Slashdot Mirror
Using Air to Recharge Your Cell Phone
sanspeak writes "Now you do not have to look for a power outlet to charge your cell phones. Department of Industrial Design at Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi have come up with a mobile turbine which generates around 3 to 4 watts of energy - sufficient to charge a mobile phone. It costs around $4, fits in your pocket and runs on air ;-). What else do you want ?"
First impression of "in your pocket and runs on air" is this is charged by hydrocarbon emissions, i.e.
Logically followed by The device is best suited for coastal areas where the wind flows almost continuously.They must eat more lentils there...
"ahhhhh, go blow yer phone!"
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
...and with several air turbines, attached to your tinfoil hat...
Money that grows on Trees thank you very much.
Why not use Faraday's Principle of Induction like these LED torches or a windup charger? Both are independent of external factors.
Hanging out your phone from a car, bus or (shock!) train is pretty dangerous stuff, maybe superman will find this thing handy.
I hope they haven't patented this technology yet, 'cos I'm rolling out my air-powered fan next month.
Rock that crushes, Paper & Scissors that don't matter.
I can't wait to see people blowing into their phones before they make a call, unless they do what the article recommends:
The device will help mobile phone users charge their phones while travelling in a bus, a car or a train. All they need to do is -- place the turbine against the wind flow.
In other words, hold it out the window. Can they get sued when people drop their phones, or lose an arm while holding it out the window?
I Am My Own Worst Enemy
What about us people who never leave the house?
Great.. A cell phone that charges by air. Now all I need is a light weight air compressor with an efficiency greater than unity and I'll never have to plug my phone in again! At least, I won't have to plug it into anything aside from the turbine and the perpetual motion machine.
I still prefer the alternator strapped to a cat with a slice of buttered toast strapped to its back.
Karma: SELECT `karma` FROM `users` WHERE `userid`=138474;
Does it run linux?
Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by rulers as useful.
http://www.rediff.com/money/2005/feb/23spec.htm An indian guide to buying GSM phones...
http://chrono.posterous.com/
"It costs around $4, fits in your pocket and runs on air"
Is that a turbine in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?
The morons around me blabbering on their cell phones will now become the morons around me shouting at their cell phones over the "wokita-wokita" sound of all those air compressors. Thanks, that's just what I needed.
If all this should have a reason, we would be the last to know.
--dave
davecb@spamcop.net
They've found a way to turn the flapping of one's lips into energy.
This comment was thought up very late at night and does not necessarily reflect my views at a more reasonable hour.
It costs around $4 As an American Consumer, ofcourse I want it for free!
"There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people."--Howard Zinn
I once thought that it might be an interesting idea to store compressed air in a tank and then let it out at a controlled rate to run a turbine.
In essence, the compressed air tank would be a battery (it would 'hold' the energy that was used to pump the compressed air in).
I don't know a lot of about high pressure tanks. Does anyone know if this would work at all? Would all the air come out too quick to make it worthwhile?
We've seen hand cranking chargers, now windmill charging... How long until someone packages and sells a DIY Dam & Hydroelectric Cell Charging kit?
Also, I understand that Iran is currently importing plutonium from Russia in an attempt to make a personal, portable nuclear reactor capable of charging cell phones.
I'm a big tall mofo.
To see it running in person on a phone that I already own and then have a place where I can order it :)
How long does it take to charge, and wouldn't you have to leave it somewehre with a constant air flow? Like, outside, or in front of a fan, or does it strap to your side so it uses the breeze when you walk?
I can just imagine someone talking and their battery's about to die, and all the other person on the other end hears is "Wait, my phone is dying...hold on a sec *blowing sound* Ok, now where were we..*blowing sound*...Oh yes, about the *blowing sound*..."
Don't take life so seriously. No one makes it out alive.
Hivemind harvest in progress..
I think it might be a little more correct to substitute "wind power" for "air" in the writeup.
Essentially, the idea is to incorporate a windmill to power the phone.
Saying the phone is "Air" powered implys (to me, at least) that some chemical reaction is taking place using oxygen or nitrogen.
It is a cool idea, and the article implies that normal winds are sufficient to power the cell phone.
If the generator is small enough to actually be part of a cell phone, I'd think that scaling the design up might make economic sense for generating normal electric power. Unfortunately, there weren't any specifics, so it is tough to make any extrapolations.
********* sig: If you don't like the law, get filthy stinking rich, and buy a better one.
I just realized, there are other good uses for "blow phones" too: simply add a breathalyzer to avoid those embarrassing late night drunken calls to your ex.
