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Hydrogen Micro Turbine Only 4mm In Diameter

Posted by chrisd on from the small-is-way-cool dept.

savaget writes: "Luc G. Frchette of the Columbia University Microsystem Engineering Laboratory has developed a 20W electrical generator powered by a hydrogen turbine just 4mm in diameter. For more details, read the Wired article or an older Popular Science article. The tiny generator is more efficient than any battery and is expected to find military and commercial uses including robotics." Imagine the uses ...

3 of 353 comments (clear)

  1. Re:How'd you figure that out? by leucadiadude · · Score: 5, Informative

    Umm, Hertz equals cycles(or rotations) per second.

    (2.4E+06RPM (Rotations / Minute) / (60 Seconds / Minute) == 40000 Hertz

    Or 40KHz

  2. Re:Compressed hydrogen... by leucadiadude · · Score: 5, Informative

    H2 in gaseous form is NOT explosive unless it's in a mixture with O2 where it is about 4% to 85% of the mixture. Pure H2 is perfectly safe. And even if the H2 tank ruptures there is not going to be enough H2 to do anything. It might burn for a second or two and thats about it, most likely not enough H2 mass there to really do any damage (beyond the device it's in). Certainly not enough to cause an explosive misture in a large enough volume of air to matter.

    And since this tank is gonna be small, it can be made really freakin tough. Think about how tough a good quality propane cigarette lighter tank is.

  3. For you engineering types by DaoudaW · · Score: 4, Informative

    Most micromotors demonstrated to date have simply succeeded to overcome the viscous drag on the rotor, leaving no power to drive other com-ponents and limiting their use for low-load actuation.

    Luc Frechette just published ASSESSMENT OF VISCOUS FLOWS IN HIGH-SPEED MICRO ROTATING MACHINERY FOR ENERGY CONVERSION APPLICATIONS in which he lays out the constraints of micro-motors and how he hopes to overcome them.