Patent ID: 11863007
Assignee: AMAZON TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
Field: Transport (Mechanical engineering)
Classification: CPC H  B  G | IPC B  G  H

Claim 0:
1. A wheel-based charging apparatus attached to a cart, the wheel-based charging apparatus comprising:
a direct current (DC) motor including a rotatable shaft;
an omni-directional wheel coupled to the rotatable shaft, the omni-directional wheel configured to drive the DC motor as the cart is pushed across a floor in any direction including a forward direction forward lateral direction, or a backward lateral direction, the generator being configured to transform mechanical energy from motion of the omni-directional wheel into electrical energy for charging one or more batteries of one or more electronic devices on the cart; and
a regulator coupled to the DC motor and configured to control an output voltage of the DC motor and a polarity of the output voltage of the DC motor based at least in part on the omni-directional wheel driving the DC motor, wherein:
when the omni-directional wheel is pushed across the floor in the forward direction or in the forward lateral direction, the omni-directional wheel rotates the DC motor in a first direction and the regulator controls the output voltage and the polarity of the output voltage of the DC motor relative to the first direction for charging the one or more batteries of the one or more electronic devices on the cart, and
when the omni-directional wheel is pushed across the floor in the backward direction or in the backward lateral direction, the omni-directional wheel rotates the DC motor in a second direction opposite the first direction, and the regulator controls the output voltage and the polarity of the output voltage of the DC motor relative to the second direction for charging the one or more batteries of the one or more electronic devices on the cart.