The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Sep. 21, 2010
Filed:
Jan. 24, 2007
Applicants:
Motoki Ujihara, Tokyo, JP;
Dong Gun Lee, Los Angeles, CA (US);
Gregory P. Carman, Los Angeles, CA (US);
Inventors:
Motoki Ujihara, Tokyo, JP;
Dong Gun Lee, Los Angeles, CA (US);
Gregory P. Carman, Los Angeles, CA (US);
Assignee:
The Regents of the University of California, Oakland, CA (US);
Attorneys:
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
H02N 10/00 (2006.01); H02N 1/00 (2006.01);
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
Abstract
An inventive energy harvesting apparatus may include a ferromagnetic material and/or a shape memory alloys to convert thermal energy to mechanical energy to electrical energy. The apparatus is subjected to a thermal gradient to cause beams to bend thus creating stress/strain in a piezoelectric material, or creating magnetic flux in a magnetic path. The charges created in this process can be transferred to electrical batteries.