Patent application number | Description | Published |
20100026003 | Pliant Mechanisms for Extracting Power from Moving Fluid - Flexible and elastic mechanisms for extracting power from a moving fluid. Sheet-like material is deformed during fabrication through an applied force so as to create undulations in said material, whose stresses are maintained through restraining components, thereby maintaining the occurrence of said deformations in the material. When placed in moving fluid, the resulting pressure differentials cause the positions of the undulations within the material to travel along said material in the same direction as the moving fluid. Power is extracted in one of two principle ways. The first is via a mechanical coupling of the sheet-like material to a rotating mechanism, which turns an electro-magnetic dynamo or other output device. The second is via the utilization of a flexible material which exhibits an electrical response to mechanical strain, whereby the strains caused by the travel of undulations along the material create an electrical current which is extracted via two or more electrodes. | 02-04-2010 |
20100045036 | PLIANT MECHANISMS FOR EXTRACTING POWER FROM MOVING FLUID - Flexible and elastic mechanisms for extracting power from a moving fluid. Sheet-like material is deformed during fabrication through an applied force so as to create undulations in said material, whose stresses are maintained through restraining components, thereby maintaining the occurrence of said deformations in the material. When placed in moving fluid, the resulting pressure differentials cause the positions of the undulations within the material to travel along said material in the same direction as the moving fluid. Power is extracted in one of two principle ways. The first is via a mechanical coupling of the sheet-like material to a rotating mechanism, which turns an electro-magnetic dynamo or other output device. The second is via the utilization of a flexible material which exhibits an electrical response to mechanical strain, whereby the strains caused by the travel of undulations along the material create an electrical current which is extracted via two or more electrodes. | 02-25-2010 |
20100078941 | Pliant or Compliant Elements for Harnessing the Forces of Moving Fluid to Transport Fluid or Generate Electricity - Pliant, or compliant mechanisms for extracting electrical energy or useful work from a moving fluid are described. Persistent deformations in flexible elements are maintained with deformation retaining, or restraining components. The deformation retaining components may, in various embodiments, include rigid or tensile members, elastic coils, and/or the like. The deformations of the mechanisms may be configured so as to receive forces from moving fluid and transfer those forces in a variety of ways so as to pump fluid or generate electricity from this pumped fluid, or to generate electricity from material strains induced by moving fluid. | 04-01-2010 |
20100084871 | Pliant Mechanisms for Extracting Power from Moving Fluid - Flexible and elastic mechanisms for extracting power from a moving fluid. Sheet-like material is deformed during fabrication through an applied force so as to create undulations in said material, whose stresses are maintained through restraining components, thereby maintaining the occurrence of said deformations in the material. When placed in moving fluid, the resulting pressure differentials cause the positions of the undulations within the material to travel along said material in the same direction as the moving fluid. Power is extracted in one of two principle ways. The first is via a mechanical coupling of the sheet-like material to a rotating mechanism, which turns an electro-magnetic dynamo or other output device. The second is via the utilization of a flexible material which exhibits an electrical response to mechanical strain, whereby the strains caused by the travel of undulations along the material create an electrical current which is extracted via two or more electrodes. | 04-08-2010 |
20120175880 | Mechanisms for creating undulating motion, such as for propulsion, and for harnessing the energy of moving fluid - Mechanisms are described which receive and transfer forces via transducers having one or more persistent deformations in changeable locations. Actuator or propulsion embodiments are powered by elastic or variable length transducers that exert forces on the deformed members which in turn exert forces onto ambient fluid such as air or water. Generator embodiments receive forces from ambient moving fluid via deformed members which transfer those forces to elastic or variable length transducers which convert those forces into electrical energy. | 07-12-2012 |
20140015378 | RIBBON TRANSDUCER AND PUMP APPARATUSES, METHODS AND SYSTEMS - The RIBBON TRANSDUCER AND PUMP APPARATUSES, METHODS AND SYSTEMS include, in various embodiments, a variety of mechanisms comprised of components that include flexible elements with persistently strained deformations. Under operation, the deformations may be reconfigured via actuation to produce useful work, or may be reconfigured when subjected to external forces, such as from flowing fluid. The external energy input used to reconfigure these deformations may be harnessed and converted into electrical energy or may be converted into useful mechanical work, such as pumping. | 01-16-2014 |