Energy harvesting timer

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10250062-B2
Application number	US-201414489490-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 18, 2014
Priority date	Sep 18, 2014
Publication date	Apr 2, 2019
Grant date	Apr 2, 2019

Abstract

An energy harvesting timer includes a wireless charging module, a plurality of hands, and a driving module. The hands are connected to the wireless charging module. At least one of the hands serves as a receiving antenna of the wireless charging module. The driving module is connected to the wireless charging module and the hands, receiving energy from the wireless charging module to actuate the hands.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An energy harvesting timer, comprising:
a wireless charging module configured to process a radio frequency existing in environment;
a wireless communication module connected to the wireless charging module, wherein the wireless charging module provides energy to the wireless communication module;
a plurality of hands selectively coupled to the wireless charging module or the wireless communication module, wherein while at least one of the hands is coupled to the wireless communication module to be a transmitting antenna to perform a wireless communication function, the other hands are still coupled to the wireless charging module to be receiving antennas to perform wireless charging function, wherein a length of the receiving antenna is substantially the length of the hand; and
a driving module electrically connected to the wireless charging module and at least one of the hands, wherein the driving module receives energy from the wireless charging module to actuate at least one of the hands.

2. The energy harvesting timer of claim 1 , wherein the wireless charging module comprises:
a rectifier for converting electromagnetic waves received by the receiving antenna into a direct current;
a voltage converter for adjusting the voltage of the direct current;
an energy storage device; and
a power-management integrated circuit connected to the power storage device, the voltage converter, and the driving module for transmitting the direct current to the power storage device and transmitting the energy of the energy storage device to the driving module.

3. The energy harvesting timer of claim 1 , further comprising:
a switching module connected to the hands, the wireless communication module, and the wireless charging module, wherein the switching module is configured to selectively connect one of the hands to the wireless communication module, and disconnect the hand to the wireless charging module, the hand connected to the wireless communication module serves as the transmitting antenna of the wireless communication module.

4. The energy harvesting timer of claim 3 , wherein the wireless communication module comprises:
a wireless communication chip; and
a matching circuit connected to the wireless communication chip and the switching module for matching an impedance between the wireless communication chip and the transmitting antenna.

5. The energy harvesting timer of claim 1 , wherein the wireless communication module is a bluetooth module.

6. The energy harvesting timer of claim 1 , wherein the driving module is a mechanical gear set.

7. The energy harvesting timer of claim 1 , wherein the driving module comprises:
a quartz oscillator for providing a clock signal;
an integrated circuit connected to the quartz oscillator;
a stepper motor connected to the integrated circuit; and
a gear set connected to the hands and the stepper motor, wherein the integrated circuit actuates the stepper motor according to the clock signal, such that the stepper motor rotates the gear set.

8. The energy harvesting timer of claim 1 , wherein the hands have different lengths.

9. The energy harvesting timer of claim 1 , wherein the timer is a watch or a clock.

10. An energy harvesting timer, comprising:
a wireless charging module configured to process at least a first radio frequency and a second radio frequency existing in environment to generate an energy;
a first hand and a second hand electrically connected to the wireless charging module, wherein the first hand serves as a first receiving antenna of the wireless charging module, the second hand serves as a second receiving antenna of the wireless charging module, the first hand has a length that results in the first hand coupling with the first radio frequency, the second hand has a length that results in the second hand coupling with the second radio frequency, and the length of the first hand and the first radio frequency are different respectively from the length of the second hand and the second radio frequency;
a driving module electrically connected to the wireless charging module and the hands, wherein the driving module receives the energy from the wireless charging module to actuate at least one of the hands;
a wireless communication module electrically connected to the wireless charging module, wherein the wireless charging module provides the energy also to the wireless communication module; and
a switching module electrically coupled to the hands, the wireless communication module, and the wireless charging module, wherein the switching module is configured to selectively electrically disconnect the first hand from the wireless charging module and electrically connect the first hand to the wireless communication module, wherein while the first hand electrically connected to the wireless communication module serves as a transmitting antenna of the wireless communication module, and the second hand still electrically connected to the wireless charging module serves as the second receiving antenna of the wireless charging module.

Assignees

• Htc Corp

Inventors

• Chen Chien-Chih
• Kuo Yen-Liang
• Ho Chien-Ting

Classifications

• H02J50/001

  Energy harvesting or scavenging · CPC title

• G04R60/14

  specific to electromechanical timepieces, e.g. moving parts thereof · CPC title

• H02J50/10

  using inductive coupling · CPC title

• G04C10/00 Primary

  Arrangements of electric power supplies in time-pieces {(Mounting, assembling of components G04C3/008)} · CPC title

• H02J7/025 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic