The present invention refers to an info- mobility and/or diagnostic system, in particular adapted for multi-node wireless logistic and vehicle applications, self-supplied by an improved vibration-type harvester device.

The present invention further refers to an improved vibration-type inductive magnetic harvester device with magnetic suspension for supplying such system and the modules of such system.

As known, an harvester is a device that is able to capture energy from external sources present in the surrounding environment (sun energy, heat energy, kinetic energy from vibrations, etc.) and transform it into electric energy that can be exploited, for example, by other user devices or electronic systems. It is therefore evident how the environment advantageously is an abundant source of energy, if compared with the amount of energy that can be stored in common accumulators such as batteries, capacitors and the like.

In particular, among the various energetic sources that can be used, vibrations can be advantageously exploited for making harvester devices: in fact, when a device is subjected to vibrations, it is possible to use an inertial mass suitably connected to an electric transducer to transform the kinetic energy into electric energy. During these years therefore harvester devices have been developed that are able to transform the kinetic energy provided by vibrations into electric energy by exploiting different types of operation based, for example, on the piezoelectric principle, the electrostatic principle (by using capacitors with parallel plane faces) or the electromagnetic principle (by exploiting the electromagnetic induction phenomena) . Known harvester devices in the art are disclosed in US7498681, US7569952, US6984902, US2004075363, DE102009041023,

KR20080046613, US2008129147 , WO2008085636,

WO2011061215, US2011109102 , WO2011042611, WO2009099658, O2009039293, US7839058, The mentioned devices are related to kinetic energy, piezoelectric and inductive harvester devices. The main application limit that can be found when using such harvester devices, also demonstrated by the scientific literature about this subject, is the difficulty of taking the harvester device to resonate in a desired freqyency range tuned with the mechanical system on which it is installed, and at the same time minimise the dampening in order to maximise the vibration energy converted into electric energy. The diagnostic and wireless sensors network applications within the mechanical systems have the majority of vibration energy at low frequencies. The proposed solutions, instead, with piezoelectric harvesting application, have a very high frequency range and very low efficiencies in real cases.

In particular, an harvester device of the electromagnetic type is generally composed of a permanent magnet securely connected to a spring and surrounded by a series of windings made of a conductor material, making thereby possible to convert the magnet vibrations into electric current on such windings by electromagnetic induction. Such devices however still have some inconveniences related to their complex manufacturing, to their difficult integration with other devices and, above all, to the capability of exploiting all or a major part of the frequency spectrum. In fact, obviously, every type of vibration has a characteristic frequency content and known devices prearranged for collecting vibration energy are not yet able to be adapted to all frequencies of interest to obtain maximum efficiency.

Moreover, the presence of mechanical suspensions, and of connection systems made vibrate such as springs, increases the chance that the harvesting system, subjected to numerous cycles, cannot be reliabile in time due to mechanical fatigue reasons.

The mentioned devices and those described in literature do not exploit the principle of the optimised magnetic suspension with chambers equipped with suitable vents from the point of view of the dynamic and dampening behaviours.

The art moreover have proposed autonomous systems that use harvester devices for their own energy self-supply: such systems are particularly interesting since, being energetically autonomous, are able to operate also in environments that can be reached with difficulty by the traditional supply sources and are, therefore, a major solution in environments lacking supply networks or batteries. Systems supplied by harvester devices known in the art are disclosed in WO2010100582 , US2006170217, MX2010001008 , US2010090656,

US2009309538, WO2009097485, KR20080031391.

In particular, Wireless Sensors Networks (WSN) supplied by harvester devices are currently the most interesting technology for monitoring both internal and external environments. The use of harvester devices in fact is the only possible solution to do without the need of supply networks and batteries, and arrange, in this way, autonomous sensor nodes, operating in the long run (theoretically infinitely) , that once installed do not need any particular care ("fit and forget") .

The art however does not propose any info- mobility and/or diagnostic system that is able to provide sensing, measure and localisation functionalities in self-supplied mode and with the chance of an integrated multimode interfacing capability, also through a self-supplied infomobility unit. Therefore, object of the present invention is solving the above prior art problems by providing a self-supplied info-mobility and/or diagnostic system, for applications with moving systems applications, that allows providing a self-supplied sensing functionality, being equipped with an improved harvester device with preferably asymmetric magnetic suspension, consequently improving the prior art devices with traditional spring-type suspension, since the spring mechanical element is removed, which is subjected to breakage due to fatigue, thereby increasing the reliability of the device and guaranteeing a longer stroke of the moving magnet in its oscillating motion, due to the presence of at least one fixed magnet, which operates as suspension with suitable vents for the fluid contained in the guiding channel in order to reduce the fluid dampening of the system (as instead occurred in prior art devices), in such a way as to minimise the dampening due to fluidic frictions, thereby maximising the mechanical power which can be transferred to the electric transducer (winding) that is translated into a higher efficiency of the generator.

