KR20160067452A

KR20160067452A - Energy harvester

Info

Publication number: KR20160067452A
Application number: KR1020140172869A
Authority: KR
Inventors: 김동성; 최동휘; 이상민; 박상민; 황운봉; 조한동
Original assignee: 포항공과대학교 산학협력단
Priority date: 2014-12-04
Filing date: 2014-12-04
Publication date: 2016-06-14

Abstract

An energy harvesting apparatus is disclosed. An energy harvesting apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a polar fluid including molecules having an electrode dipole nature, a fluid reservoir for storing the polar fluid, a first conductive conduit communicating with the fluid reservoir, An insulation layer coated on an inner wall of the conduit and an electrical connection line connecting the fluid conduit and the first conductive conduit.

Description

[0001] ENERGY HARVESTER [0002]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an energy harvesting apparatus, and more particularly, to an energy harvesting apparatus that separates a surface charge formed by a solid-fluid contact and uses the energy as electric energy.

In general, when a liquid comes into contact with a solid surface, a surface charging phenomenon occurs naturally. As a result, the solid surface becomes a specific charge and the liquid portion in contact with the solid surface also has opposite charge.

The surface charge generated at this time determines the quantity and sign of the charge according to the characteristics of each of the liquid and the solid, and the amount of charge is determined with respect to the order existing in the commonly known charge column.

After the charge is generated, separating the liquid from the solid surface causes the surface charge to remain on the solid surface and the liquid to move with the opposite charge, resulting in the charge separation phenomenon.

By the charge separation phenomenon, the solid surface and the liquid naturally have a difference in electric potential energy, that is, a potential difference, and electric energy can be generated and used by decorating an electric circuit by connecting a liquid having a potential difference with a solid surface.

The present invention is based on the technical background as described above. In the present invention, electric charges that are charged when a liquid and a solid contact each other are separated through an external fluid flow, and an electric energy To provide a device for harvesting.

An energy harvesting apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a polar fluid including molecules having an electrode dipole nature, a fluid reservoir for storing the polar fluid, a first conductive conduit communicating with the fluid reservoir, An insulation layer coated on the inner wall of the conduit and an electrical conductor connecting the fluid conduit and the first conductive conduit.

The apparatus may further include a fluid driver for generating a fluid flow between the first conductive conduit and the fluid reservoir.

Also, a fluid drive may be connected to the first conductive conduit or the fluid reservoir.

Further, the fluid driving portion may be a manual pump.

Further, the polar fluid may be any one of water, electrolytic solution, ethanol, or acetone.

The fluid reservoir may also be a second conductive conduit in the form of a first conductive conduit.

Also, the material of the first conductive conduit may be any one of aluminum, copper, iron, lead, zinc, tin, silver, and gold.

In addition, the material of the insulating layer can be made of any one of polymeric materials, silk, wool, paper, cotton or rubber.

The coating thickness of the insulating layer may be more than 0 mm and not more than 1 mm.

Further, an electric device may be provided in the lead wire.

Embodiments of the present invention can generate electrical energy by forming a flow of charge by inducing the separation of the surface charge generated by contacting the inner wall of the first conductive conduit with an insulating material and a fluid in contact with the insulating material.

1 is a plan view showing an energy harvesting apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention.
2 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the energy harvesting apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
3 is a plan view showing an energy harvesting apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention.
4 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the energy harvesting apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention.
5 is a conceptual diagram showing an electric apparatus connected to an energy harvesting apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. The present invention may be embodied in many different forms and is not limited to the embodiments described herein.

In order to clearly illustrate the present invention, parts not related to the description are omitted, and the same or similar components are denoted by the same reference numerals throughout the specification.

In addition, since the sizes and thicknesses of the respective components shown in the drawings are arbitrarily shown for convenience of explanation, the present invention is not necessarily limited to those shown in the drawings.

In addition, throughout the specification, when a component includes a component, it means that the component may include other components, not excluding other components, unless specifically stated otherwise.

1 is a plan view showing an energy harvesting apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, a fluid storage unit 30 for storing a polar fluid 50 including a molecule having electric dipole properties is provided. The fluid storage unit 30 is connected to an insulation material A first conductive conduit 10 having a layer 40 is connected to the fluid reservoir 30 by a lead 60 to form the device.

