ENERGY-HARVESTING CONVEYOR BELTS AND METHODS

• Main Author: DEPASO, Joseph M
• Format: Patent
• Language: English; French; German
• Published: 06.09.2017
• Subjects: AFTER-TREATMENT OF THE SHAPED PRODUCTS, e.g. REPAIRING; ARRANGEMENTS FOR MEASURING TWO OR MORE VARIABLES NOT COVEREDIN A SINGLE OTHER SUBCLASS; CONVERSION OR DISTRIBUTION OF ELECTRIC POWER; CONVEYING; ELECTRIC MACHINES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; ELECTRICITY; GENERATION; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL; INDEXING SCHEME ASSOCIATED WITH SUBCLASS B29C, RELATING TO PARTICULARARTICLES; INDEXING SCHEME ASSOCIATED WITH SUBCLASSES B29B, B29C OR B29D, RELATING TO MOULDING MATERIALS; MEASURING; MEASURING NOT SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR A SPECIFIC VARIABLE; MEASURING OR TESTING NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; PACKING; PERFORMING OPERATIONS; PHYSICS; PNEUMATIC TUBE CONVEYORS; PRODUCING PARTICULAR ARTICLES FROM PLASTICS OR FROM SUBSTANCESIN A PLASTIC STATE; SHAPING OF MATERIAL IN A PLASTIC STATE, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDEDFOR; SHAPING OR JOINING OF PLASTICS; SHOP CONVEYOR SYSTEMS; STORING; TARIFF METERING APPARATUS; TESTING; TRANSPORT OR STORAGE DEVICES, e.g. CONVEYORS FOR LOADING ORTIPPING; TRANSPORTING; WORKING OF PLASTICS; WORKING OF SUBSTANCES IN A PLASTIC STATE, IN GENERAL

Energy-harvesting and -storage devices in conveyor belts and methods for molding those devices integrally into modular belt links and for enhancing energy harvesting through resonance tuning. Piezoelectric materials, electro-active polymers, thermoelectric generators, RF receivers, photovoltaic devices, linear induction generators, and inductive transformer coupling are used to harvest energy to power belt on-board devices.