Moreover, an object of the present invention is providing an harvester device that allows exploiting a greater amount of the vibration frequencies spectrum with respect to what is proposed by the prior art.

Another object of the present invention is providing an infomobility and/or diagnostic system, for logistic and vehicle applications, that is self-supplied by the above improved harvester device, which allows providing the sensing, measure and localisation functionalities in a self-supplied mode and with the chance of an integrated multi- node interfacing, with an improved and self- supplied electronic unit that allows communicating with a low-power local wireless network, and thereby re-trasmitting possibly and partially processed data to a remote concentrator/database through a geographic wireless network.

The above and other objects and advantages of the invention, as will appear from the following description, are obtained with an improved harvester device with magnetic suspension as claimed in claim 1.

Moreover, the above and other objects and advantages of the invention are obtained by inserting the above, suitably sized harvester device in a modular self-supplied system for a wireless sensors network as claimed in claim 12.

Moreover, the above and other objects and advantages of the invention are obtained by inserting the above, suitably sized harvester device in a modular self-supplied infomobility and/or diagnostic unit as claimed in claim 13.

Preferred embodiments and non-trivial variations of the present, invention are the subject matter of the dependent claims.

It will be immediately obvious that numerous variations and modifications (for example related to shape, sizes, arrangements and parts with equivalent functionality) could be made to what is described, without departing from the scope of the invention as appears from the enclosed claims.

The present invention will be better described by some preferred embodiments thereof, provided as a non-limiting example, with reference to the enclosed drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of a preferred embodiment of the self-supplied wireless sensor network module (10) according to the present invention;

- FIG. 2 and 2bis show a block diagram of a preferred embodiment of the self-supplied infomobility and/or diagnostic unit according to the present invention;

FIG. 3 and 3bis show a block diagram of a preferred embodiment of the system according to the present invention;

FIG. 4a and 4b show a schematic side view of the vehicle application in the railways sector of the system according to the present invention in a possible use mode;

FIG. 5 shows a schematic top and perspective view of the system according to the present invention in another possible use mode;

FIG. 6 shows a sectional and perspective view of a first preferred embodiment of the improved harvester device according to the present invention; and

FIG. 7 shows a schematic perspective view of the improved harvester device according to the present invention coupled with parallel guides.

In general, the proposed system according to the present invention is adapted for the measuring and monitoring function of physical parameters on board of vehicles without the need of a cable electric connection nor the presence of energy storage such as, for example batteries. It will be wholly evident for a skilled person in the art that the scope of application of such system are multiple and can range from the simple monitoring of on-board parameters in positions that can be reached with difficulty, to traditional measuring and sensing systems, above all due to electric supply difficulties such as, for example, temperature and acceleration, to vehicle space localization for geo-reference and inertial navigation purposes.

With reference then to FIG. 1, it is possible to note that the wireless sensor network module 10, self-supplied by the harvester device 3 according to the present invention as described below in more detail, comprises

at least one of such magnetic inductive harvester devices 3, adapted to transform kinetic energy of vibrations 5 captured from the external environment, such as for example vibrations generated by a moving vehicle, into electric energy;

temporary electric accumulating means 7, comprising for example a backup battery, adapted to store at least temporarily the electric energy produced by the harvester device 3;

detecting means 9 of environmental parameters, such means 9 being preferably composed of at least one sensor or sensor platform;

first means 11 for transmitting measures of the environmental parameters detected by such detecting means 9: it is possible to provide that such first means 11 are also equipped with capability of receiving data from the outside;

The system 1 according to the present invention is therefore able, in a way that is self- supplied by environmental vibrations, to detect and transmit outside some type of physical quantities detected by the detecting means 9. Such self- supplied system, by means of an improved magnetic inductive harvester device, that can be suitably dimensioned and miniaturised, can then refer to a device to be integrated in a mechanical component in order to measure a localised physical parameter of the mechanical system. In this case, the system integrates and provides, in order to be inserted in a wireless sensor network, first (low-power) wireless transmitting means made in order to transmit the measured quantities to a concentrator (unit) 20 or 21 inside a confined environment (for example, a vehicle, an hoist, a telescopic machine, a train, a truck, an operating or an automatic machine) . The concentrator or unit, that can be self-supplied 20 (FIG. 2) by providing it with the same magnetic inductive harvester device, suitably scaled from the energy and dimensional points of view, made for example as a unit, or can be not self-supplied 21 (FIG. 2bis), will be placed from the wireless node at a distance on the order of magnitude of meters. The unit 20 or 21 could possibly be equipped with a memory/processing unit in order to save measured data and perform a first processing .