Here, the reason why the polar fluid 50 including the molecules having the electrode dipole property is used is that it is known that the charge is generated well when the polar fluid and the insulating material are in contact with each other. The polar fluid 50 may be any one of water, electrolytic solution, ethanol, or acetone.

The fluid reservoir 30 for storing the polar fluid 50 is provided, and the shape and the material of the fluid reservoir 30 are not limited. However, the fluid reservoir 30 can make a flow of charge through the conductive line 60 between the electrically conductive and electrically isolated fluid and the first conductive conduit 10.

The first conductive conduit 10 communicating with the fluid storage portion 30 is in the form of a pipe, and the cross-sectional shape of the pipe is not limited. However, a circular pipe is generally used. Also, the first conductive conduit 10 has conductivity when a potential difference is generated and current flows between the first conductive conduit 10 and the fluid storing portion 30 when the conductor is connected. The first conductive conduit 10 may be made of a variety of metallic materials having high conductivity. More specifically, the material of the first conductive conduit 10 may be made of aluminum, copper, iron, lead, zinc, tin, silver or gold. Also, the first conductive conduit 10 does not necessarily have to be immediately and a bent shape is also possible.

The insulating material of the insulating layer 40 coated with the insulating material on the inner wall of the first conductive conduit 10 may be made of a polymer material such as polyamide 11, polyamide 6-6, polymethylacrylate (PMMA), polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) (PTFE), polypropylene (PP), polyimide (Kapton), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and polytetrafluoroethylene (Teflon) A wool, a paper, a cotton, a rubber, or the like. Here, the insulating material functions as a dielectric and acts to generate charges on the surface when it comes into contact with the fluid. The capacitance varies depending on the thickness and the material of the insulating layer 40. Therefore, it is possible to modify the material and the thickness of the insulating layer 40 according to the needs and requirements of the user, and thus it can be used in various fields. The thickness of the insulating layer 40 is preferably within 1 mm.

The charged fluid storage portion 30 and the first conductive conduit 10 serve as an electrode of electricity and connect the conductive wire 60 to generate a current flow. The conductor 60 may be any material that allows current to flow therethrough.

2 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the energy harvesting apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

The operation will be described with reference to FIG.

The fluid reservoir 30 can be replaced by a second conductive conduit 20 in the form of a first conductive conduit.

The first conductive conduit 10 and the second conductive conduit 20 are completely sealed after filling the second conductive conduit 20 with the polar fluid 50 as in step 1. The materials of the first conductive conduit 10 and the second conductive conduit 20 may be the same. In addition, the second conductive conduit 20 may be formed in the shape of the first conductive conduit 10.

When the device is buckled as in step 2, the polar fluid 50 is moved by gravity to the first conductive conduit 10, which includes the insulating layer 40 coated with an insulating material on the inner wall, A positive charge is induced in the polar fluid 50, and a negative charge, which is an opposite charge, is induced in the insulating layer 40.

If the device is re-clamped with charge as in step 3, the positive charge induced in the polar fluid 50 due to gravity will move to the second conductive conduit 20 with the polar fluid 50, A negative charge of the insulating layer 40 of the first conductive conduit 10 and a positive charge of the second conductive conduit 20 are separated. The separated positive and negative charges form a potential difference between the two, and electrons move through the lead 60 to eliminate the potential difference and screen each one. Here, screening refers to canceling the potential difference generated by moving the negative charge (electron) through the conductor.

That is, only the electrons of the first conductive conduit 10 move to the second conductive conduit 20 through the lead 60 to screen the separated positive charges present in the second conductive conduit 20, The positive charge of the conduit 20 screens the negative charge of the insulating layer 40 of the first conductive conduit 10 to balance the electrical potential and offset the potential difference.

At this time, since electrons move as in step 4, a current flows through the conductive line 60.

The distance between the insulating layer 40 of the first conductive conduit 10 and the polar fluid 50 is less than the distance between the insulating layer 40 and the outer wall of the conduit (not shown) The polarity fluid containing the positive charge moves to the second conductive conduit 20 and the positive charge on the outer wall side that was led through step 4 pulls the electrons through the lead 60 and recombines with the electrons.

When the electric device is connected to the conductive line 60, the electric device can be driven using the current flowing through the conductive line 60. More specifically, the LEDs may be connected to the conductive line 60 to be transformed into light energy. When a capacitor is connected, electric current may be stored by storing a current flowing through the conductive line 60.

3 is a plan view showing an energy harvesting apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 3, the energy harvesting apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention includes a first conductive conduit 10 or a polar fluid (not shown) in the energy storage device 30 according to the first embodiment of the present invention. 50 to generate a flow of the fluid.

More specifically, the fluid drive 70 may be connected to the first conductive conduit 10 or the fluid reservoir 30. Further, the fluid driving portion 70 may be a manual pump.

Further, an automatic pump may be used as the fluid driving part 70. [ The manual pump may include a generally used syringe (handy pump) or the like.

4 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the energy harvesting apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

The operation process will be described with reference to FIG.

The fluid conduction part 70 is connected to the first conductive conduit 10 including the insulating layer 40 whose inner wall is coated with an insulating material as in step 1 and the first conductive conduit 10 is connected to the polar fluid 50, And is electrically connected to the fluid storage portion 30 in which a circuit is formed.

If the polarized fluid 50 is sucked into the first conductive conduit 10 using the fluid driving part 70 as in step 2, the polarized fluid 50 contacts the insulating layer 40 and the polarized fluid 50 And a negative charge is induced in the insulating layer 40. In this case,

When discharging the polarity fluid 50 through the fluid drive 70 as in step 3, the positive charges induced in the polarity fluid 50 are discharged together so that the insulation layer 40 inside the first conductive conduit 10 ) Portion and the positive charge of the polar fluid 50 portion are separated. The separated positive and negative charges form a potential difference between them, and the positive and negative charges move through the conductor 60 to eliminate the potential difference, thereby screening each of them.

That is, only electrons of the first conductive conduit 10 through the conductor 60 move to the fluid reservoir 30 to screen the separated positive charges present in the fluid reservoir 30, The positive charge on the side of the insulating layer 10 is screened for the negative charge of the portion of the insulating layer 40 to balance the electric potential by offsetting the electric potential difference.

If the polar fluid 50 is sucked in again as in step 5, since the distance between the insulating layer 40 and the polar fluid 50 is much closer than the distance between the insulating layer 40 and the first conductive conduit 10, And the positive charge on the first conductive conduit 10, which was derived through step 4, attracts electrons through the lead 60 and recombines with the electrons. At this time, since the movement of electrons occurs as in step 6, the current flows in the direction opposite to that in step 4 through the conductor 60.

5 is a conceptual diagram showing an electric apparatus connected to an energy harvesting apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 5, when the electric device 80, that is, the LED, is connected to the lead 60, the LED is turned on according to the current flow. The energy can be harvested and converted into electric energy.

While the invention has been shown and described with reference to certain preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the following claims. Those who are engaged in the technology field will understand easily.

10: first conductive conduit
20: second conductive conduit
30: Fluid bed
40: Insulating layer
50: fluid
60: lead
70:
80: Electric device

Claims

A polar fluid comprising molecules having electrode dipole properties;
A fluid storage portion for storing the polarity fluid;
A first conductive conduit in communication with the fluid reservoir;
An insulating layer coated on an inner wall of the first conductive conduit; And
A wire connecting the fluid storage and the first conductive conduit;
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The method according to claim 1,
Further comprising a fluid drive for generating a flow of the polar fluid between the first conductive conduit and the fluid reservoir.

3. The method of claim 2,
Wherein the fluid drive is connected to the first conductive conduit or the fluid reservoir.

3. The method of claim 2,
Wherein the fluid drive is a manual pump.

The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the polarity fluid is any one of water, an electrolyte solution, ethanol, and acetone.

The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the fluid reservoir is a second conductive conduit in the shape of the first conductive conduit.

The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the material of the first conductive conduit is made of any one of aluminum, copper, iron, lead, zinc, tin, silver, and gold.

The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the material of the insulating layer comprises one of polymeric materials, silk, wool, paper, cotton or rubber.

The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the coating thickness of the insulating layer is greater than 0 mm and less than or equal to 1 mm.

The method according to claim 1,
And an electric device is further provided in the lead wire.