POWER GENERATION FROM SPIRAL TORSION SPRING DURING OPENING AND CLOSING OF DOORS

This invention relates to "Power generation from spiral torsion spring during opening and closing of doors".

At present, the world is suffering from energy crisis. Also the fossil fuels are depleting day by day. In many countries, the overall power production is not sufficient to meet the energy needs of their present population. This can be clearly understood from the power disruption systems followed in the power distribution for domestic and industrial use. Thus to meet the power requirements of the growing population and the future, it is necessary to develop various power generation techniques using renewable sources of energy. Power generation from spiral torsion spring is one such method which can be used to generate power from various unused energy sources like Door openings, automobile steering, reciprocating work table and many more applications. Even though the power generation is less, when it is commercialized and globalize it can be used to save some amount of energy for the future.

The power generation device consists of a Spiral torsion spring. Rope pulley arrangement. Gear train. Spur Gear, Generator, control switch and a Battery. Spiral torsion spring is the main component of this power generation device. A Spiral spring is one type of torsion spring which stores energy when it is loaded and releases the energy in the opposite direction when the load is removed. It is fixed to a shaft which is again mounted on the frame. The spiral spring will be twisted by using the rope-pulley arrangement. The pulley will be mounted on the spiral spring shaft, while the rope will be connected to the moving part of the door. So whenever the door is opened, the rope will be pulled and simultaneously the pulley mounted on spiral spring shaft rotates thereby twisting the spiral spring. When the door returns to its original position, the load on the spring is removed and hence it starts to release the stored energy. This energy is converted into rotary motion of gears by connecting a gear train to it. The gear from the gear train having suitable torque and speed is selected and meshed with the gear on the generator shaft. Thus the energy release of the spring is used to rotate the generator shaft through the gear train. Power developed from the generator is used for charging a battery.

A control switch is used for controlling the charging and discharging circuit of the battery.

Referring to FIGURE-1,
The device consists of a Spiral torsion spring 2, Rope pulley arrangement 1, Gear train 3, Spur Gear 5, Generator 6, control switch 7 and a Battery 8. The spiral torsion spring is mounted inside the frame 9 for the coiling and uncoiling movement. It consists of two ends, one (outer end) of which is fixed to the frame 9 while the other (inner end) is mounted on a shaft which is supported by the frame 9. The first gear 10 of the gear train 3 is mounted on this shaft and can rotate freely about it. A Ratchet and pawl mechanism is used to connect the first gear 10 and the shaft in such away that both with will be engaged only when the spiral spring 2 releases its energy. The gear train 3 is also mounted on the frame 9 which consists of a series of spur gears 5,10,13 and compound gears 4, 11, 12 of different sizes mounted on different shafts connecting the first gear 10. A suitable gear 4 from the gear train 3 which has sufficient torque and speed will be selected and meshed with the gear 5 on the generator shaft. Thus when the spiral spring 2 releases its energy, this gear rotates the generator shaft. A battery 8 is connected to the generator output through a control switch 7 for charging .The twisting of the spiral spring 2 is done by using a Rope-pulley arrangement 1 mounted on the shaft of the same. The Rope-pulley arrangement 1 consists of a pulley and rope. One end of the rope is connected to the inside of the pulley while the remaining length of the pulley is wound over it. The other end of the rope will be connected to the starting point on the moving part of a Door. The entire setup will be mounted on the stationary part of the door, i.e. on the top or towards its side depending upon the type of door. Therefore whenever the door is opened, the rope connected to it pulls and unwinds the remaining length of the rope on the pulley, thus twisting (or coiling) the spiral spring 2. During this twisting operation energy gets stored in the spiral spring 2. Once the load is removed, i.e. door is fully opened and returning to its original position, the spiral spring 2 starts to release its stored energy. This energy is used up in rotating the gear train 3. Thus the generator coupled to the gear 4 on the gear train 3 also rotates, producing electrical energy. This electrical energy produced is used for charging a battery 8. A control switch7 is used to separate the charging and discharging circuit of the battery. Hence power can be generated whenever the door is opened and can be used for charging the battery.

Referring to FIGURE-2,
The gear 5 on generator shaft is meshed with the gear 4 on the gear train. This is because of the fact that, the gear 4 only contains the necessary torque and speed to rotate the generator shaft. The gears 10 and 11 have high torque and low speed while the gears 12 and 13 have high speed and low torque. So the gear 4 only can facilitate maximum power generation.

FIGURE-1 shows the connection diagram of various components.

FIGURE-2 shows the gear train arrangement.

Claims:

Having thus described the invention, we claim:

1. Power generation device using spiral torsion spring comprises of a frame, spiral spring and gear train mounted on said frame, a rope-pulley arrangement connected in a suitable way for coiling the spiral spring whenever a door is opened, a generator and a gear on its shaft meshed with the suitable gear on the gear train for producing electrical energy from the rotational motion of the gear train obtained from the energy release during the recoiling of the spiral spring, a battery which can be charged by using the electrical energy produced.

2. The mechanism as claimed in claim1, where in each gear on the gear train is made of brass and the spiral spring is made of hardened steel.

3. The improvement set forth in claim1, includes a ratchet and pawl mechanism for engaging and disengaging the first gear on the gear train with the spiral spring shaft.

4. The improvement set forth in claim1, includes the possibility of increasing the speed of gears in the gear train and hence the power generation by reducing the number of gears in the gear train. But this action will reduce the time taken by the spiral spring to release its stored energy compared with the initial case. So the number of gears on the gear train is suitably selected based on the required total energy release time.

5. The length of the rope in the rope-pulley arrangement is adjusted based on the stroke length of the door opening.

6. Power generation from door openings using spiral torsion spring is described and illustrated in the figures of the accompanying diagrams.