The transceiver bridge means 11 and 13 have in particular the function of transmission bridge and their task is making usable the measures of environmental parameters obtained from such detecting means 9 on external communication networks 15, for example for using such measures either locally 15a, or on local/geographic networks 15b.

Preferably, the first transmitting means 11 locally send the measures in a wireless mode with low-power transmission of the RF type (for example by exploiting the ZigBee protocol) to the unit 20 equipped with a receiving system 11 and transceiver bridge means 13. Preferably, the infomobility unit comprises geopositioning and localisation systems and transceiver bridge means 13 equipped with high- energy and high-consumption wireless transmission means, on local or geographic wireless networks (GPS, GRS, GSM, UMTS, WiFi) .

Advantageously, at least the harvester device 3, the temporary electric accumulating means 7 and the first data transmission means 11 can be contained inside the same containing means 10 in order to make a self-supplied integrated wireless sensor network 10 with data transmission capable of converting the kinetic energy of the vibrations 5 of the moving system into electric energy, thereby making available for user-parties an unlimited and autonomous energy reserve obtained from external sources .

Obviously, the type of detecting means 9 is variable and depends on their function; in fact, they can be composed of various types of sensors depending on the number and type of environmental parameters to be measures, with related control and conditioning electronics, GPS antennas for geo- referenced localization, etc. In the embodiment of the system 1, like the one shown in particular in FIG. 3 and 3bis, the detecting means 9 are preferably arranged inside the containing means of the integrated self- supplying wireless sensor network module 10; or possibly they are not equipped with an harvester device, due to encumbrance reasons, and in such case the means 9 can be supplied through the intermediate capacity offered by the temporary electric accumulating means 7 (backup battery) .

A first preferred embodiment of the system 1 according to the present invention, shown in FIG. 3, allows positioning various self-supplied detecting means 10', 10'', 10''', 10''' in different vehicle positions, thereby composing various nodes of a multi-node wireless network.

FIG. 4 therefore shows an example mode of configuration and operation of the system 1 of FIG. 3. In such configuration, the detecting means 9 are arranged inside the integrated self-supplying and data transmitting module, and are connected to the first means 11 in wireless mode. FIG. 4 shows as an example an application of the system 1 according to the present invention on board of railway convoys for transporting goods for monitoring on-board parameters for diagnostic and prevention purposes. The application on board the goods carriages 35 is dictated by the absence of on-board electrification for this type of vehicles, by the need of controlling operating parameters for diagnostic and reliability purposes in order to prevent structural yielding and for maintenance planning. In this case, the self-supplied detecting means 10', 10'', 10''', 10'''' are placed next to mechanical elements whose characteristics prevent their access with traditional wired systems, or do not allow an installation of the integrated self-supply and data transmission module due to encumbrance reasons.

The integrated self-supply and data transmission module (unit) with its related containing means 20 instead is placed on board the goods carriage 35, in a position in which there are no limits for overall sizes.

In order to satisfy the needs of particular applications (for example vehicles on rails), it is possible to assign different priorities to network nodes, in order to create local hosts (for example one per carriage) that control a sub-network of nodes (for example one per bush bearing) .

According to an alternative embodiment of the system Ibis according to the present invention, FIG. 5 thereby shows an example mode of configuration and operation of the system Ibis shown in FIG. 3bis. In such configuration, the detecting means 9 are arranged inside the containing means 10 of the integrated self-supply and data transmission module, such module being fastened rigidly or through electric suspensions to at least one container 27 for transporting goods on trucks or railways, in order to manage logistic and handling operations, detection and measure of physical quantities such as temperature or weight for traceability, theft-prevention in storage areas of containers, etc. In particular, the containing means 10 of the device are assembled inside the container 27 and take care of sending measures of environmental parameters detected by such means 9, such measures comprising, for example, geo- positioning data (for logistic functions), acceleration (for theft-preventing functions) etc. Such measures are therefore sent Ti in low-power mode through the first transmitting means 11 to the electric unit supplied through the network of transceiver bridge means (unit 21), in this case conventionally supplied by the electric mains 25. The transceiver bridge means 13 can be placed in the unit 21, for example, on the vehicle for transporting the container 27 in FIG. 4b or inside the structures 29 of the deposit terminal (as shown in FIG. 3) . Data collected by the unit 21 can thereby be transmitted T ₂ with high power on the geographic network, for example the traditional GSM network, and shared on web or through other data- sharing local network. The transceiver bridge means 13 can then comprise at least one low-power receiving antenna 15a adapted to receive measures sent with low power through first transmitting means 11 and at least one high-power transmitting antenna 15b adapted to re-transmit such measures on the external communication networks, such as the above traditional mobile phone network.

