Tuesday, November 10, 2009
A Personal Power Generator
A start-up will sell a gadget that uses springs and a magnet to recharge personal electronics.
By Katherine Bourzac
| An artist's rendering of the energy-harvesting device.
Credit: Tremont Electric |
According to NPR, a Cleveland startup called Tremont Electric will make a flashlight-sized device that converts energy from walking into electrical current for recharging the batteries in personal electronics. Springs inside the device bounce up and down, causing a magnet to oscillate and create an electrical current. The device is currently on pre-order and should arrive in time for Christmas.
From the NPR story:
Mobile electronic devices like the iPhone only require 2.5 watts of
power to fully recharge themselves, he [company founder Aaron LeMieux] says. "So, in the end, all we
have to do is harvest 2.5 percent of your human walking energy, without
you knowing it, and put it in your mobile electronic device."
According to the company's website, the device weighs 9 ounces and can produce 4 watts of power to recharge mobile devices at the same rate as a wall outlet. This would be a cool device to have while we wait for nanogenerators to get out of the lab and onto market.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Comments
In what way will nanogenerators replace this device or existing smart materials such as piezoelectrics or electroactive polymers? You would need billions of nanogenerators for the output that this generator produces.
If you are trying to claim that nanogenerators might be embedded into your clothing or something like that then that may be possible but such an approach could be taken with existing smart materials that are far more efficient.
Roy
11/11/2009
Posts:6
And I've always worried about strong rare earth magnets wiping out my credit cards - are the fields directed towards the coil with the opposite poles near each other, to confine the strongest parts of the field?
nradonic@com...
11/11/2009
Posts:7
http://www.squidoo.com/lcd-tv-comparison
LCDTVCOMPARI...
11/14/2009
Posts:1
I doubt that if you are able to charge at 4 watts from that device that you it will charge "without you ever knowing it"!
It might be good in a gym where you are actually energetically moving to activate that device.
But for casual walking, I doubt it will work.
I have more faith in a Dye-Sensitized-Solar-Cells covering a jacket than any "power-source-free" mechanical device for power generation.
azhrarn666
11/16/2009
Posts:1