Patent ID: 11888383
Assignee: INFINEON TECHNOLOGIES AG
Field: Electrical machinery, apparatus, energy (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC H | IPC H

Claim 8:
9. A method for operating an electromechanical lock, the method comprising:
collecting ambient energy using an energy harvesting circuit and using the collected ambient energy to charge a buffer capacitor with a capacitor voltage;
via cyclical ON/OFF control, alternatingly connecting an electric motor to the buffer capacitor in a discharging phase and disconnecting the electric motor from the buffer capacitor in a charging phase;
wherein alternatingly connecting and disconnecting the electric motor and the buffer capacitor is performed until a work output of the electric motor reaches a desired target level or until an end of an nth discharging phase, n being a predetermined number; and
wherein durations of the charging phase and the discharging phase are controlled such that the capacitor voltage stays above a minimum supply voltage of the electric motor such that the electric motor moves a latch of the electromechanical lock;
wherein the cyclical ON/OFF control includes implementation of multiple ON/OFF control cycles, each respective ON/OFF control cycle of the cyclical ON/OFF control cycles including: i) for an ON portion of the respective ON/OFF control cycle, activating switch circuitry to an ON-state to convey the capacitor voltage to the electric motor, and ii) for an OFF portion of the respective ON/OFF control cycle, deactivating the switch circuitry to an OFF-state to prevent conveyance of the capacitor voltage to the electric motor;
wherein the magnitude of the capacitor voltage stored in the capacitor is controlled to be greater than the minimum supply voltage during the ON portion of the respective ON/OFF control cycle; and
wherein the magnitude of the capacitor voltage stored in the capacitor is greater than the minimum supply voltage during the OFF portion of the respective ON/OFF control cycle.