A Piezoelectric-triboelectric Heel Charger for Power-on-the-go

Background

Running out of battery power often results in life-threatening situations, whereas backup batteries are large, heavy and hazardous. In efforts to treat this unreliable aspect, proposed is an energy harvester. This is a clean alternative solution to such problems, with the ability to power electronics on the go.

Technology

This invention entails a high power density heel charger, providing a USB port or datable rechargeable battery. The high-power density charger consists of a mechanical part and an electrical part. Current implementations consist of a heel charger that turns the shoe into a charging station. This uses a levered piezoelectric-triboelectric multimodal mechanism, a mechanical synchronized switch and a harvesting inductor conditioning circuit. The shoe has barely noticeable weight, expecting to provide electrical energy equivalent to 6 minutes of continuous phone call with just 1 hour of walking.

Advantages

Amplifying the displacement of footsteps by the lever mechanism to achieve higher efficiency.

Application

The ability to target large markets such as mobile energy harvesting, remote sensing, hikers and marine corps, etc.

Patent Status

Patent Application Published: US-2020-0177105-A1

Stage Of Development

Working prototype available for demonstration.

Licensing Potential

Development partner - Commercial partner - Licensing

Licensing Status

Additional Info

Additional Information:

https://stonybrook.technologypublisher.com/files/sites/050-8916---a-piezoelectric-triboelectric-heel-charger-for-power-on-the-go.jpg Please note, header image is purely illustrative. Source: Frank Busch, unsplash.com/photos/9UUdERAEghM, Unsplash Licence