Power self-identifying energy harvesters

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10224743-B2
Application number	US-201414551459-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 24, 2014
Priority date	Nov 24, 2014
Publication date	Mar 5, 2019
Grant date	Mar 5, 2019

Abstract

Systems and methods may provide for an energy harvester to power a mobile device. The energy harvester may include an energy harvesting portion to generate electrical power. At least one sensor may measure an environmental condition relating to generation of electrical power by the energy harvesting portion. A controller may generate a signal based on the measured environmental condition by the at least one sensor to the mobile device. Alternatively the signals from the at least one sensor are place in a memory on the energy harvester. In one example, the controller determines the power generated by the energy harvester and the controller signal includes this power information.

First claim

We claim:

1. An energy harvester to power a mobile device comprising:
an energy harvesting portion to generate electrical power;
at least one sensor to measure an environmental condition relating to the generation of the electrical power by the energy harvesting portion;
a switch positioned between the energy harvesting portion and a power output of the energy harvester to permit or block a power flow of the electrical power from the energy harvesting portion to the mobile device; and
a controller to:
generate a signal based on the measured environmental condition by the at least one sensor,
adjust a first threshold, that is a minimum power to avoid power cycling in the mobile device during powering of the mobile device, based upon power requirements of the mobile device,
determine a value, that is an estimation of power that is to be generated by the energy harvesting portion, from the measured environmental condition,
identify a change in the measured environmental condition, and
control the switch to permit the power flow to power the mobile device with the generated electrical power only when:
the controller determines that the energy harvesting portion can generate sufficient power to meet the power requirements to avoid the power cycling in the mobile device by comparing the first threshold to the value, and
the controller determines that the change is below a second threshold.

2. The energy harvester according to claim 1 , wherein the energy harvesting portion is a photovoltaic energy harvesting portion.

3. The energy harvester according to claim 2 , wherein the at least one sensor is a light sensor and the measured environmental condition is incident radiation.

4. The energy harvester according to claim 2 , wherein the at least one sensor is a thermal sensor and the measured environmental condition is temperature.

5. The energy harvester according to claim 1 , wherein the energy harvesting portion is a piezoelectric energy harvesting portion.

6. The energy harvester according to claim 5 , wherein the at least one sensor is a vibration sensor.

7. The energy harvester according to claim 1 , wherein the controller further comprises a receiver to receive a signal relating to the power requirements of the mobile device.

8. The energy harvester according to claim 1 , wherein the controller is to deactivate the switch to block the power flow when the controller determines that the energy harvesting portion cannot generate sufficient power to meet the power requirements of the mobile device by comparing the first threshold to the value or determining that the change is above the second threshold.

9. The energy harvester according to claim 1 , wherein the signal and the generated electrical power are to be supplied to the mobile device on a same physical medium.

10. The energy harvester according to claim 1 , wherein the signal and the generated electrical power are to be supplied to the mobile device on different physical media.

11. The energy harvester according to claim 1 , further comprising one or more connectors to couple additional energy harvesting portions to the energy harvester.

12. A method of supplying electrical power generated by an energy harvester to a mobile device comprising:
generating the electrical power by an energy harvesting portion of the energy harvester;
measuring one or more environmental conditions relating to the generation of the electrical power;
generating signals based on the measured one or more environmental conditions and outputting the signals to the mobile device, or storing the measured one or more environmental conditions in a memory;
adjusting a first threshold, that is a minimum power to avoid power cycling in the mobile device during powering of the mobile device, based upon power requirements of the mobile device;
determining a value, that is an estimation of power that is to be generated by the energy harvesting portion, from the measured one or more environmental conditions;
determining whether the energy harvesting portion can generate sufficient power to meet the power requirements to avoid the power cycling in the mobile device by comparing the value to the first threshold;
identifying a change in the one or more measured environmental conditions;
supplying the electrical power generated by the energy harvesting portion to the mobile device to power the mobile device only when:
it is determined that the energy harvesting portion can generate sufficient power to avoid the power cycling, and
it is determined that the change is below a second threshold.

13. The method according to claim 12 , wherein the energy harvesting portion is a photovoltaic or piezoelectric energy harvesting portion.

14. The method according to claim 12 , wherein the energy harvesting portion is a photovoltaic energy harvesting portion and the one or more measured environmental conditions are at least one of incident radiation or temperature.

15. A system comprising:
a mobile device including one or more of a processor, a memory device, or a display;
an energy harvester coupled to the mobile device to generate and supply electrical power to the mobile device, the energy harvester comprising:
an energy harvesting portion to generate the electrical power;
at least one sensor to measure an environmental condition relating to the generation of the electrical power by the energy harvesting portion;
a switch positioned between the energy harvesting portion and a power output of the energy harvester to permit or block a power flow of the electrical power from the energy harvesting portion to the mobile device; and
a controller including:
a signal generator to generate a signal based on the measured environmental condition that is to be provided to the mobile device, or
a memory to store the measured environmental condition,

wherein the controller is to:
adjust a first threshold, that is a minimum power to avoid power cycling in the mobile device during powering of the mobile device, based upon power requirements of the mobile device,
determine a value, that is an estimation of power that is to be generated by the energy harvesting portion, from the measured environmental condition,
identify a change in the measured environmental condition,
control the switch to permit the power flow to power the mobile device with the generated electrical power only when:
the controller determines that the energy harvesting portion can generate sufficient power to meet the power requirements to avoid the power cycling in the mobile device by comparing the first threshold to the value, and
the controller determines that the change is below a second threshold.

16. The system according to claim 15 , wherein the energy harvesting portion is a photovoltaic energy harvesting portion and the at least one sensor is selected from a light sensor or a temperature sensor.

17. The system according to claim 15 , wherein the energy harvester further comprises a receiver to receive a signal relating to the power requirements of the mobile device.

18. The system according to claim 15 , wherein the controller is to control the switch to block the power flow to the mobile device when the controller determines that the energy harvesting portion cannot generate sufficient power to meet the power requirements of the mobile device by comparing the first threshold to the value or determining that the change is above the second threshold.

19. The system according to claim 15 , wherein the signal and the generated elec

Assignees

• Intel Corp

Inventors

• Huang Lilly
• Proefrock Wayne L
• Boyd Michael

Classifications

• H02J50/001

  Energy harvesting or scavenging · CPC title

• H01H3/00

  Mechanisms for operating contacts ({for tap changers H01H9/0027;} thermal actuating or release means H01H37/02) · CPC title

• H02J13/1323

  using optical fibres · CPC title

• H02J1/06 Primary

  Two-wire DC power distribution systems · CPC title

• H02J13/0003 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic