EP3673559A1 - Power-generating system - Google Patents
Power-generating systemInfo
- Publication number
- EP3673559A1 EP3673559A1 EP18762796.3A EP18762796A EP3673559A1 EP 3673559 A1 EP3673559 A1 EP 3673559A1 EP 18762796 A EP18762796 A EP 18762796A EP 3673559 A1 EP3673559 A1 EP 3673559A1
- Authority
- EP
- European Patent Office
- Prior art keywords
- magneto
- power
- matching
- generating system
- load
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
- Pending
Links
Classifications
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H02—GENERATION; CONVERSION OR DISTRIBUTION OF ELECTRIC POWER
- H02J—CIRCUIT ARRANGEMENTS OR SYSTEMS FOR SUPPLYING OR DISTRIBUTING ELECTRIC POWER; SYSTEMS FOR STORING ELECTRIC ENERGY
- H02J7/00—Circuit arrangements for charging or depolarising batteries or for supplying loads from batteries
- H02J7/14—Circuit arrangements for charging or depolarising batteries or for supplying loads from batteries for charging batteries from dynamo-electric generators driven at varying speed, e.g. on vehicle
- H02J7/1407—Circuit arrangements for charging or depolarising batteries or for supplying loads from batteries for charging batteries from dynamo-electric generators driven at varying speed, e.g. on vehicle on vehicles not being driven by a motor, e.g. bicycles
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H02—GENERATION; CONVERSION OR DISTRIBUTION OF ELECTRIC POWER
- H02M—APPARATUS FOR CONVERSION BETWEEN AC AND AC, BETWEEN AC AND DC, OR BETWEEN DC AND DC, AND FOR USE WITH MAINS OR SIMILAR POWER SUPPLY SYSTEMS; CONVERSION OF DC OR AC INPUT POWER INTO SURGE OUTPUT POWER; CONTROL OR REGULATION THEREOF
- H02M7/00—Conversion of ac power input into dc power output; Conversion of dc power input into ac power output
- H02M7/02—Conversion of ac power input into dc power output without possibility of reversal
- H02M7/04—Conversion of ac power input into dc power output without possibility of reversal by static converters
- H02M7/12—Conversion of ac power input into dc power output without possibility of reversal by static converters using discharge tubes with control electrode or semiconductor devices with control electrode
- H02M7/21—Conversion of ac power input into dc power output without possibility of reversal by static converters using discharge tubes with control electrode or semiconductor devices with control electrode using devices of a triode or transistor type requiring continuous application of a control signal
- H02M7/217—Conversion of ac power input into dc power output without possibility of reversal by static converters using discharge tubes with control electrode or semiconductor devices with control electrode using devices of a triode or transistor type requiring continuous application of a control signal using semiconductor devices only
- H02M7/219—Conversion of ac power input into dc power output without possibility of reversal by static converters using discharge tubes with control electrode or semiconductor devices with control electrode using devices of a triode or transistor type requiring continuous application of a control signal using semiconductor devices only in a bridge configuration
- H02M7/2195—Conversion of ac power input into dc power output without possibility of reversal by static converters using discharge tubes with control electrode or semiconductor devices with control electrode using devices of a triode or transistor type requiring continuous application of a control signal using semiconductor devices only in a bridge configuration the switches being synchronously commutated at the same frequency of the AC input voltage
-
- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B62—LAND VEHICLES FOR TRAVELLING OTHERWISE THAN ON RAILS
- B62J—CYCLE SADDLES OR SEATS; AUXILIARY DEVICES OR ACCESSORIES SPECIALLY ADAPTED TO CYCLES AND NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR, e.g. ARTICLE CARRIERS OR CYCLE PROTECTORS
- B62J6/00—Arrangement of optical signalling or lighting devices on cycles; Mounting or supporting thereof; Circuits therefor
- B62J6/01—Electric circuits
Definitions
- the present invention relates to a magneto matching system for bicycles and bicycles including that system.
- dynamos to power their various components including lighting.
- These dynamos are generators that normally generate AC so are more properly called alternators or magnetos. They generate electricity by the relative motion of wires, normally in the form of a coil, and a magnetic field. The magnetic field may be produced by a permanent magnet or other coils. This invention can be applied to magnetos or other AC generators.
- any AC power source for example the mains or a magneto is connected to a load the power transferred from source to load depends on the voltage the current and the power factor.
- the power transferred to a load is the product of the voltage the current and the power factor.
- the power factor is the cosine of the angle between the AC voltage and current.
- the maximum value of the power factor is 1 and this occurs when the load is purely resistive.
- the power factor of a load may be improved by power factor correction.
- the impedance of the load to be corrected has both resistive and reactive components. Power factor correction is achieved by cancelling the reactive component of the load by adding a reactive component of opposite sign such as a capacitor or an inductor.
- the added reactive component would need to vary with bicycle speed and hence magneto frequency.
- variable reactive components of suitable value are not practical for these low frequencies.
- Use of one or more fixed value components is also cumbersome and is a compromise.
- a method of peak power matching the magneto to the load over a suitable frequency range without needing a variable reactance is sought. This forms the subject of the present application.
- the present invention aims to provide solutions to the problems identified in the previous section.
- a typical magneto as used on a bicycle has 10 or more poles to generate a convenient frequency from the relatively slow rotation of the bicycle wheels.
- the frequency generated at a minimum stable cycling speed of 8KPH will typically be around 15 Hz and a typical touring speed will be 16KPH giving 30Hz.
- the typical bike magneto will have an internal leakage inductance of about 0.12 Henry and a resistance of about 4 Ohms. It can thus be seen that even at 15Hz the reactance of the inductor is about 3 times the resistance. Thus, at all practical bike speeds the power output of the magneto is limited by its internal reactance by a factor of 3 or more.
- the objective of this invention is to null out all or part of this internal reactance by presenting to the magneto a suitably matched load. This increases the power output significantly.
- Such a capacitor would need to be AC rated and hence bulky. It would also need to vary with frequency to keep the resonance it forms with the internal inductance of the magneto tuned to the varying frequency of the magneto as the bike varies in speed.
- This application takes a different approach. If one examines what a capacitor is doing in this situation it is absorbing power at some points in each cycle of the magneto, storing that energy, and then returning that power to the magneto at other points in the cycle. If, in the above situation, one looks at the load and the capacitor in combination they form a system that absorbs power at some points in the cycle and returns a portion of that power at other points in the cycle, the balance being the output power. Thus, if one designs an active load that mimics the situation one would have if one fitted a capacitor one can achieve the same effect without the capacitor.
- a key aspect of this is that energy from the magneto must be stored in some way and returned to the magneto at specific times. By adjusting the timing and amount of energy transferred each way one can emulate the effects of a variable capacitor and adjust that emulated variable capacitance to optimise the power transfer at varying frequencies and bike speeds.
- the bike's power needs vary. It may or may not be running lighting, charging a battery, or have any other varying power demands.
- a sophisticated control system would not adjust the simulated capacitor to maximise the power generated. It would adjust the simulated capacitor to match the amount of power generated to the needs of the bike at that time. This avoids generating heat due to surplus generating capacity at higher bike speeds. It also reduces the load on the pedals by not wasting power produced by the cyclist.
- Embodiments of the present invention have shown that it is possible to at least double the power output of the magneto at low bike speeds where otherwise there would be insufficient power to maintain lighting. Even greater gains are possible at higher speeds.
- An embodiment of this invention may consist of a synchronous DC to AC converter where the DC side is connected to a battery or other energy storage device such as an electrolytic capacitor or supercapacitor.
- the AC side is connected to the magneto.
- the amplitude, frequency, and phase of the AC output of the synchronous converter are adjusted to present at all times the same instantaneous voltage to the magneto as would be present if it was loaded by an ideal value capacitor and resistive load.
- Synchronous DC to AC converters can be made using modern components with very high efficiencies and power can flow in both directions. Power would thus flow into the AC side of the converter as it would a conventional load.
- the DC power output passed through the synchronous converter is taken from the energy storage device.
- Another embodiment of this invention would be to replace the synchronous DC to AC converter with an H-bridge.
- the magneto is connected to the centre of the H-bridge.
- the top and bottom rails of the H-bridge are connected to the energy storage device which may be some type of capacitor or a battery.
- An H-bridge is the same structure as a bridge rectifier with the diodes of the bridge rectifier replaced with switches. These switches may be transistors.
- the transistors should have a suitable switching speed and low on resistance. Commonly the transistors may be Field Effect Transistors (FETS).
- FETS Field Effect Transistors
- Such FETS typically have body diodes which function even when the transistors are off and provide a fall-back bridge rectifier action. Thus, even if the transistors are all off the magneto will provide some power to the energy storage device. This enables the system to start from a fully discharged state.
- a control system should monitor the voltage and current flowing through the H-bridge. If this is done while the transistors in the H-bridge are off then the frequency and phase of the magneto can be determined. The control system can then turn on the transistors with appropriate timings so as to modify the phase of the currents flowing through the magneto.
- the transistors could use a variable mark space ratio to approximate a sine wave current in the magneto. However, it is possible to switch the H-bridge transistors at the same frequency as the magneto and thereby run the system using a square wave rather than a sine wave. Since the magneto has a large inductive component the harmonics of the square wave have negligible effect and can be ignored. One does not need to exactly emulate a capacitor to achieve the desired effect.
- phase lock If for whatever reason phase lock is lost the system can turn off the transistors to allow the phase lock to be reacquired using voltage measurements.
- Phase locking can be achieved by several means including by measuring the real and quadrature components of the magneto current and thus determining the relative phase angle of the magneto and the H-bridge. Current can alternatively be measured in the DC output of the H-bridge rather than at the magneto.
- FIG. 1 shows a circuit diagram for a magneto matching system according to an embodiment of the present invention using an H-bridge.
- Fig. 1 shows the circuit diagram of an embodiment using an H-bridge.
- the magneto is shown as the box containing V1 , L1 , and R1.
- L1 and R1 represent the internal resistance and leakage inductance of the magneto.
- V1 represents a perfect magneto which generates the same open circuit AC voltage as the real magneto would do at the same bike speeds but has no internal resistance or leakage inductance.
- the box represents the key electrical characteristics of the real-world magneto.
- D1 through D4 form a Bridge rectifier. If switches S1 through S4 remain off then the illustrated system would function as a conventional generator and bridge rectifier providing DC power at the output, shown relative to ground. The output need not be grounded and would typically be the ground plane of the control system.
- C1 represents an energy storage device. It could be an electrolytic capacitor, a super capacitor a rechargeable battery or any other energy storage mechanism.
- the output may be connected to other energy storage systems and voltage converters such that C1 need not store all the energy and could be omitted.
- R2 is a small value resistor which the control system uses to continuously measure the instantaneous current flow.
- the control system also continuously monitors the instantaneous voltage across the output of the physical magneto.
- the control system controls the timing of the switching of switches S1 through S4 to approximately emulate the equivalent effects of placing a suitable value resonant AC capacitor in series with the leakage reactance L1. This cancels out some or all the impedance of L1 increasing the power delivered to the output.
- the system is run with the switches turned off and the control system monitors the voltage across the magneto. From this the control system derives the frequency and phase of the magneto. The control system phase locks to the waveform from the magneto. It will be noted that when the switches are all off there is a pattern every cycle of times when the diodes D1 through D4 are in a forward conducting state. Consider the case where the controller turns on each switch S1 through S4 only during the moments in the cycle that D1 through D4 would have been forward conducting. The result is that the energy losses in the diodes D1 through D4 are eliminated but otherwise the situation is largely unchanged.
