JP2001151048A - On-vehicle power generating device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce size and cost of an on-vehicle apparatus or the like by generating power using vibrations or the like of a vehicle. SOLUTION: When the vehicle 30 vibrates, rotary weights 14a and 14b are swingingly displaced and this motion is transmitted by driving gears 16a and 16b, first relay gears 17a and 17b, and second relay gears 18a and 18b for rotating magnetic rotors 20a and 20b. The magnetic rotors 20a and 20b rotate at high speed of a rotational frequency extremely higher than a speed of the swinging displacement of the rotary weights 14a and 14b. Electromotive force is generated in coils 21a and 21b by the high speed rotation of the magnetic rotors 20a and 20b for generating an electric current. The electric current generated in the coils 21a and 21b is rectified at a rectifying circuit 24 and stored in a charging part 26. The stored electric power is fed to a load (an electrical apparatus, for example, an on-vehicle apparatus for ETC) connected to the charging part 26.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention belongs to the technical field of an on-vehicle power generator for generating electric power by vibration of a mounted vehicle.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Nonstop automatic toll collection system (E)
TC: Research of Electronic Toll Collection system)
Development is underway and experiments are being carried out on toll road gates. In order to pay the ETC fee, it is necessary to mount a vehicle-mounted ETC device on the vehicle. At present, two types of power sources for the on-vehicle device, a car battery and a battery (for exclusive use on the on-vehicle device), are considered.

When a battery is used, there are problems such as battery life and where to store the battery (the larger the battery, the larger the size of the vehicle-mounted device.). In addition, there is also a problem in terms of cost that an increase in the battery capacity leads to an increase in the cost of the vehicle-mounted device. Such a problem is not limited to the on-board device for ETC, but is a problem common to electric devices mounted on vehicles.

[0004]

In the recent automobile industry, environmental measures and effective use of energy have been actively called for. For example, the use of electricity or fuel cells as an energy source instead of gasoline has attracted attention. I have. However, in addition to this, vibration and shaking that always occur with the operation of the car,
Although energy sources such as exhaust gas that can be used still remain, they are still not being used effectively.

According to the present invention, in order to reduce the size and cost of electric equipment such as an on-vehicle device, first, an energy source instead of a battery is considered. The focus was on the vibration and shaking that would always occur when the vehicle was operated, and the idea was to convert the kinetic energy obtained therefrom into electrical energy. The present invention provides an electric device mounted on a vehicle with electric power generated by using vibrations of the vehicle and the like, thereby making it possible to reduce the size and cost of electric devices such as an on-vehicle device without using a battery. It is.

[0006]

Means for Solving the Problems and Effects of the Invention According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a vehicle-mounted power generator.
Since the rotating body that swings or rotates due to the vibration of the vehicle and the power generating means that converts the motion of the rotating body into electric energy are provided, the generated vibration can be generated as an energy source when the vehicle is operated. If this on-vehicle power generator is used as a power source for an electric device mounted on a vehicle, for example, an on-vehicle device for ETC, all the problems (battery life, battery storage, cost problems) that arise when a battery is adopted as the power source are all encountered. Can be avoided.

[0007] The configuration of the power generation means is not particularly limited, but as described in claim 2, the power generation means includes a permanent magnet body,
A coil disposed adjacent to the permanent magnet body, wherein the permanent magnet body or the coil is configured to be rotationally driven by the rotating body, so that it is not necessary to employ a special technique. The permanent magnet body may have, for example, only a pair of N poles and S poles, or may have a structure having a plurality of pairs of N poles and S poles.

In the case of power generation using a permanent magnet and a coil, the electromotive force increases as the speed of change in the relative position between the two, for example, the rotation speed, increases.
It is preferable to provide a speed increasing means for increasing the swinging or rotating speed of the rotating body and transmitting the same to the permanent magnet body or the coil. Thus, even if the rotating body moves slowly, for example, the rotating speed of the permanent magnet body that is driven to rotate can be increased, so that a large electromotive force can be obtained.

[0009] The vehicle-mounted power generator according to claim 4 is characterized in that:
The on-vehicle power generation device according to claim 1, wherein the power generation means includes:
A bimorph in which a deformation force is exerted by the swinging or rotating of the rotating body. The bimorph is deformed by the movement of the rotating body and causes a piezoelectric effect, so that electric power can be obtained. In implementation, for example, the axis of the rotating body may be a bimorph. Further, in the vehicle-mounted power generator according to the second or third aspect, the shaft of the rotating body can be a bimorph, thereby improving power generation efficiency.

