Energy-harvesting conveyor belts and methods

摘要

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.

主权项

1. A conveyor belt comprising:
a belt body having an outer surface and an inner core; an energy-harvesting device disposed in or on the belt body; an energy-storage device disposed in or on the belt body and coupled to the energy-harvesting device to store energy harvested by the energy-harvesting device; an electrical device disposed in or on the belt body and powered by energy stored in the energy-storage device; wherein the energy-harvesting device is a thermoelectric generator arranged to measure the temperature difference between the inner core and the environment external to the outer surface and to generate a voltage proportional to the temperature difference.