- the timings of the switches need to be adjusted to maintain the correct power flow. Due to the emulated resonance effect the voltage generated will vary with frequency. Ideally a switching regulator will convert this voltage to that needed by the systems of the bike. Ideally the switching regulator will be controlled to harvest the power from the output of the diagram at the optimum voltage so as to match the impedance of the virtual Node P. Note that in effect the virtual Node P is realised as the physical connections to the magneto since the physical capacitor is emulated within the H-bridge.
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- Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
- Power Engineering (AREA)
- Control Of Eletrric Generators (AREA)
- Control Of Electrical Variables (AREA)
- Automatic Cycles, And Cycles In General (AREA)
Abstract
A power-generating system for a bicycle to provide power to a load, the power-generating system including a magneto; and a control system comprising a magneto matching unit for matching an impedance of the magneto to the load.
Description
POWER-GENERATING SYSTEM
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a magneto matching system for bicycles and bicycles including that system. BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION
Commonly bicycles have dynamos to power their various components including lighting. These dynamos are generators that normally generate AC so are more properly called alternators or magnetos. They generate electricity by the relative motion of wires, normally in the form of a coil, and a magnetic field. The magnetic field may be produced by a permanent magnet or other coils. This invention can be applied to magnetos or other AC generators.
When any AC power source, for example the mains or a magneto is connected to a load the power transferred from source to load depends on the voltage the current and the power factor.
The power transferred to a load is the product of the voltage the current and the power factor. The power factor is the cosine of the angle between the AC voltage and current. Thus, the maximum value of the power factor is 1 and this occurs when the load is purely resistive.
It is well understood that when connecting a load to a fixed AC voltage supply such as the mains the maximum power is transferred when the power factor of the load is 1. Commonly the power factor of a load may be improved by power factor correction. The impedance of the load to be corrected has both resistive and reactive components. Power factor correction is achieved by cancelling the reactive component of the load by adding a reactive component of opposite sign such as a capacitor or an inductor.
However, smaller magnetos and, in particular, those used on bicycles do not generate a fixed AC voltage and do not operate at a fixed frequency. Voltage and frequency vary with bicycle speed. Also in these cases, the source impedance of the magneto has a large reactive component. Peak power transfer does not occur when the power factor of the load is 1. Peak power transfer occurs when the impedance of the load has a reactive component that is equal and opposite in sign to that of the magneto. For a fixed frequency, the peak power point can be achieved by adding a reactive component to the load. Such a
component, typically a capacitor, would be of equal and opposite reactance to that of the magneto. The reactance of such components varies with frequency. Thus, to match the load
to the magneto the added reactive component would need to vary with bicycle speed and hence magneto frequency.
As the skilled person is aware variable reactive components of suitable value are not practical for these low frequencies. Use of one or more fixed value components is also cumbersome and is a compromise.
A method of peak power matching the magneto to the load over a suitable frequency range without needing a variable reactance is sought. This forms the subject of the present application.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention aims to provide solutions to the problems identified in the previous section.
A typical magneto as used on a bicycle has 10 or more poles to generate a convenient frequency from the relatively slow rotation of the bicycle wheels. The frequency generated at a minimum stable cycling speed of 8KPH will typically be around 15 Hz and a typical touring speed will be 16KPH giving 30Hz.
The typical bike magneto will have an internal leakage inductance of about 0.12 Henry and a resistance of about 4 Ohms. It can thus be seen that even at 15Hz the reactance of the inductor is about 3 times the resistance. Thus, at all practical bike speeds the power output of the magneto is limited by its internal reactance by a factor of 3 or more. The objective of this invention is to null out all or part of this internal reactance by presenting to the magneto a suitably matched load. This increases the power output significantly.
Since the magneto is highly inductive a conventional approach would be to add a series capacitor to the load that resonates with the internal inductance and cancels it out.
