New Concept Generators Not Powered by Sun or Wind...but by Air Vibrations?
New Concept Generators Not Powered by Sun or Wind...but by Air Vibrations?
Posted 03/24/2010 at 6:31pm
| by Ryan Whitwam
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Sure, you could count on wind or solar to power the future, but why not something more unlikely, and therefore more interesting? A new power generator created at the University of Michigan uses ambient vibrations in the air to generate power. Even distant sounds or a human walking around with it can cause the cells to pump out juice. They don’t currently make much power, so don’t think you’ll have one in your laptop or smartphone anytime soon, but smaller electronics could benefit.
The technology works by utilizing a piezoelectric material that produces a current when stressed. The breakthrough here is that any vibrations can activate the device. Previous versions required predictable “periodic” vibrations. As it stands, the generator can produce 0.5 milliwatts just by being carrier around by a human. That’s more than enough to power a pacemaker or a watch. We’re certainly holding out hope that the capacity increases in the future
Image via Physorg
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Quinid
March 25, 2010 at 12:20am
Well you never know. Maybe not cell phones, but maybe future super efficient mp3 players? or an alarm clock?
As things get more efficient I can see it having a use.
I'd like to see how much power it would create in say, a factory or other places requiring ear protection.
1337Goose
March 24, 2010 at 7:39pm
What the hell, immediately comes to mind. This seems terribly impractical, air vibrations carry an incredibly small amount of energy (insanely small). If it's really getting juice from air vibrations, I doubt it will ever be able to push out enough energy to even boil a cup of water.
~Goose
I Jedi
March 24, 2010 at 8:49pm
I agree with you, Goose. I don't see this becoming a very viable alternative to our current energy use. Air vibrations don't produce enough energy to meet our needs. Although, like the article said, perhaps this tech. could be implemented in smaller things, like watches.
Scootiep
March 25, 2010 at 5:44am
Goose, Jedi is right, you missed one of the most important statements of the article: " the generator can produce 0.5 milliwatts just by being carrier around
by a human. That’s more than enough to power a pacemaker or a watch." That alone holds huge promise for the medical field as well as many other small electronics. Depending upon the shelf life of the material used, you could potentially have batteries for small electronics that would NEVER die. Sure it's not going to power an iPhone or nettop, but it does have major potential.To start press any key...ohh, where's the "Any" key. - Homer Simpson
1337Goose
April 02, 2010 at 3:30pm
Thanks for pointing that out. I suppose you're right, it does hold a lot of promise for very low power devices.
For some reason, I wasn't thinking about technology beyond general purpose consumer electronics. It's a niche market, but it certainly could be useful. Thanks again for bringing that to light.
~Goose
athlon11
March 24, 2010 at 7:39pm
Ok, this article pisses me off because they quote it as being U of M's research center for Wireless Integrated Microsystems when it isn't. WIMS is a joint effort of 3 universities in Michigan, U of M, Michigan State and Michigan Tech with it being an equal partnership, it is not U of M's center.
suniahk
March 24, 2010 at 6:56pm
Imagine what you could do with something like this on a larger scale. Having a room full of these in a manufacturing plant, or even a power plant, could very well act as a supliment to existing power generation. I wouldn't hold my breath for this to be a frontline solution, but it certainly would be possible, down the road.
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