US2015320137A1PendingUtilityA1
Footwear energy harvesting apparatus and method
Est. expiryMay 9, 2034(~7.8 yrs left)· nominal 20-yr term from priority
A43B 3/0015A43B 13/203A43B 3/42A43B 3/38
36
PatentIndex Score
0
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0
Claims
Abstract
An energy harvesting system for footwear is described having a sole, heel and an upper and comprising a first gaseous bellows pump formed at the sole of the footwear with the bellows hinged forward of the sole; a second gaseous bellows pump formed at the heel of the footwear with the bellows hinged forward of the heel. A gas reservoir is mounted to the upper of the footwear in fluid communication with first and second gaseous pumps downstream of the pumps and adapted to receive the gaseous medium exiting under pressure from the pumps. An axial turbine has an output shaft mounted on the footwear upper downstream of the reservoir and adapted to receive pressurized gas from the reservoir when a predetermined pressure threshold is attained in the reservoir so as to activate the axial turbine; and an electrical generator mounted on the upper, downstream of the axial turbine and engaged with the turbine output shaft which can be engaged only when a predetermined shaft velocity threshold has been attained.
Claims
exact text as granted — not AI-modified1 . A footwear energy harvesting system comprising a first gaseous pump formed at the sole of the footwear; a second gaseous pump formed at the heel of the footwear; a reservoir mounted to the upper of footwear in fluid communication with and downstream of the first and second pumps and adapted to receive pressurized gas exiting from the pumps; a turbine having an output shaft, mounted on the footwear upper, in fluid communication with and downstream of the reservoir; the turbine including an inlet port section for receiving the pressurized gas from the reservoir, when a predetermined pressure threshold is attained, so as to activate the turbine; and an electrical generator mounted on the upper, downstream of the turbine and disengageably connected with the turbine output shaft so that the generator is engaged by the shaft when a predetermined shaft velocity threshold has been attained whereby electricity may be generated in order to energize or be stored by a device worn by the bearer of the footwear.
2 . The footwear energy harvesting system as defined in claim 1 wherein the pressurized gas from the first pump is communicated to the second pump to pre-pressurize the gas to the second pump and the second pump communicates the pressurized gas to the reservoir.
3 . The footwear energy harvesting system as defined in claim 3 wherein the first gaseous pump formed at the sole of the footwear includes an outersole hinged to the forward part of the sole and includes an impermeable bellows wall defining a first pump chamber, and an inlet one-way valve for allowing air into the first pump chamber; and, the second gaseous pump includes a heel potion hinged to the forward part of the heel and includes an impermeable bellows wall defining a second pump chamber, and an inlet one-way valve for allowing air into the second pump chamber.
4 . The footwear energy harvesting system as defined in claim 1 wherein a one way valve is provided in a gas conduit providing fluid communication between the reservoir and the turbine inlet port section, the valve is controlled by a pressure regulator to open and close the valve to control the debit of pressurized gas to the turbine.
5 . The footwear energy harvesting system as defined in claim 4 wherein the predetermined pressurized gas threshold is 30 psi (207 kPa).
6 . The footwear energy harvesting system as defined in claim 5 wherein the predetermined pressurized gas threshold is 40 psi (276) kPa).
7 . The footwear energy harvesting system as defined in claim 1 wherein a rotary speed detector is provided to determine the speed of the turbine output shaft; the speed detector is in communication with an on/off switch means to engage or disengage the generator from the output shaft whereby the generator is engaged only when the output shaft speed is above a predetermined speed threshold.
8 . The footwear energy harvesting system as defined in claim 7 wherein the output shaft speed threshold is 90,000 rpm.
9 . The footwear energy harvesting system as defined in claim 1 wherein the turbine is a minituarised, multistage axial turbine with concentric rotor and stator.
10 . The footwear energy harvesting system as defined in claim 9 wherein the turbine inlet port section includes a diffuser and the rotor includes an input shaft coaxial with the output shaft.
11 . The footwear energy harvesting system as defined in claim 10 wherein the turbine includes eight stages.