I Am My Own Worst Enemy
Tell me why if this model produces 3 - 4 watts of energy why they can't cover the blades of larger windmills with these things or better yet design the blades so they have edge holes with these things inside.
The wind blows the large blades which causes air to flow through the smaller fans.
Of course you could probably put up walls of these things in windy areas and get the same results.
Any thoughts on this?
"Bah!" - Dogbert
maybe a charger that not only works via blowing but sucking as well... specifically slashdot.
The best education consists in immunizing people against systematic attempts at education. - Paul Feyerabend
if I clip it outside the window of my car when driving on interstate?
Sweet informative mod.
...a blowjob.
"It costs around $4, fits in your pocket and runs on air ;-). What else do you want ?"
Yeah, try and explain THAT to the airport security guard when he pulls you outta the line
Watch the Teaser Trailer for "The Lightning Thief" Her
What else do you want?
Summaries that are closer to the reality of the article.
It costs around $4.
"The technique is not yet commercialised but the department has sent a proposal to the ministry of science and technology to help manufacture the turbine on a large scale, Das said."
What else do you want ?
How about original articles?
Slashdot | Turbine Based Cell Charger Runs On Air
Birmingham's dirty air would probably fry my cell inside of 40 seconds.
And I want it to stop all the Soviet Russia Jokes too.. And the ones about clods too..
They sell radios that can be charged by turning a crank, why not sell a cell phone charger that works that way?
"What else do you want?"
-wind?
"The device is best suited for coastal areas where the wind flows almost continuously."
How about just whirling in circles the dinky turbine by the cord by which it attaches to the recharging phone? Why bother waiting for the wind when you can wind your phone instead?
--
make install -not war
Wind.
I don't give a damn for a man that can only spell a word one way.
Mark Twain
Ahem... it does not run on "air", it runs on "wind". Big differece. If it ran on "air" you'd think it worked by burning oxygen, etc., which is definitely not what it does.
Sorry, had to be said...
END OF LINE
Compressed air is an interesting idea for storing energy.
But I have to wonder how it compares to the alternatives.
How about a capacitor bank and a hand-crank generator?
If you're out of compressed gas or batteries in the middle of nowhere it's hard to replenish your cell phone. Turning a hand crank would make use of cheap, available human power.
"Provided by the management for your protection."
Replenish your airtime with.. uhm.. some air time!
----
http://mentalfloss.ca - Free music that doesn't suck
... how people travel in India.
Mmmm.. Donuts
Why? Because people are suckers.
I thought everything was invented in the U.S.
there's this physics law that sais air gets hot when you compress it. If the tank is not insulated it will cool down to room temperature again and you lose quite some energy. There are however examples, there is even a car which runs on compressed air, and in the good old days of steam, they used comp. air locomotives e.g. in ammo factories and other places where you might want to avoid fire.
10 ?"Hello World" life was simple then
The application for this kind of thing where the electrical grid isn't pervasive, and where telephone systems have skipped past wired-lines and straight to cell-phones is obvious. Interestingly (to me), that includes recreational cycling and day-trips to parks & beaches here in the USofA. After all, if all I need to do to keep a cell-phone charged is to bolt a turbine like this to my bike, or stick it on top of my picnic-cooler, then it makes a cell-phone more attactive to me. (I'm a bit of a neo-luddite, I suppose, as I don't have one.)
If you never leave the house, you hardly need a cell phone, right?
That's $1 per watt, which is the holy grail of renewable energy technologies, being the approximate cost of conventional power plants.
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They're not talking about hanging the things out of car windows. A 12V adapter would be better for that, anyway.
Instead, they're expecting that typical environmental wind, especially that found on coasts, will work well enough. The idea is to ease communications access to areas without convenient electricity. (Mountain climbing, anyone?)
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Jewbagels. Hot toasty Jewbagels here!
Using this device, which sounds from the article like it can only be used while in a moving vehicle, actually does not produce free energy, as the car, bus, or train will experience more drag and thus use more energy. Assuming that this turbine is not a perfect theoretical turbine, the energy lost by the car, bus, or train will be more than ends up in the cellphone, due to the added drag of a turbine.
That'll do us a lot of good here in the US provided I can get the ice cold air conditioning in my Escalade cranked up on high to blow on your little charger.
I realize you designed it to work by sticking it out the window of that decrepit bus that you and 160 other people are riding on (or perhaps on top of)...
Another excuse for rude people to talk excessively loud in public!
