Patent Document

FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     The present invention generally relates to a body-carrying human power generation system that makes use of continuous natural activity of human body, such as breathing, and gravity to generate electrical power, and is suitable to arrange with waistband or backpack or the likes.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     Portable electrical/electronic devices, such as mobile phones, radios, walkmans, and digital playing devices, are powered by primary or secondary cells. A use must check with the power storage level before he or she runs these devices. The power storage of the battery, especially the primary cells, is limited and once exhausted, the battery is disposed of. This causes a serious problem in environmental protection for most of the currently available primary cells, including mercury cells and lithium cells, contain toxicant substances. Thus, for protection of the Earth, the consumption of cells must be reduced.  
         [0003]     To eliminate the use of cells, a solution of human power generation is provided, which comprises an air compressor, which makes use of the movement of human body to induced compressed air; magnets, which are rotated by the compressed air; an electromagnetic device, which induces electrical voltage by an external time-variable magnetic field; a circuit, which converts alternate current into direct current and stores the electrical energy; and a hood, which houses the magnets and the electromagnetic device.  
         [0004]     Such a conventional device, although effective to generate electrical power by human body movement, yet intentional activity of the wearer is required for operating the device. Thus, a human power generation system that makes use only of natural activity of human body, such as breathing or pressure difference induced by gravity due to walk of human body, is needed to ease the operation of the human power generation.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0005]     A primary objective of the present invention is to provide a human power generation system that works on natural activity of human body, such as breathing, or pressure difference caused by gravity due to human movement.  
         [0006]     A secondary objective of the present invention is to provide a load-less human power generation system, which allows for continuous generation of electrical power without being apparently sensed by a user.  
         [0007]     To achieve the above objectives, in accordance with the present invention, a human power generation system comprises a generation module and a generator. The generation module comprises two speed-up great sets and a rack. Each speed-up gear set comprises a shaft to which a pinion and a gear are coaxially mounted. The pinion of the first gear set engages the rack. The gear of the first gear set engages the pinion of the second gear set. The gear of the second gear set is drivingly coupled to the generator. Thus, by attaching the system to a wearer by a mounting device, the systems continuously operates by the natural activity of the wearer and the rack drives, through the gear sets, the generator to generate electrical power.  
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0008]     The present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art by reading the following description of a preferred embodiment thereof, with reference to the attached drawings, in which:  
         [0009]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a human power generation system device constructed in accordance with the present invention;  
         [0010]      FIG. 2  is a schematic view illustrating the human body generation system of the present invention embodied as a waistband comprising a belt and a buckle;  
         [0011]      FIG. 3  is similar to  FIG. 2  but showing a modification of the device shown in  FIG. 2 ; and  
         [0012]      FIG. 4  is a schematic view illustrating the human body generation system of the present invention embodied as an accessory of a backpack. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
       [0013]     With reference to the drawings and in particular to  FIG. 1 , a human power generation system constructed in accordance with the present invention comprises a generation module  10  and a generator  20 . The generation module  10  comprises a rack  13  and two speed-up gear sets each comprising a shaft  11 ,  12 . The first speed-up gear set  11  comprises a one-way pinion  110  mounted at a front end of the shaft  11  and a gear  111  mounted at a rear end of the shaft  11  and having a nominal diameter greater than that of the pinion  110 . The second speed-up gear set comprises a pinion  120  mounted at a front end of the shaft  12  and a gear  121  mounted at a rear end of the shaft  12  and having a nominal diameter greater than that of the pinion  120 . The power generator  20  comprises a spindle (not labeled) to which a gear  21  is mounted.  
         [0014]     The one-way pinion  110  of the first shaft  11  mates the rack  13  and the first gear  111  of the first shaft  11  mates the second pinion  120  of the second shaft  12 . The second gear  121  of the second shaft  12  engages the gear  21  of the generator  20 . Thus, when the rack  13  moves in a given direction, such as rightward as viewed in the drawing sheet, the one-way pinion  110  of the first shaft  11  is driven, which causes synchronous rotation of the first gear  111  that is mounted to the same first shaft  11 . The first gear  111 , due to engagement with the second pinion  120  of the second shaft  12 , forces the second pinion  120  and thus the second gear  121  to rotate therewith. Consequently, the gear  21  of the generator  20  that engages the second gear  121  is caused to rotate and thus induce electrical power in the generator  20 .  
         [0015]     Also referring to  FIG. 2 , an embodiment of the human power generator of the present invention is shown, which is embodied in the form of a belt and buckle set, comprising a belt  30 , such as waistband, and a buckle (not labeled). At an end portion of the belt  30 , a test light  32  is mounted and at an opposite end portion of the belt  30 , punch holes  31  are formed. The buckle comprises a lying-U-shaped frame  130  and a central body  15 . The frame  130  has two limbs, which extend in a horizontal direction in the drawing sheet, and a base, which extends in a vertical direction in the drawings sheet, connecting the limbs. An inner edge of one limb, preferably, the upper one, form teeth to serve as the rack  13  depicted in  FIG. 1 . The base of the frame  130  forms a projection  131  and a locking member (not labeled). A resilient member  132 , such as a spring, is mounted to a free end of each limb of the frame  130 .  