12 . The footwear energy harvesting system as defined in claim 11 wherein the turbine includes a casing with dimensions compatible with being mounted on the upper of a boot.
13 . The footwear energy harvesting system as defined in claim 12 wherein the dimensions of the turbine casing that includes an axial length of 51 mm and a diameter of 10 mm.
14 . The footwear energy harvesting system as defined in claim 4 wherein the gas is air and first and second bellows pumps have respective air inlets with one way valves.
15 . The footwear energy harvesting system as defined in claim 14 wherein the first bellows pump has an outsole that is hinged to the toe portion of the sole and the outsole has an area of approximately 10 in 2 (65 cm 2 ) and a person of 180 lbs (82 kg) can compress the air to an exit pressure of 10-13 psi (69 kPa-90 kPa).
16 . The footwear energy harvesting system as defined in claim 15 wherein the pre-pressurized air from the first bellows pump enters the second bellows pump and is compressed to 25-30 psi (172 kPa-207 kPa) upon a person shifting its weight to the heel.
17 . The footwear energy harvesting system as defined in claim 1 wherein the reservoir has a volume capacity of 12 in 3 (197 cm 3 ).
18 . A multistage, axial turbine for converting energy from a pressurized gas to mechanical energy; the turbine including a casing having an inlet and an outlet at axially aligned opposite ends of the casing, the casing housing a cylindrical hollow stator and an elongated rotor concentric with the stator; the rotor including a plurality of stages of radially extending rotor blades spaced circumferentially in each stage; the stator provided with rows of radially extending stator vanes circumferentially spaced apart in each row and the rows provided inter-stage of the rotor blade stages; the casing including a diffuser at the inlet provided to receive the pressurized gas and to direct it to the rotor and stator; the casing provided with bearings at the inlet and the outlet and the rotor having an upstream shaft and an output shaft coaxial with the upstream shaft and the shafts rotating freely while supported in the respective bearings.
19 . The multistage, axial turbine as defined in claim 18 wherein the turbine is miniaturized for use within a footwear energy harvesting system.
20 . The miniaturized, multistage, axial turbine as defined in claim 19 wherein the rotor has 8 stages.
21 . The axial turbine as defined in claim 19 where the angle of the leading edge of each stator vane is set at 0° to the axis and the trailing edge is defined by:
α
1
=
tan
-
1
(
V
θ
1
U
a
)
.
22 . The axial turbine as defined in claim 21 wherein the angle of attack of the rotor blade at the leading edge and the trailing edge are respectively defined by:
β
1
=
tan
-
1
(
V
θ
1
-
U
t
U
a
)
and
β
2
=
tan
-
1
(
U
t
U
a
)
23 . The axial turbine as defined in claim 22 wherein α 1 =86° and β 2 =35°.
24 . The axial turbine as defined in claim 22 wherein the turbine has eight stages and the height of the rotor blades increase from 0.692 mm at the upstream stage and 1.004 mm at the downstream 8 th stage.
25 . A method of harvesting energy from footwear comprising the steps of compressing a gas in a chamber at the sole of the footwear; transferring the compressed gas to a second chamber at the heel of the footwear; further compressing the gas in the second chamber; transferring the compressed gas from the second chamber to a reservoir; repeating the compression steps until the pressure in the reservoir has reached a threshold level; once the pressure level in the reservoir has reached the threshold level, passing the pressurized gas through a turbine to convert the energy from the pressurized gas to mechanical energy by rotating the turbine rotor and dependent shaft to reach a speed threshold; once the speed threshold of the shaft has been reached, engaging the shaft with an electric generator; storing the electricity and/or driving a device carried by the bearer of the footwear.
26 . The method as defined in claim 25 wherein the pressure threshold is 40 psi.
27 . The method as defined in claim 25 wherein the speed threshold is 90,000 psi.
28 . The method as defined in claim 25 wherein the turbine is an axial turbine and the pressurized gas is fed through the inlet of the axial turbine to rotate an elongated rotor that is concentric with a cylindrical stator causing the rotor to rotate at speeds exceeding 100,000 rpm.
29 . The method as defined in claim 28 wherein the gas is air.Join the waitlist — get patent alerts
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