[0010] By the way, since the vibration of the vehicle changes depending on the road conditions, the amount of power generated by the vehicle-mounted power generator becomes unstable. Therefore, if a charging means for storing the electricity generated by the power generating means is provided, stable power can be supplied even if the amount of generated power changes. Further, by providing the charging means, the efficiency is improved as compared with the case where the electric power generated by the on-vehicle power generation device is supplied in a down-flow manner.
The charging means can be realized by, for example, a capacitor.

Further, there are two types of vibrations of the vehicle: a vertical direction with respect to the ground (vertical vibration) and a horizontal direction (front-back direction and left-right direction). Therefore, as described in claim 6, the rotating body having a swinging or rotating center along the left-right direction of the vehicle and the rotating body having a swinging or rotating center along the vertical direction of the vehicle. If it is provided, the vibration in the front-rear direction and the up-down direction is captured by the rotating body having the lead along the left-right direction of the vehicle, and the vibration in the front-rear direction and the left-right direction is captured by the rotating body having the lead along the vertical direction of the vehicle. Thus, the vibration in each direction can be used efficiently. The power generating means may be provided corresponding to each of the plurality of rotating bodies, or may be configured such that two rotating bodies share one power generating means. In recent years, vibrations in the vertical direction have been greatly suppressed due to improvements in engines and advances in vibration damping devices. However, vibrations in the vertical direction are not completely non-vibrating and can be used for power generation.

[0012]

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0013]

As shown in FIG. 1, an on-vehicle power generating device 10 of this embodiment includes two sets of power generating mechanisms 12a and 12b. The power generation mechanism 12a includes a rotary weight 14a corresponding to a rotating body. The rotary weight 14a has a semicircular shape, and a shaft 15a is connected to a position corresponding to the center of the circular arc.
Is connected to a drive gear 16a. The shaft 15a is rotatably supported by a bearing (not shown), and the rotary weight 14a, the shaft 15a, and the drive gear 16a integrally rotate together.

A first relay gear 17a having a smaller number of teeth meshes with the drive gear 16a, and a second relay gear 18 having a smaller number of teeth is meshed with the first relay gear 17a.
a meshes. Although only two relay gears are shown, a large number of relay gears are arranged in an array in which the number of teeth is sequentially reduced, and the last relay gear (the second relay gear 18 in the figure) is arranged.
The configuration is such that the magnetic rotor 20a is rotated by a). That is, the drive gear 16a, the first relay gear 17a, the second relay gears 18a,... Constitute speed increasing means.

The magnetic rotor 20a is a permanent magnet having a multi-pole structure in which a plurality of N poles and S poles are alternately arranged on the outer periphery. A coil 21a is arranged adjacent to the magnetic rotor 20a, and the coil 21a is rotated by rotation of the magnetic rotor 20a.
A voltage (electromotive force) is generated at a.

Since the configuration of the power generation mechanism 12b is the same as that of the power generation mechanism 12a, the respective parts of the power generation mechanism 12b are denoted by the same reference numerals as those of the power generation mechanism 12a, and the suffix is b. Coils 21a, 21b of both power generating mechanisms 12a, 12b
Are connected to the rectifier circuit 24 in parallel. A charging unit (in this embodiment, a capacitor is used) 26 is connected to the rectifier circuit 24, and power is supplied from the charging unit 26 to an electric device (not shown), for example, a vehicle-mounted device for ETC.

As shown in FIG. 2, the on-vehicle power generating device 10 has, for example, a shaft 15a of a power generating mechanism 12a along the left-right direction of the vehicle 30 (a direction horizontal to the ground).
The vehicle 2 is mounted on the vehicle 30 with the shaft 15b of the 2b extending along the vertical direction of the vehicle 30 (direction perpendicular to the ground). That is,
The shaft 15a and the shaft 15b are arranged in a 90-degree twist relationship.

When an engine (not shown) of the vehicle 30 is started and its power is transmitted to each part of the vehicle 30, vibrations and shakings unique to the vehicle (hereinafter collectively referred to as vibrations) are generated. Further, as the vehicle 30 travels, for example, acceleration, deceleration,
Vibration is generated by turning and the like, and also generated by road conditions. In reality, complicated vibrations in which such various vibrations are synthesized are exerted on the vehicle-mounted power generator 10, but the operation of the vehicle-mounted power generator 10 will be described with some typical examples. (1) At the time of acceleration The operation of the rotary weights 14a and 14b due to vibration when the vehicle 30 accelerates, for example, at the time of starting will be described.