Such a capacitor would need to be AC rated and hence bulky. It would also need to vary with frequency to keep the resonance it forms with the internal inductance of the magneto tuned to the varying frequency of the magneto as the bike varies in speed.
This application takes a different approach. If one examines what a capacitor is doing in this situation it is absorbing power at some points in each cycle of the magneto, storing that energy, and then returning that power to the magneto at other points in the cycle. If, in the above situation, one looks at the load and the capacitor in combination they form a system that absorbs power at some points in the cycle and returns a portion of that power at other points in the cycle, the balance being the output power.
Thus, if one designs an active load that mimics the situation one would have if one fitted a capacitor one can achieve the same effect without the capacitor.
There are several ways of achieving this mimicking. A key aspect of this is that energy from the magneto must be stored in some way and returned to the magneto at specific times. By adjusting the timing and amount of energy transferred each way one can emulate the effects of a variable capacitor and adjust that emulated variable capacitance to optimise the power transfer at varying frequencies and bike speeds.
In a real situation in addition to the bike speed varying the bike's power needs vary. It may or may not be running lighting, charging a battery, or have any other varying power demands. A sophisticated control system would not adjust the simulated capacitor to maximise the power generated. It would adjust the simulated capacitor to match the amount of power generated to the needs of the bike at that time. This avoids generating heat due to surplus generating capacity at higher bike speeds. It also reduces the load on the pedals by not wasting power produced by the cyclist. Embodiments of the present invention have shown that it is possible to at least double the power output of the magneto at low bike speeds where otherwise there would be insufficient power to maintain lighting. Even greater gains are possible at higher speeds.
An embodiment of this invention may consist of a synchronous DC to AC converter where the DC side is connected to a battery or other energy storage device such as an electrolytic capacitor or supercapacitor. The AC side is connected to the magneto.
The amplitude, frequency, and phase of the AC output of the synchronous converter are adjusted to present at all times the same instantaneous voltage to the magneto as would be present if it was loaded by an ideal value capacitor and resistive load. Synchronous DC to AC converters can be made using modern components with very high efficiencies and power can flow in both directions. Power would thus flow into the AC side of the converter as it would a conventional load.
The DC power output passed through the synchronous converter is taken from the energy storage device. Thus, this would mimic the actions of a large variable capacitor without requiring one. Another embodiment of this invention would be to replace the synchronous DC to AC converter with an H-bridge. The magneto is connected to the centre of the H-bridge. The top and bottom rails of the H-bridge are connected to the energy storage device which may be some type of capacitor or a battery.
An H-bridge is the same structure as a bridge rectifier with the diodes of the bridge rectifier replaced with switches. These switches may be transistors. The transistors should have a suitable switching speed and low on resistance. Commonly the transistors may be Field Effect Transistors (FETS). Such FETS typically have body diodes which function even when the transistors are off and provide a fall-back bridge rectifier action. Thus, even if the transistors are all off the magneto will provide some power to the energy storage device. This enables the system to start from a fully discharged state.
A control system should monitor the voltage and current flowing through the H-bridge. If this is done while the transistors in the H-bridge are off then the frequency and phase of the magneto can be determined. The control system can then turn on the transistors with appropriate timings so as to modify the phase of the currents flowing through the magneto. The transistors could use a variable mark space ratio to approximate a sine wave current in the magneto. However, it is possible to switch the H-bridge transistors at the same frequency as the magneto and thereby run the system using a square wave rather than a sine wave. Since the magneto has a large inductive component the harmonics of the square wave have negligible effect and can be ignored. One does not need to exactly emulate a capacitor to achieve the desired effect.
By monitoring the current in the H-bridge continuously one can phase lock to the magneto and maintain the correct frequency and phase to achieve the desired power transfer benefits.
If for whatever reason phase lock is lost the system can turn off the transistors to allow the phase lock to be reacquired using voltage measurements.
Phase locking can be achieved by several means including by measuring the real and quadrature components of the magneto current and thus determining the relative phase angle of the magneto and the H-bridge. Current can alternatively be measured in the DC output of the H-bridge rather than at the magneto.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING
Embodiments of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawing, Fig. 1 , which shows a circuit diagram for a magneto matching system according to an embodiment of the present invention using an H-bridge.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING
Fig. 1 shows the circuit diagram of an embodiment using an H-bridge. The magneto is shown as the box containing V1 , L1 , and R1. L1 and R1 represent the internal resistance and leakage inductance of the magneto. V1 represents a perfect magneto which generates
the same open circuit AC voltage as the real magneto would do at the same bike speeds but has no internal resistance or leakage inductance. Thus, the box represents the key electrical characteristics of the real-world magneto.
D1 through D4 form a Bridge rectifier. If switches S1 through S4 remain off then the illustrated system would function as a conventional generator and bridge rectifier providing DC power at the output, shown relative to ground. The output need not be grounded and would typically be the ground plane of the control system.
C1 represents an energy storage device. It could be an electrolytic capacitor, a super capacitor a rechargeable battery or any other energy storage mechanism. The output may be connected to other energy storage systems and voltage converters such that C1 need not store all the energy and could be omitted.
R2 is a small value resistor which the control system uses to continuously measure the instantaneous current flow. The control system also continuously monitors the instantaneous voltage across the output of the physical magneto. The control system controls the timing of the switching of switches S1 through S4 to approximately emulate the equivalent effects of placing a suitable value resonant AC capacitor in series with the leakage reactance L1. This cancels out some or all the impedance of L1 increasing the power delivered to the output.
The values of components shown are typical but not critical to the functioning.
Initially the system is run with the switches turned off and the control system monitors the voltage across the magneto. From this the control system derives the frequency and phase of the magneto. The control system phase locks to the waveform from the magneto. It will be noted that when the switches are all off there is a pattern every cycle of times when the diodes D1 through D4 are in a forward conducting state. Consider the case where the controller turns on each switch S1 through S4 only during the moments in the cycle that D1 through D4 would have been forward conducting. The result is that the energy losses in the diodes D1 through D4 are eliminated but otherwise the situation is largely unchanged.
Now consider the case where a physical AC capacitor of the correct value is fitted in series with L1 such that it is at resonance with L1 but the switches are all off. Again, there will a pattern every cycle of times when the diodes D1 through D4 are in a forward conducting state. However, in this new pattern the timings of the forwards conducting states of diodes D1 through D4 have advanced in phase. The power output will be greatly increased as it is
now only limited by R1. We later refer to the connection between L1 and this physical capacitor as Node P.
If the controller now turns on switches S1 through S4 in this new pattern then the energy losses in the diodes D1 through D4 are eliminated but otherwise the situation is again largely unchanged.
Now if we remove the physical AC capacitor that we had fitted in series with L1 so that the circuit is as it is in the above diagram but we maintain an advanced phase of the timing of the switches S1 through S4 then with the correct phasing of the switching we can emulate a capacitor that is in resonance with L1. The correct timings needed to achieve this must match the timings of the waveform that would have existed at Node P. This is because the emulated capacitor is now effectively inside the H-bridge not outside it. Also, the voltage generated at the output will be higher as it is now a rectification of the voltage that would have existed at Node P.
As the speed of the bike varies the timings of the switches need to be adjusted to maintain the correct power flow. Due to the emulated resonance effect the voltage generated will vary with frequency. Ideally a switching regulator will convert this voltage to that needed by the systems of the bike. Ideally the switching regulator will be controlled to harvest the power from the output of the diagram at the optimum voltage so as to match the impedance of the virtual Node P. Note that in effect the virtual Node P is realised as the physical connections to the magneto since the physical capacitor is emulated within the H-bridge.
Note that if the switching regulator supports bi-directional power flow then the requirement for C1 can be eliminated. Thus at the times in each cycle when the switches S1 through S4 are returning power to the magneto this power comes back via the switching regulator rather than C1 needing to be large enough to store that energy. In the following claims, features which are defined in separate claims that may preferably or advantageously be used in combination with each other, are to be construed as being claimed as such as well as in the form of the independent claims set out herein.
Claims
1. A power-generating system for a bicycle to provide power to a load, the power- generating system including:
a magneto; and
a control system comprising a magneto matching unit for matching an impedance of the magneto to the load.
2. A power-generating system according to claim 1 , wherein matching an impedance of the magneto to the load comprises matching a reactive component of the impedance to the load.
3. A power-generating system according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the magneto matching unit is controlled to maximise power generated by the magneto.
4. A power-generating system according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the magneto matching unit is controlled to match the power generated by the magneto to a power demand of the load.
5. A power-generating system according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the
magneto is arranged to generate alternating current from the rotary motion of a pedal or wheel of the bicycle for which it is generating power.
6. A power-generating system according to any one claims 1 to 5, wherein the magneto matching unit comprises a synchronous DC to AC converter with the AC side connected to the magneto and the DC side connected to an energy storage device, the AC output of the converter being controlled to provide the desired matching.
7. A power-generating system according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the
magneto matching unit comprises an H-bridge with the magneto connected to the centre of the H-bridge and the top and bottom rails of the H-bridge connected to an energy storage device.
8. A power-generating system according to claim 6 or claim 7, wherein the energy
storage device is a capacitor.
9. A power-generating system according to claim 6 or claim 7, wherein the energy
storage device is a battery.
10. A power-generating system according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the magneto matching unit includes a reactive component.
11. A power-generating system according to claim 10, wherein the reactive component is a capacitor.
12. A power-generating system according to claim 1 1 , wherein the capacitor is an
electrolytic capacitor.
13. A power-generating system according to any one of claims 10 to 12, wherein the control system is arranged to control the operation of the reactive component by controlling the direction in which current flows therethrough.
14. A power-generating system according to claim 13, wherein the control system is arranged to cause the direction of current flowing through the reactive component to alternate.
15. A power-generating system according to claim 14, wherein the control system is arranged to apply pulse-width modulation to control the time intervals during which current is travelling in each direction through the reactive component.
16. A power-generating system according to any one of claims 13 to 15, wherein the control circuit includes an H-bridge including four switches, the magneto located on the central limb of the "H".
17. A power-generating system according to claim 16, wherein the switches are field- effect transistors.
18. A power-generating system according to claim 15, wherein the field-effect transistors are MOSFETs.
19. A power-generating system according to any one of claims 1 to 18, wherein the
control system comprises means for measuring the frequency and phase of the magneto.
20. A power-generating system according to claim 19, wherein the means for measuring the frequency and phase of the magneto is arranged to measure the frequency and phase only for a fixed interval with a given time period.
21. A power-generating system according to claim 19 or claim 20, wherein the control system is configured to control the magneto matching unit based at least in part on the measured frequency and phase of the magneto.
22. A power-generating system according to any one of claims 1 to 21 , wherein the
magneto is arranged to supply power to a battery.
23. A power-generating system according to claim 22, wherein the battery is a
rechargeable battery.
24. A power-generating system according to any one of claims 1 to 23, wherein the
magneto is arranged to supply power directly to one or more of: lights, a location sensing module, a sensor module, and a wireless data transfer module.
25. A bicycle comprising a power-generating system according to any one of claims 15 to 39.
26. A magneto matching system, preferably for a bicycle, including a magneto and a matching unit that matches the magneto to the load.
27. A magneto matching system where the impedance of a magneto is matched to a load.
28. A magneto matching system where a reactive component is used to match a
magneto to a load
29. A magneto matching system where no reactive component is needed to match a magneto to a load.
30. A magneto matching system where the impedance matching of a magneto to its load is varied to generate only the required power.