The configuration of the system 1 according to the present invention of FIG. 3 and 4a can also, for example, be adopted for the logistic management of containers 27 on board railway convoys: in this case, the detecting means 9 are physically connected to the remaining parts of the system 1 and location data are first transmitted to the locomotive where there are the transceiver bridge means 13 supplied by the energy of the locomotive itself, that then take care of sending them on GSM network, web or other local network. Obviously, due to the multi-node nature of the system 1 according to the present invention, it is also possible to solve the reduced transmission power of the first transmitting means 11, above all in case of long railway convoys in which the containers that are remotest from the locomotive can be prevented from reaching in transmission the transceiver bridge means 13; in this case, it is possible to provide that localization data are transmitted in bridge mode from container to container along the convoy till an enough distance is reached for getting to the transceiver bridge means 13 arranged on the locomotive .

The system 1 according to the present invention like the previously-described one allows obtaining the above-listed advantages, above all due to the presence of an harvester device 3 that allows the electric self-supply. In order to allow however such system to operate at maximum efficiency, the harvester device 3 must be able to transform the majority of frequency spectrum band of the vibrations 5 generated by the vehicle into electric energy. For such purpose, the present invention further deals with an harvester device 3, like the one for example shown in FIG. 5 and 6, that is able to transform kinetic energy into electric energy and in particular the kinetic energy deriving from mechanical vibrations on-board the vehicles or transport means, or moving parts thereof, through a transduction of the electromagnetic inductive type.

The harvester device 3 according to the present invention therefore comprises at least one magnetic levitation guide or chamber 51, preferably made of non-magnetic material, equipped with at least one vent 68 for making fluid present inside the above chamber go out, and, on its lower side, with a related fixed magnetic means 53: inside such chamber 51 at least one moving magnetic means 55 is further slidingly arranged, suitably oriented in polarity to be placed in magnetic levitation above the respective fixed magnetic means 53. In particular, in such chamber 51, both the fixed magnetic means 53 and the moving magnetic means 55 have axial (and not radial) polarisation, such means 53, 55 being mutually oriented in such a way as to oppose the two faces with the same polarity in order to generate a repulsion force. Moreover, such chamber 51 is equipped with at least one coil 59 made of electrically conductive material and concatenating the magnetic field of such magnetic means 53, 55: the number of coils 59 is suitably computed.

Preferably, such chamber 51 has a cylindrical shape (similar to a tube) equipped with at least one vent 68 for making the fluid present inside the above chamber go out.

Preferably, in the harvester device 3 according to the present invention, there is no magnet placed in the upper part of the guide, thereby obtaining a magnetic suspension of the asymmetrical type, based on the magnetic interaction with the same polarity between the moving magnetic means 55 and the only fixed magnetic means 53 arranged lower: in parallel, the generation of energy is determined by the magnetic inductive interaction between the moving magnetic means 55 and the coil 59.

It must be noted how the asymmetrical magnetic suspension obtained between the fixed magnetic means 53 and the moving magnetic means 55 is characterised by a very low stiffness with respect, for example, to the stiffness of the spring-type mechanical suspensions of prior art harvester devices: this allows making magnetic transducers oscillating at low frequencies (namely those frequencies of interest for working conditions) , reducing the masses and therefore the global sizes of the harvester devices 3 according to the present invention.

An asymmetrical magnetic suspension is used in the present invention to allow the vibration stroke of the magnet in a moving chamber and the movement through the coils increased in stroke and speed. On the opposite part, an elastic rubber bump-stop is simply placed, that allows the return due to the gravitation force or the external forces.

The vents 68 obtained in the magnet sliding chamber are useful from the point of view of dynamic and dampening behaviours: this implies, advantageously, a reduction both of the mechanical and of the fluidic dampening (also the "piston" effect that the moving magnetic means 55 performs in its motion is removed, when the external diameter of the moving magnetic means 55 and the internal diameter of the internal sliding guide 52 are equal, apart from the tolerance that allows the sliding without interference) and therefore a stronger mechanical power that can be transferred to the coil 59 with consequent increase of the generated electric power.