As shown in FIG. 3, an inertia force acts in the opposite direction with respect to acceleration in the traveling direction such as when starting. The combined force of the inertial force and the gravity acts on the vehicle 30 as a force in a direction to sink the rear part of the vehicle body. When the vehicle body leans backward, the rotary weight 14a of the power generation mechanism 12a also swings and leans (oscillates and displaces) behind the vehicle body. As the vehicle 30 gradually accelerates, the vehicle body gradually returns to horizontal,
4a also tries to return to horizontal by its own weight. This rotating weight 14
The rotating weight 14a swings back and forth along the traveling direction until the force for returning the a is balanced with the force in the opposite direction.

The rotary weight 14b of the other power generation mechanism 12b is
It may swing depending on the posture of the rotary weight 14b at that time, the magnitude of acceleration, and the like. (2) At the time of deceleration The operation of the rotary weights 14a and 14b due to the vibration when the vehicle 30 decelerates to stop, for example, will be described.

The operation of the vehicle 30 at the time of deceleration is opposite to that of (1) at the time of acceleration. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 4, when the vehicle 30 decelerates to reduce the speed, an inertial force acts in the traveling direction. The front of the vehicle body sinks due to the resultant force of the inertial force and gravity. When the vehicle body leans forward, the rotary weight 14a of the power generation mechanism 12a also swings forward and leans (oscillates and displaces) in the forward direction of the vehicle body. As the vehicle 30 gradually decelerates, the vehicle body gradually returns to horizontal,
The rotating weight 14a also tries to return to horizontal by its own weight. The rotating weight 14a swings back and forth in the traveling direction until the returning force of the rotating weight 14a and the force in the opposite direction are balanced.

The rotary weight 14b of the other power generation mechanism 12b is
It may swing depending on the posture of the rotary weight 14b at that time, the magnitude of acceleration, and the like. (3) Lateral G Load When the vehicle 30 turns a curve, lateral acceleration (lateral G) acts. The operation of the rotating weights 14a and 14b at this time will be described.

Normally, since the vehicle 30 decelerates before approaching a curve, the rotary weights 14a and 14b operate as described in the above (2). When the vehicle starts to bend the curve, a centrifugal force acts outward, as shown in FIG.
b swings outward. When approaching the end of the curve, the centrifugal force is weakened, and the force for swinging the rotary weight 14b is also weakened. When the vehicle starts accelerating through the curve, the rotary weight 14a swings back and forth according to the same principle as the above (1). Further, in this case, the rotary weight 14b is displaced to the outside of the curve, but may be displaced by swing depending on the posture at that time, the magnitude of acceleration, and the like. (4) When traveling on an undulating road As shown in FIG. 6, when the vehicle 30 travels on an undulating road, the vehicle 30 vibrates in all directions, up and down, left and right, and back and forth according to the undulation of the road. . The oscillating weight 14a swings back and forth along the traveling direction of the vehicle 30 due to vertical and forward and backward vibrations. The oscillating weight 14b swings left and right or back and forth along the horizontal direction due to left and right and back and forth vibrations.

When the oscillating weights 14a and 14b oscillate as shown in (1) to (4), the oscillating weight 14a
a, 14b is moved by the shafts 15a, 15b by the drive gear 1
The driving gears 16a, 16b are reciprocated. The rotation of the drive gears 16a, 16b is controlled by the first relay gears 17a, 17b, the second relay gears 18a, 18b,.
.. and transmitted by a number of relay gears to form the magnetic rotor 20
a, 20b are rotated. A large number of relay gears are arranged between the drive gears 16a, 16b and the magnetic rotors 20a, 20b, and each relay gear has a smaller number of teeth in sequence, so that the magnetic rotors 20a, 20b have drive gears 16a, 1b.
The motor rotates at a rotation speed (for example, about tens to hundreds of times) extremely higher than the rotation speed of the rotary weight 6b (the speed of the swing displacement of the rotary weights 14a and 14b).

Due to the high speed rotation of the magnetic rotors 20a and 20b, the density of the lines of magnetic force passing through the coils 21a and 21b changes at a high speed, and a current flows through the coils 21a and 21b (voltage is generated). The current and voltage generated in the coils 21a and 21b are rectified by the rectifier circuit 24,
Is stored in The stored electric power is supplied to a load (electric device, for example, a vehicle-mounted device for ETC) connected to the charging unit 26.

The on-vehicle power generator 10 includes rotary weights 14a, 14b that swing or rotate due to the vibration of the vehicle 30.
And power generating mechanisms 12a and 12b for converting the movements of the rotary weights 14a and 14b into electric energy.
When the vehicle 30 is operated, it is possible to generate power using the generated vibration as an energy source. This on-vehicle power generator 10 is
If it is used as a power supply for an electric device mounted on a vehicle, for example, a vehicle-mounted device for ETC, it is possible to avoid all the problems derived when a battery is used as a power supply.

