USA As Represented by Secretary of the Navy

Maxwell Mayekawa Kerber

Alex G Phipps

Paul David Swanson

Richard Lee Waters

Lewis Hsu

Brian B Dick

Randall B Olsen

Jia-Chi Samuel Chieh

Gregory Wayne Anderson

David Bart Chadwick

Mark Steven Fralick

Andrew Wang

Wayne P Liu

Anthony D Jones

Everly S Yeo

Jeffrey Kagan

Hugo F Jazo

Michael R Murphy

Raif Farkouh

Y Meriah Arias-Thode

Joseph F Schnecker, Jr

An electrical network including a power source, a flyback converter, a microcontroller, a PID controller, a voltage boost converter, a pulse width modulator integrated circuit, and a battery. The power source produces a charge with a voltage ranging from about 0.1V to about 0.8V and a power ranging from about 0.3 mW to about 100 mW. The flyback converter functions in discontinuous current mode. The microcontroller monitors the power source voltage, calculates a voltage response, and outputs a control signal for the voltage. The PID controller is a digital PID controller, an analog PID controller, or a combination thereof. The voltage boost converter utilizes the power source voltage and power to provide higher voltage power to the electrical network. The pulse width modulator integrated circuit sets a duty cycle and frequency for the flyback converter. The battery stores excess charge produced by the power source.

Electrical network with flyback energy harvesting device

A phased array antenna comprising: a substrate; a plurality of circular polarized wideband antenna elements disposed on the substrate, wherein each element comprises two orthogonal feeds; wherein the plurality of elements are organized into subarrays and physically oriented such that constituent elements of each subarray are sequentially rotated with respect to each other about respective axes that are perpendicular to a surface of the substrate so as to allow RHCP and LHCP transmission and reception; a phase shifter communicatively coupled to the feeds of all the elements and configured to electronically any dynamically compensate for phase regression or progression introduced by the sequential rotation of the elements without relying on physical transmission lines of different dimensions, and further configured to introduce a progressive phase shift across a beam steering plane to enable beam steering of the phased array antenna.

Circular polarized phased array with wideband axial ratio bandwidth using sequential rotation and dynamic phase recovery

A target spar. A left jaw member. The left guidance portion has a left spiral curve. The left arm portion has a left arm profile, a left arm gear, and a left arm protrusion. A right jaw member. The right guidance portion has a right spiral curve. The right arm portion comprises a right arm gear and a right arm protrusion. A top plate member. A bottom plate member. A drive unit comprising an electric motor within a pressure housing. A drive shaft on the electric motor. The bottom plate member abuts the left jaw member, the right jaw member, and the top plate member. The left jaw member and the right jaw member opened and closed. At the closed position, the target spar is slidably received in the left and right jaw members, the top and bottom plate members, and abuts the left and right arm profiles.

Spiral curve self-aligning docking device

A system comprising a series of at least two benthic microbial fuel cells (BMFC), wherein each BMFC comprises an anode electrically connected to a cathode, and wherein for each BMFC there is a first and second comparator configured to monitor BMFC voltage to determine if the voltage falls below one of two present thresholds. The output of the first comparator is electrically connected to the BMFC via a switch and the output of the second comparator is electrically connected to a pulse width monitor (PWM) block via a switch. A DC/DC converter is electrically coupled to each BMFC and configured to transfer energy stored in each BMFC to a battery, wherein the DC/DC converter is driven by the PWM block.

Method for self-assessing microbial fuel cell electronics for energy harvesting

An energy harvesting device includes a core portion, a first magnet, and a second magnet. The core portion has an electrical output and can move from a first disposition to a second disposition. The first magnet is disposed to provide first magnetic field lines therethrough in a first direction. The second magnet is disposed to provide second magnetic field lines therethrough in a second direction. The core portion, the first magnet and the second magnet are arranged such that externally applied vibrations in a third direction normal to the first direction cause the core portion to oscillate between the first disposition and the second disposition.

Low profile kinetic energy harvester

An oscillation apparatus comprising: a frame; a first proof mass coupled to the frame via a spring; a driving circuit operatively coupled to the first proof mass and the frame, wherein the driving circuit is configured to induce oscillatory motion of the first proof mass relative to the frame at a resonant frequency in a first direction; a first electron-tunneling position switch operatively coupled to the first proof mass such that the first position switch is configured to pass through a closed state during each oscillation of the proof mass, wherein the position switch comprises first and second single-atom-thick tunneling electrodes; and a sensing circuit coupled to the position switch, the sensing circuit configured to output a signal whenever the position switch passes through the closed state.

Oscillation apparatus with atomic-layer proximity switch

A rotational energy harvesting apparatus includes a rotor of magnets and a ring of linear-based kinetic energy harvesters. The rotor of magnets is fixed to a rotational source and is caused to sweep past the linear-based kinetic energy harvesters. The rotating magnets compel kinetic energy to be induced in the linear-based kinetic energy harvesters. The kinetic energy is converted into electrical energy.

Harvesting rotational energy using linear-based energy harvesters

Growing community of inventors

San Diego, CA, United States of America

Maxwell Mayekawa Kerber