U.S. patent application number 12/592991 was filed with the patent office on 2011-06-09 for soccket.
Invention is credited to Jessica Sara Lin, Jessica Osemudiamen Matthews, Aviva Presser, Julia Claire Silverman, Hemali Ajay Thakkar.
Application Number | 20110136603 12/592991 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 44082573 |
Filed Date | 2011-06-09 |
United States Patent
Application |
20110136603 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Lin; Jessica Sara ; et
al. |
June 9, 2011 |
sOccket
Abstract
Our invention hybridizes `ball sports,` including soccer,
baseball, tennis, and etc., and devices converting mechanical
energy (through impact or shaking) to produce power while playing
or participating in sports. Modifications include embedding sensors
into a ball to identify the degree of kicking or hitting, or
utilize them in the context of other computer or AV-based games.
The energy-producing ball embeds the coiled-impact sensors and/or
shake-to-charge technology, vibration, or other piezo-electric
materials to convert the mechanical energy of kicking, hitting, or
bouncing into electrical energy. The energy can be stored
internally, internally on a removable device, externally, or in
some hybrid. The ball can be a source of light, contain housings
for light sources or battery-charging adapters, or plugged into
other energy-collection/storage units. The stored energy within the
ball can be used to charge batteries, power light sources, cell
phones, radios, or other electrical products.
Inventors: |
Lin; Jessica Sara; (Warren,
NJ) ; Matthews; Jessica Osemudiamen; (Wappinger
Falls, NY) ; Silverman; Julia Claire; (Winnetka,
IL) ; Thakkar; Hemali Ajay; (Corona, CA) ;
Presser; Aviva; (Cambridge, MA) |
Family ID: |
44082573 |
Appl. No.: |
12/592991 |
Filed: |
December 7, 2009 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
473/570 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A63B 43/00 20130101;
A63B 2209/00 20130101; A63B 43/06 20130101; A63F 2300/1043
20130101; A63B 2209/08 20130101; A63B 2220/58 20130101; F03G 7/08
20130101; A63F 2300/105 20130101; A63B 2220/833 20130101; H01L
41/113 20130101; A63B 2039/006 20130101; A63B 2220/53 20130101;
A63F 2300/1062 20130101; H02N 2/183 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
473/570 |
International
Class: |
A63B 43/00 20060101
A63B043/00; A63B 43/06 20060101 A63B043/06 |
Claims
1. Any ball or sphere (hitherto designated `Ball`) designed for
play or sport containing devices in its body or in its shell which
can harvest impact, deformation, kinetic, piezoelectric, or induced
energy.
2. Claim 1 where the Ball is (but not limited to) a soccer ball,
volleyball, basketball, football, hockey puck, cricket ball, tennis
ball, squash ball, racquet ball, or baseball. These objects may,
but need not, be of the size regulated by professional or amateur
game associations in the United States, Europe, or International
agency.
3. Claims 1-2 where the energy generating or harvesting device is
comprised of a conductive coil or coils with one or more magnets
inside the coil (shake-to-charge technology).
4. Claim 1-2 where magnet(s) embedded in the Ball move through a
coil(s) by the motion of the Ball, thereby generating power.
5. Claims 1-2 where the energy harvesting is completed by use of
piezo-electric materials, on or contained in the Ball or surface of
the Ball covering either all or part of the Ball.
6. Claims 1-2 where the energy is generated by the use of one or
more eccentric rotors inside or attached to the Ball.
7. Claim 5 where the piezo-electric material capture impact or
kinetic energy of contact with the Ball by a foot, hand, arm, head,
knee, other body part, bat, hockey stick, lacrosse stick, racket,
goal post, backboard and rim, or other sports implement, or the
ground, walls, and other contact surfaces to generate power, or
where the Ball is enabled with `Crowd Farm` technology (a specific
application of the piezo-electric energy harvesting device).
8. Claim 1-7 where stored energy can be extracted via an outlet in
the Ball.
9. Claim 1-7 where the energy produced is stored in a capacitor,
capacitors, a supercapacitor, supercapacitors, a battery, or
batteries, which can be internal to the Ball, attached externally,
attached to the surface, or in multiple components comprising some
or all of these options.
10. Claims 1-7 where the Ball surface contains a housing or
housings for LEDs, P-LEDs, O-LEDs, electroluminescent polymers,
fluorescent bulbs, or other electric light sources that are fed by
the energy storage unit in or attached to the ball, or is the Ball
in whole or in part is made up of light-emitting material.
11. Claims 1-7 where the Ball itself is made of material in whole
or in part that lights up directly.
12. Claim 1-7 where the device storing the harvested energy is a
removable internal battery or batteries, or if the battery or
batteries are not removable.
13. Claim 1-7 where the voltage output is amplified or diminished
by internal or external electronics.
14. Claim 1-7 where any computer or AV-based games may use this
product/technology as a game product, console, or controller.
15. Claim 1-7 where any electronic or video games may use this
product/technology as a game product, console, or controller.
16. Claim 1-7 with sensors embedded to measure and/or display
kicking force.
17. Claim 1-7 to be used for measuring/improving performance by
displaying how much force has come in contact with the sports ball,
or for use of such information recreationally.
18. Claims 1-7 where the energy harvesting is exchangeable between
the Ball and other Devices.
19. Claim 1-7 where the energy harvesting technology and product is
a removable unit from the Ball.
20. Claim 1-7 where each component of the energy harvesting
technology and product is reusable and replaceable within the
removable unit.