         [0016]     The central body  15  comprises a counterpart lock member  16 , and supports the generation module  10  and the generator  20 . Also formed on the central body  15  is a control button  22  that allows for manual control of the operation of the generator  20 .  
         [0017]     The frame  130  is positioned outside and partly surrounding the central body  15  and the rack  13  engages the one-way pinion  110  of the first shaft  11  of the generation module  10 . The central body  15  is mounted to the end of the belt  30  to which the test light  32  is mounted, and the springs  132  that are mounted to the free ends of the limbs of the frame  130  are connected to the same end of the belt  30 . The test light  32  is electrically connected to output terminals of the generator  20 . If desired, the output terminals of the generator  20  can be connected to other power consuming elements, such as light-emitting diodes.  
         [0018]     The projection  131  of the frame  130 , which serves as a pin of the belt buckle, is selectively engageable with the punch holes  31  of the belt. The lock members  16  can mate to each to secure the frame  130  to the central body  15 . This fixes the frame  130  and the central body  15  together. No relative displacement or movement between the frame  130  and the central body  15  is available. And the frame  130  and the central body  15  together serve as a single buckle of the waistband.  
         [0019]     Under this circumstance, the power generator  20  does not work and no electricity is generated. When the lock members  16  are released or unlocked, the frame  130  is allowed to move with respect to the central body  15  due to the resiliency of the springs  132 . When a wearer of the waistband breathes, the torso of the wearer, especially the stomach, expands and contracts. The expansion of the wearer&#39;s torso causes the frame  130  to move away from the central body  15  and the rack synchronously rotates the one-way pinion  110 , which in turn causes the first gear  111  to drive the second pinion  120  and the second gear  121 , eventually causing the generator  20  to operate and thus generating electrical power. The test light  32  illuminates when the generator  20  works.  
         [0020]     As mentioned previously, the output terminals of the generator  20  can be connected to a power consuming device, which is that powered by the electricity from the generator  20 . Alternatively, the output terminals of the generator  20  can be wired to an electrical storage by which the electrical power of the generator  20  is stored for consequent use, or a charging device for charging for example secondary cells.  
         [0021]     The control button  22  provides the wearer with manual control of the generator  20 . By actuating the control button  22 , the generator  20  can be selectively shut down to avoid power generation even when the frame  130  is not secured to the central body  15  by the lock members  16 .  
         [0022]      FIG. 3  shows a modification of the human power generation system of the present invention. In the modified human power generation system depicted in  FIG. 3 , an additional set of generation module  10 ′ and generator  20 ′ are mounted to the central body  15 , which are identical to the generation module  10  and generator  20  gear-mating to the inner edge rack of the upper limb of the frame  130 . Thus, identical parts or members will be designated with the same reference numerals with a postfix prime.  
         [0023]     The generation module  10 ′ comprises a first shaft  11 ′ having formed at an end thereof a one-way pinion  110 ′, which is arranged to operate in a reverse direction with respect to that of the one-way pinion  110  and which engages a rack  13  formed along an inner edge of the lower limb of the frame  130 . Thus, when the torso of the wearer expands, the one-way pinion  110  of the upper side generation module  10  is driven by the upper rack  13  of the upper limb of the frame  130  to induce power generation in the generator  20 . However, the lower side one-way pinion  110 ′ is not rotated by the lower side rack  13  of the frame  130 . When the torso of the wearer contracts, the lower side one-way pinion  110 ′ is driven by the lower side rack  13  to generate power in the lower side generator  20 ′, but the upper side one-way pinion  110  is now in idle. In this case, the springs  132  can be omitted.  
         [0024]     Although the generator  20 ,  20 ′ illustrated previously is a rotary device, it can be a positive displacement device, wherein the generator takes a reciprocal linear movement to generate electrical power. An example is illustrated in  FIG. 4 , in which the generator is arranged between the back of a wearer and a shoulder strap  41  of a back pack, which is designated with reference numeral  40  in  FIG. 4 . The generator comprises a reciprocating shaft (not shown) encompassed by a resilient member  23 , such as a spring, and a back support board  24  mounted to a free end of the shaft and positionable against the back of the wearer. The spring  23  is arranged between the board  24  and the generator.  
         [0025]     Due to the weight of the stuffs packed inside the back pack  40 , when the pack wearer walks, the spring  23  is repeatedly compressed by the board  41  that receives a reaction force from the back of the wearer, and released again. The generator is designed in such a way to take the reciprocal linear movement and generates electrical power.  
         [0026]     The output terminals of the generator can be connected to an up-converter or a down-converter to provides output voltage of different levels.  
         [0027]     Further, a number of such generators can be connected together to provide output current or power of different levels.  
         [0028]     Thus, the human power generation system of the present invention offers the following advantages:  
         [0029]     (1) The human power generation system has a simple construction, which when worn in a user&#39;s body, can continuously operates in a non-stop manner, with a very limited load or nearly no load taken by the wearer for the operation of the generation makes only use of the natural activity of the wearer.  
         [0030]     (2) The quantity of battery or cell is reduced and environmental protection is enhanced.  
         [0031]     Although the present invention has been described with reference to the preferred embodiment thereof, it is apparent to those skilled in the art that a variety of modifications and changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention which is intended to be defined by the appended claims.

Technology Category: 5