example inside the PVC tube) towards the
fixed magnetic element 9 placed at the opposite end of the guide 5 itself: having the same polarity, the fixed magnetic element 9 magnetically repels the moving magnetic element 3 taking it to slide Si again along the sliding guide 5 till it is brought, due to magnetic attraction, to impact the element made of ferromagnetic material 7 and taking back, consequently, the control means 15, and in particular the control push-button 17 to which it is integrally connected through the stem 19, again to the actuation position. Advantageously therefore, the interaction between the moving magnetic element 3 and the element made of ferromagnetic material 7 is an impact due to magnetic attraction. The motion of the moving magnetic element 3 comprises impulsive actions at start and end times, due to which high acceleration levels occur for the moving magnetic element 3 and a high relative speed between magnet and coils 11 and 13 with consequent high increase of the intensity of the instantaneous electric current being produced.
In its alternate sliding motion Si, S2 along the sliding guide 5, the moving magnetic element 3 generates electric current on both coils 11, 13,
due both to the relative motion between the moving magnetic element 3 and the coils 11, 13, and to the impulsive action impressed to such moving magnetic element 3, and to the concatenation of the magnetic flux in the ferromagnetic element.
The current produced on the two coils 11, 13 is then transformed by the electronic recharging card and sent to the means for accumulating electric energy that are then used for actually recharging the electronic apparatuses (cellular phone, smart-phone, etc.) suitably connected to the connecting means of the device 1 according to the present invention.
Therefore, differently from prior art recharging devices, the device 1 according to the present invention has the following peculiar features and their related advantages:
for generating electric energy, the conversion of vibration kinetic energy is not exploited, but the repeated impulsive action operating on the moving magnetic element 3 triggered by a mechanical action exerted on the control means 15 by a user (or a suitable device) and amplified by the magnetic interactions between the moving magnetic element 3, the element made of ferromagnetic
material 7 and the fixed magnetic element 9;
the electric generation occurs in two different points, on the first coil 11 placed around the sliding guide 5 and on the second coil 13 placed around the element made of ferromagnetic material 7, both exploiting the alternate sliding movement of the moving magnetic element 3 and exploiting the energy generated by the impact between such moving magnetic element 3 and the element made of ferromagnetic material 7;
the return sliding movement Si of the moving magnetic element 3 along the guide 5 is guaranteed by an asymmetric magnetic suspension generated by the magnetic repulsion forces between the fixed magnetic element 9 and the moving magnetic element 3 and by the attraction forces between elements 3 and 7.
Figure 4 shows a schematic side view of a tire 50 of a vehicle (not shown) , on which another embodiment of the magnetic-inductive recharging device 1 of the invention is applied.
As can be seen in Figure 4, the pressure by the tread 52 of the tire 50 in contact with the road bottom 54 when the vehicle is running, exerts the thrust force Fl that is used to actuate the
recharging device 1 suitably placed inside the tire 50 so that the control push-button 17 is internally in contact with the surface of the tread 52 that will get in contact with the road bottom 54.
The recharging device 1 of the invention can also be used for applications in which the force Fl against the control push-button 17 is exerted by other elements, for example a cam-type device (not shown) or other eguivalent elements.