The magnetic rotors 20a, 2
0b and the coils 21a and 21b are not special technologies, so there is no difficulty in manufacturing or the like. In addition, the rotating weights 14a, 1
4b is increased by the drive gears 16a, 16b and a large number of relay gears, and the magnetic rotors 20a, 2b
0b, the rotation speed of the magnetic rotors 20a, 20b driven by this can be extremely high, even if the rotation of the rotary weights 14a, 14b is slow, so that a large electromotive force can be obtained.

In addition, since the electricity generated by the coils 21a and 21b is rectified by the rectifier circuit 24 and stored in the charging unit 26, and power is supplied from the charging unit 26 to the electric equipment, even if the power generation amount changes. Stable power can be supplied. Also, efficiency is improved. Further, the shaft 15a of the rotating weight 14a is aligned with the shaft 15a of the rotating weight 14b in the left-right direction of the vehicle 30.
Are arranged along the vertical direction of the vehicle 30,
a, the vibration in the front-rear direction and the vertical direction is captured,
4b captures vibrations in the front-rear direction and left-right direction, and can efficiently utilize the vibrations in each direction. (Modification) In the above embodiment, the rotary weights 14a, 14b
Shafts 15a, 15b can be bimorphs.
Since the bimorph is deformed by the movement of the rotary weights 14a and 14b, power can be obtained by the piezoelectric effect of the bimorph. Since electric power can be obtained also by deformation of the shafts of the rotary weights 14a and 14b, power generation efficiency is improved.

The embodiments of the present invention have been described with reference to the embodiments. However, the present invention is not limited to such embodiments, and it can be variously implemented without departing from the gist of the present invention. Needless to say. For example, in the embodiment, the rotary weights 14a and 14b (rotating bodies) are formed in a semicircular shape. I do not care.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of a power generation mechanism of a vehicle-mounted power generation device according to an embodiment.

2A and 2B are explanatory diagrams of an example of the arrangement of a oscillating weight in a vehicle-mounted power generator according to an embodiment; FIG. 2A is a top view and FIG.
Is a right side view.

3A and 3B are explanatory diagrams of the motion of a rotary weight during acceleration of a vehicle. FIG. 3A is a diagram in which the direction of inertial force is compared with the motion of a rotary weight, and FIG. FIG. 5 is a diagram comparing the resultant force of the above with the movement of the rotary weight.

4A and 4B are explanatory diagrams of the motion of the rotary weight when the vehicle is decelerated, where FIG. 4A is a diagram in which the direction of the inertial force is compared with the motion of the rotary weight, and FIG. FIG. 5 is a diagram comparing the resultant force of the above with the movement of the rotary weight.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of a motion of a rotary weight when the vehicle turns.

6 (a) and 6 (b) are explanatory views of the movement of the oscillating weight when the vehicle travels on an undulating road, wherein FIG. 6 (a) is a diagram comparing the undulation and the movement of the oscillating weight, and FIG. FIG. 5 is a diagram in which the vibration of the oscillating weight and the movement of the rotary weight are compared.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... In-vehicle power generator 12a, 12b ... Power generating mechanism 14a, 14b ... Rotating weight (rotating body) 15a, 15b ... Shaft 16a, 16b ... Drive gear (speed increasing means) 17a, 17b ... 1st relay gear (speed increasing means) 18a, 18b: second relay gear (speed increasing means) 20a, 20b: magnetic rotor (power generating means, permanent magnet body) 21a, 21b: coil (power generating means) 24: rectifying circuit 26: charging section (charging means) 30 …vehicle

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. An on-vehicle power generation device comprising: a rotating body that swings or rotates due to vibration of a vehicle; and a power generation unit that converts a motion of the rotating body into electric energy. 2. The on-vehicle power generation device according to claim 1, wherein the power generation means includes a permanent magnet body and a coil disposed adjacent to the permanent magnet body, wherein the permanent magnet body or the coil is connected to the winding. An in-vehicle power generation device, which is driven to rotate by a moving body. 3. The on-vehicle power generating device according to claim 2, further comprising a speed increasing means for increasing a swinging or rotating speed of the rotating body and transmitting the rotating or rotating speed to the permanent magnet body or the coil. In-vehicle power generator. 4. The on-vehicle power generator according to claim 1, wherein the power generating means is a bimorph that is given a deforming force by the swinging or rotating of the rotating body. 5. The on-vehicle power generator according to claim 1, further comprising a charging unit for storing the electricity generated by the power generation unit. 6. The on-vehicle power generator according to claim 1, wherein the swinging or rotating core is arranged along the left-right direction of the vehicle, and the swinging or rotating core is mounted on the vehicle. An on-vehicle power generator, comprising: the rotating body arranged vertically.