The operating unit for a vehicle is provided with a housing and an operating element elastically mounted in and/or on the housing, wherein the elastically mounted operating element forms a spring-mass system having a construction-related resonance frequency. The operating unit is further provided with an actuator for pulse-shaped mechanical excitation of the operating element, and a control unit for controlling the actuator when manually actuating the operating element. The resonance frequency is, due to construction, above the highest cut-off frequency that can typically still be detected by receptors for haptic feedback and/or for tactile sensation of a person. The frequency spectrum of the mechanical pulse at the resonance frequency and/or at one of the harmonics of the resonance frequency has no frequency components in that the power density spectrum above the cut-off frequency is energy-free or substantially energy-free.

A condition monitoring system for monitoring a rolling element bearing. The system includes a signal processing unit and a vibration energy harvester. The vibration energy harvester provides an electromagnetic transducer. When vibrated, a coil moves relative to a static electromagnetic field to create power. To create a compact and efficient condition monitoring system, it uses the electromagnetic transducer also as a vibration sensor, a velocity sensor. The signal processing unit determines if the bearing has been damaged and in some embodiments also the extent of the damage. The electromagnetic transducer is attached directly or indirectly to the rolling element bearing.

A damping element for a rail vehicle including a first section for fastening to a rail vehicle and a second section for introducing a force acting horizontally upon the rail vehicle. A monitoring system for the dampening element including a sensor attached to the dampening element for sensing a change in a distance between the first section and the second section, a data memory, a processing unit designed to determine information regarding the change in the distance and to store said information in the data memory and a local energy supply device for the autonomous supply of the processing unit.

A damping element for a rail vehicle including a first section for fastening to a rail vehicle and a second section for introducing a force acting horizontally upon the rail vehicle. A monitoring system for the dampening element including a sensor attached to the dampening element for sensing a change in a distance between the first section and the second section, a data memory, a processing unit designed to determine information regarding the change in the distance and to store said information in the data memory and a local energy supply device for the autonomous supply of the processing unit.

An electronic watch comprising a timekeeper logic unit (42) set to control a display (50,54) of the time, and a controller (48), in communication with an external device (90) or with internet (99) through a wireless interface (68) of the watch, and a mechanical energy harvester system (25) set to transform mechanical energy deriving from the movements of a wearer to electrical energy, a power manager circuit for storing the electrical energy in a battery (30) and/or in a capacitor (32), and to supply the logic unit (42), the controller (48) and the wireless interface (68) with energy stored in the battery (30) and/or in the capacitor (32).

Kinetic energy harvesting devices are disclosed including, but not limited to, portable and stationary devices that generate electricity from motion resulting from any type of movement including human movement, movement of traveling vehicles, gravitational movement, and movement resulting from stored spring energy. The kinetic energy harvesting devices can be used for charging batteries and powering devices such as personal electronic devices and electric vehicles.

A linear electrical machine (LEM) comprising: at least onestator mounted in a housing, the housing and stator defining a working cylinder; a two-section central core within the working cylinder, wherein the two sections of the core are co-axial, separate and cantilever mounted within the working cylinder; a cylindrical stator bore cavity between the working cylinder and the two central core sections; and one or more hollow translators, each translator being axially movable within the stator bore cavity, such that each section of the central core is traversed by part of the one or more translators, thereby forming an exterior magnetic circuit airgap between the respective translator and stator.

The present disclosure relates to a method of tuning an electric charge extraction circuit of a vibrational energy harvester having a mechanical resonator, the method comprising varying, during a first phase, first and second parameters (ψ.sub.1,ψ.sub.2) of the electric charge extraction circuit based on detected harvested power (P.sub.HARVEST), each of the first and second parameters (ψ.sub.1,ψ.sub.2) influencing the amount of damping of the mechanical resonator and at least the first parameter (ψ.sub.1) influencing the resonance frequency of the mechanical resonator, wherein the first and second parameters (ψ.sub.1,ψ.sub.2) are varied during the first phase such that the amount of damping remains constant or varies by less than a first significant amount and the resonance frequency reaches a final level.

The present disclosure relates to a method of tuning an electric charge extraction circuit of a vibrational energy harvester having a mechanical resonator, the method comprising varying, during a first phase, first and second parameters (ψ.sub.1,ψ.sub.2) of the electric charge extraction circuit based on detected harvested power (P.sub.HARVEST), each of the first and second parameters (ψ.sub.1,ψ.sub.2) influencing the amount of damping of the mechanical resonator and at least the first parameter (ψ.sub.1) influencing the resonance frequency of the mechanical resonator, wherein the first and second parameters (ψ.sub.1,ψ.sub.2) are varied during the first phase such that the amount of damping remains constant or varies by less than a first significant amount and the resonance frequency reaches a final level.

Provided is a linear vibration motor, including: a housing having a receiving space; a vibration unit received in the receiving space; an elastic assembly configured to suspend the vibration unit in the receiving space, and a driving unit fixed to the housing and configured to drive the vibration unit to vibrate. The linear vibration motor includes a coil assembly and two first permanent magnets respectively provided at two sides of the coil assembly. The vibration unit includes one of the coil assembly and the first permanent magnets, and the driving unit includes the other one. When the vibration unit is static, a central axis of the first permanent magnet perpendicular to a vibrating direction of the vibration unit and a central axis of the coil assembly perpendicular to the vibrating direction of the vibration unit are spaced apart from each other in the vibrating direction of the vibration unit.