In another alternative embodiment like the one shown for example in FIG. 7, the harvester device 3 according to the present invention comprises a plurality of such guides or chambers 51, each one equipped with at least one vent 68 for making the fluid inside the chambers 51 go out, each one of such chambers 51 being equipped with its related moving magnetic means 55, fixed magnetic means 53 and coil 59 as previously described.

Preferably, such magnetic levitation chambers 51 of the above plurality are arranged side by side in parallel, such magnetic levitation chambers 51 further having mutually different and suitably sized diameters. Obviously, each fixed magnetic means 53 and each respective moving magnetic means 55 ^" · have shape and sizes compatible with the shape and sizes of the respective magnetic levitation chamber 51 inside which they are placed. In particular, such moving magnetic means 55 have mutually different and suitably computed heights. In such embodiment, each one of the chambers 51 can also operate as external sliding guide of the related moving magnetic means 55. Due to their intrinsic nature, the vibrations of vehicles, transport means or parts thereof are characterised by rather wide spectra, whose parts with higher energy content is concentrated at medium-low frequencies (lower than 100-200Hz) . The frequency of the excitation vibration is continuously variable in time, depending on many parameters such as, among the others, structural properties of the means and its parts, route characteristics, speed, etc. The presence inside the harvester device 3 of FIG. 7 of a series of magnetic means 55 moving in oscillation along their respective chamber 51 and having different geometries (and therefore resonance frequencies) allows suitably covering the band-width of interest and advantageously maximizing the electric generation on at least one of the coils 59 under any work condition.

The harvester device 3 according to the present invention is further equipped with a supporting and containing structure 57, preferably made of a diamagnetic material, in which the single guide 51 of the device 3 of FIG. 5 and 6 or each guide of the device 3 of FIG. 7 is fastened. In particular, the supporting and containing structure 57 comprises at least one base 56, preferably made of a non-magnetic material inside which the internal sliding guide/s 51 is/are inserted.

The harvester device 3 according to the present invention can further comprise, possibly also arranged inside the supporting and containing structure 57 :

temporary electric accumulating means, comprising for example at least one backup battery;

means 58 for transforming the generated electric energy, adapted to transform the electric voltage from alternate to direct, in order to be able to transfer it efficiently and with high efficacy to such temporary electric accumulating means ;

managind means 61: in particular, such managing means 61 comprise means for rectifying electric current, such rectifying means preferably comprising diode bridges and integrated circuits of the step-up/step-down type in a number equal to the chambers 51: alternatively or in addition, such managing means 61 can comprise means for stabilising electric current, preferably comprising capacitors in a number equal to the chambers 51.

Each one of the coils 59 placed around its respective chamber 51 is then connected to a related diode bridge or a related integrated circuit of the step-up/step-down type, which is in turn connected, possibly by interposing such integrated circuit of the step-up/step-down type and/or such capacitor and/or the transforming means 59, to the electric accumulating means. The electrodes of the electric accumulating means are thereby connected to at least one connecting means 65, made for example as at least one DB9 port, that allows connecting the user terminals to be supplied with current placed outside the harvester device 3 according to the present invention. Also some connectors, directly coming from the coils 59 placed on the guides 51, can also be connected to the same connecting means 65.

Moreover, the supporting and containing structure 57 can also be equipped with displaying means (not shown) , composed for example of at least one switch connected to a luminous LED, that allow verifying the presence of charge inside the backup battery 63 above a preset threshold.

Once having subjected to vibrations the harvester device 3 according to the present invention, the moving magnetic means 55 in levitation, stressed by the external force of such vibrations, trigger their oscillating motion and generate electric current inside the respective coils 59. The produced current is of the alternate type, with frequency varying in time and identical to the vibration frequency of each magnetic means 55. Such current is rectified, for example by means of the diode bridge, stabilised for example by means of the capacitor and finally accumulated in the electric accumulating means, whose charge level progressively increases. As stated, preferably, such current is transformed from alternate to direct in the transforming means 58, before being transferred to and stored into the electric accumulating means.

The operation of the harvester device 3 according to the present invention is such as to provide, for example, for its assembling on board the mechanical or biomechanical vehicle system or the transport means or on a part thereof which is moving through, for example, at least one anchoring base 67 of the supporting and containing structure 57; assembling occurs rigidly, by means of bolting, or on a suitable elastic support (compo,sed, for example, of a platform on springs) depending on the characteristics of the external vibration.