Nokia Targets Mobile Kinetic Energy Charging 65
justice4all writes "Nokia has filed a US patent for a phone charger that harvests kinetic energy. The technology has been used in laptops, PDAs, and GPS receivers, according to Nokia. Essentially, the mobile devices would be powered in part through the movements of their owners."
Talk about a Euro-centric technology! (Score:5, Informative)
I'm aware that many Europeans and Asians would benefit from this technology, but American outside NYC will never get much current out. Any wonder Nokia dominates the European and Asian markets but preforms dismally over here?
Using the battery mass to advantage. (Score:4, Informative)
The independent claims in the application (20100045241 [uspto.gov], filed August 20, 2008) center on the use of the battery's mass to generate electricity via one or more piezoelectric elements. It's always nice to see a liability turned into an asset. While this is just an application, and the claims may differ substantially in the issued patent (should one issue at all), here is the first independent claim:
1. An apparatus comprising:
a device housing;
a holder configured to retain a battery;
a first piezoelectric element coupling the holder to the device housing and configured to receive, as a result of acceleration of the device housing and along a first axis, a first portion of a force of imposed by a mass of a battery retained in the holder;
a second piezoelectric element coupling the holder to the device housing and configured to receive, as a result of the device housing acceleration and along a second axis that is non-parallel to the first axis, a second portion of the force imposed by the mass of the battery retained in the holder; and
a controller configured to receive electrical energy output by the first and second piezoelectric elements in response to the first and second force portions and to make the received electrical energy available for at least one of:
satisfying at least part of an electrical load satisfiable by the battery retained in the holder, and
recharging the battery retained in the holder.
So it's key to (a) use the battery as the mass, and (b) generate electrical energy from two nonparallel piezoelectric elements. Note that nowhere does the claim mention a phone, just "a device," so this could have relatively wide applicability -- should it issue as written.
Seiko Watches (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Seiko Watches (Score:3, Informative)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_watch
:) although it's sans-battery