31. A magneto matching system where a control system measures the frequency and phase of the magneto.
32. A magneto matching system where the control system phase locks to the magneto.
33. A magneto matching system where a synchronous AC to DC converter is used to match the impedance of the magneto a load without requiring a reactive component to achieve the match.
34. A magneto matching system where the phase of the magneto is measured by quadrature detection of the voltages and or currents in the circuit.
35. A magneto matching system where a control system adjusts the timings of switching units to match the impedance of a magneto to its load without requiring a reactive component to achieve the match.
36. A magneto matching system where a control system adjusts the timings of switching units that form an H-bridge to impedance match a magneto to its load without requiring a reactive component to achieve the match.
37. A magneto matching system where a control system adjusts the timings of control signals to an H-bridge to impedance match a magneto to its load without requiring a reactive component to achieve the match.
38. A method for matching a magneto to a load using the features defined in any one of claims 26 to 37.
39. An apparatus couplable to a magneto and a load for matching the magneto to the load using the features defined in any one of claims 26 to 38.
40. A power-generating system according to any one of claims 1 to 24, comprising a magneto matching system according to any one of claims 26 to 37.
Applications Claiming Priority (3)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
GBGB1713652.4A GB201713652D0 (en) | 2017-08-24 | 2017-08-24 | Magneto matching method and apparatus |
GBGB1717867.4A GB201717867D0 (en) | 2017-10-30 | 2017-10-30 | Power-generating system |
PCT/EP2018/072683 WO2019038335A1 (en) | 2017-08-24 | 2018-08-22 | Power-generating system |
Publications (1)
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EP3673559A1 true EP3673559A1 (en) | 2020-07-01 |
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Family Applications (1)
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EP18762796.3A Pending EP3673559A1 (en) | 2017-08-24 | 2018-08-22 | Power-generating system |
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EP (1) | EP3673559A1 (en) |
TW (1) | TWI783028B (en) |
WO (1) | WO2019038335A1 (en) |
Family Cites Families (10)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
NL7802318A (en) * | 1978-03-02 | 1979-09-04 | Hazemeijer Bv | Bicycle or scooter lighting system - has inductive internal impedance of generator with series capacitor forming resonance circuit at low wheel speeds |
AU7235987A (en) * | 1986-03-13 | 1987-10-09 | Frank Bauwens | Lighting device for vehicle |
CN1095778C (en) * | 1999-09-27 | 2002-12-11 | 谢斌辉 | Triboelectricity lamp of bicycle |
JP3963634B2 (en) * | 2000-05-17 | 2007-08-22 | 三洋電機株式会社 | Bicycle hub dynamo and bicycle |
JP4145839B2 (en) * | 2004-06-29 | 2008-09-03 | 株式会社シマノ | Bicycle shifting system and bicycle |
TWI359765B (en) * | 2008-08-28 | 2012-03-11 | Hsuan Chang Chiang | Power generation bicycle and the application there |
CN201283940Y (en) * | 2008-09-26 | 2009-08-05 | 久裕交通器材(深圳)有限公司 | Power generating hub |
WO2010145663A1 (en) * | 2009-06-15 | 2010-12-23 | Reelight Aps | Induction generator for a bi-cycle |
JP2013090559A (en) * | 2011-10-17 | 2013-05-13 | Tamio Miki | Power generation by rotating floating body object |
US8975886B2 (en) * | 2011-11-08 | 2015-03-10 | Texas Instruments Incorporated | Charging and distribution control |
-
2018
- 2018-08-22 EP EP18762796.3A patent/EP3673559A1/en active Pending
- 2018-08-22 WO PCT/EP2018/072683 patent/WO2019038335A1/en unknown
- 2018-08-23 TW TW107129485A patent/TWI783028B/en active
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TWI783028B (en) | 2022-11-11 |
TW201924178A (en) | 2019-06-16 |
WO2019038335A1 (en) | 2019-02-28 |
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