PIEZOELECTRIC ENERGY CONVERTER FOR CONVERTING MECHANICAL ENERGY INTO ELECTRICAL ENERGY BY MEANS OF PRESSURE VARIATIONS, METHOD FOR CONVERTING MECHANICAL ENERGY INTO ELECTRICAL ENERGY USING THE ENERGY CONVERTER AND THE METHOD

摘要

A piezoelectric energy converter (1) is specified for converting mechanical energy into electrical energy by injecting a variable mechanical pressure caused by the mechanical energy on at least one piezoelectric membrane (2) so that the membrane (2) is deflected. In the piezoelectric energy converter (1), the membrane (2) is arranged within a housing in such a manner that at least two housing compartments (31, 32) separated from each other and located opposite each other, respectively having variable gas pressure, will result, and the membrane and the housing compartments are arranged next to each other in such a manner that the variable mechanical gas pressure can be caused by a gas pressure differential between the gas pressures of the housing compartments. The energy converter allows for gas pressure variations to be used for converting mechanical energy into electrical energy. The energy converter may be implemented using MEMS (Micro Electric Mechanical Systems) technology. The energy converter is used for making energy self-sufficient systems.