Description
INTRODUCTION
[0001] Our invention hybridizes the ubiquitous `ball sports`
including, but not limited to, soccer, football, baseball, tennis,
and other, and devices converting mechanical energy (through
impact, material deformation, or movement) to produce power while
playing or participating in sports. Modifications include embedding
sensors into a ball to identify how hard it has been kicked or hit,
or utilizing them in the context of other computer or AV-based
games.
[0002] The energy-producing ball is fitted with one or more of the
following energy generators: one or more conductive solenoids with
one or more magnets internal to the solenoid that can move upon
movement of the ball (shake-to-charge technology), piezoelectric
materials covering some or all of the ball surface or subsurface
layer embedded or attached to the shell or near the outer edge of
the ball that will allow the conversion of the mechanical energy of
deformation stemming from kicking, hitting, or bouncing the ball
into electrical energy, or the inclusion of one or more eccentric
rotors internal to the ball that move as the ball moves, thus
generating energy. The energy can be stored internally, internally
on a removable device (including but not limited to a battery or
batteries, capacitor(s), supercapacitor(s), some combination of
those, some combination of those and other energy storage devices,
or other energy storage devices alone or in combination),
externally, or one or more of these possible positions. The ball
can itself be a source of light, contain housings for light sources
or battery-charging adapters, or it can be plugged in to some other
energy-collection/storage unit. The stored energy within the ball
can be used to charge batteries, power light sources (including but
not limited to bulbs, LEDs, or electroluminescent polymers), cell
phones, radios, or other electrical products. This can provide a
mobile source of electricity and a primary or secondary source of
electricity in areas where there may be a lack of reliable
electrical grid power.
PRIOR ART
Energy Harvesting
[0003] Devices exist to harvest energy, such as a light generating
flashlight system device, which utilizes a large centrally located
magnet to slide past a current induction wire (U.S. Pat. No.
6,893,141), and piezoelectrics, such as a circuit which passively
discharges energy from a piezoelectric device and stores the energy
in a power storage element (U.S. Pat. No. 6,894,460), and
electrostrictive polymers used to harvest electrical power from the
general movement of objects such as from human walking motion,
incorporated into the soles of footwear (U.S. Pat. No. 6,433,465).
But to date there have been no balls or other sports equipment that
uses energy harvesting devices, either internally in or externally
of the ball, to generate power either for use in powering internal
or attached electronic devices, or to power other external
electronic devices.
Balls with Internal Electrical Devices:
[0004] Balls exist with implanted devices, such as golf balls with
embedded GPS chips designed to allow ball localization (U.S. Pat.
No. 6,634,959), balls with embedded lights to illuminate the ball
or its surroundings (U.S. Pat. No. 5,228,686), or a speedometer to
indicate the speed at which the ball was thrown (U.S. Pat. No.
7,234,351). But to date there have been no balls or other sports
equipment that generates power either for use in powering internal
or attached electronic devices, or to power other, external
electronic devices.
INVENTION
[0005] Our invention is to harvest energy from a ball or other
sports piece that faces shaking or impact during play. This energy
might be in the form of material deformation resulting from impact
of the ball on the ground, backboard, bat, foot, knee, head, or
other surface, or might result from the motion of the ball being
used to pass a magnet or magnets through a conductive coil or coils
in or attached to some surface of the ball.
[0006] The ball used in the invention might be solid, partially
solid, gas or liquid filled, an the shell of the ball might be
single or multiple layers, and might be made of rubber, leather,
PVC, natural or synthetic fabric, or other material, or some
combination thereof.
[0007] One manifestation of the invention is the suspension of one
or more conductive coils in the interior of a solid or gas-filled
ball such that when the ball moves, one or more magnets pass
through the coil or coils, generating a current. In a gas-filled
ball, the coils may span from one inner surface of the ball to
another, or may be suspended by some other means in a way such that
one or more ends of the coils are not touching the inner walls of
the ball. In a solid ball, the coils may be suspended at any
position within the ball.
[0008] A second manifestation of the invention is where
piezoelectric material is attached or embedded in the shell of the
ball and may cover all or some part of the ball's surface. The
piezoelectric material may also be embedded or attached below the
surface of the ball, and may cover some or all of the surface to
which it is attached. Multiple layers of piezoelectric material may
be included in some or all of the ball surface, and may, but need
not, be separated by some other material.
[0009] A third manifestation of the invention involves the
incorporation of one or more eccentric rotors into the ball, such
that when the ball moves, the rotors turn and generate
electricity.
[0010] A fourth manifestation of the invention is one where one of
the first three manifestations are implemented (or some combination
of them) and the energy produced is stored in one or more
batteries, capacitors, supercapacitors, or combination of those or
other energy storage devices. These devices may be interior to the
ball, attached or embedded in the surface of the ball, or on the
surface of the ball, or some combination thereof. These energy
storage units may be removable or not.
[0011] A fifth manifestation of the invention is one where the
fourth manifestation is implemented and there is an outlet or
outlets in or on the ball allowing for connection to a device
requiring power, such as a cell phone, cell phone battery, portable
MP3 player, light, portable computer, or other electronic
device.
[0012] A sixth manifestation of the invention is one where one of
the first four manifestations are implemented (or some combination
of them), and the energy harvested is used to power a device build
into or attached to the ball. This device might be an
accelerometer, pressure sensor, GPS, speedometer, speaker, or other
electronic device which may or may not have an output display.
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