"Please make stop him, Mommy..."
"I'm sorry, Sweetie... his batteries are not dying and he will not shut up!"
In Korea, only old people want to stop the country jokes, you insensitive clod.
Of course, no one posts country jokes...in Japan!
I don't know why people want to stop the running jokes so much. (Hell, bitching about the running jokes seems to be getting as bad as the jokes themselves.) Without our subculture, Slashdot wouldn't be what it is today. We'd probably all just sit around thinking of Natalie Portman while pouring hot grits down our pants...except in Nebraska.
Required reading for internet skeptics
That was really funny. It would be good for people who run in rodeos and then go home and ranch their cattle because there is a lot of wind on the praire and they would be riding around on horses, which is a lot of fun.
The wind would blow, and then the battery would get really recharged. They could talk forever:
Sample conversation
Customer service: This is a Sprint customer service person, how may help you?
Cowboy Neal: I would like to order some pizza
?
Customer service: This is not a pizza place, this is Sprint Customer service
Cowboy Neal: Oh, sorry, I just pressed some random buttoms because my battery is really charged up.
Customer service: Oh you have one of those new air chargers, those are really cool
Neal: Yeah, I like them a lot.
Sprint customer service: Hey have you played Zelda: The wind waker?
Cow Boy Neal: I hear it is awesome.
Sprint person: Can you hear me now.
Cow Boy Neal: Yes.
Chunky-style air.
--Rob
Its not an "air compressor".
So, a blonde would be able to charge it and talk on it at the same time? :D
You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life. --Winston Churchill
Though it'd have been nice for them to show us a prototype, I don't see any reason to believe that the turbine should be integrated into the phone itself. Any more than they've integrated the transformers in wall-wart AC adapters into phones. So I assume we're talking about something that could be clipped onto a car window or a bicycle's handlebars, with a cord that would plug into the phone in your pocket or bag. Or for even more fun, it could be a bullroarer...
I aways wondered if this could be done. I consided hooking such a device up to the overhead air blowers they have on commercial airplanes to charge cell phones and laptops. There is probably a FAA law against this however.
HPC for Primates. Read Cluster Monkey
...Wellcome our new turbine wielding overlords...
"667 - Neighbour of the beast"
Can we create a revision of this turbine that accepts methane-based gases? That way, I don't have to worry about keeping a cellphone and turbine in my pocket -- one's rectum should be big enough to accommodate the charger/turbine and the cell phone should be able to slip in and out with ease!
What do you think? Would anyone use it?
Now you know why so many passengers in India sit on the roof of the train!
In Soviet Russia you don't want anything else, do you?
I for one welcome our new vengeful sith overlords.
What else do you want ?
Flying cars perhaps?
The Doormat
If you're not outraged, then you're not paying attention.
Having trouble restraining myself...
They have prototypes but you can't buy one yet.
http://www.theaircar.com/
If they could make a charging device that was powered by my six-year old's pure exuberance (sp?) for life.
meh
Not air powered, but in a pinch it serves the exact same purpose:
Hand Powered Cell Phone Charger
There are 2 kinds of people in this world. Those that can keep their train of thought,
Ah, but does it use new nanotechnology methods? I didn't think so.
Can you blow on it like a whistle to charge it?
Adolfo
Oh, yeah - whats with that stupid "Air Bender" cartoon. Bendit? Hell, I broke it! (just like the Wind).
Take a good deep sniff. That's Natural gas Baby!
This is an incredible step forward, but not for us people who can already charge our cellphones in our cars, in the office, and at home, and just want to charge them in the supermarket, too.
Think wider.
Think mine detectors.
Think Cambodia, Rwanda, Ethiopia.
People who really, really need some piece of low-power electronic equipment, and DON'T have four different charging stations already, and whom it will cost an arm and a leg - literally! - if they are careless.
Coming to think of it, I'm not surprised this comes from India.
I have a hundred of these, mounted on the roof of my Prius. Next...
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
Or, you could simply plug your phone into the cigarette lighter and charge it with electricty generated by the vehicle you are travelling in.
It sounded to me like this requires a relatively high volume of air movement to generate the electricity, certainly more than simply "blowing on the turbine" would produce.
For cyclists, it's probably better to use a wheel attached generator (such as those used to power bike headlights)
.... then we could have an electric powered car which recharges the battery automatically.
Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads
this idea really blows!
... to charge your phone from your car's battery!
Paul B.
...an american would never come up with this since we have an extremely reliable electrical grid... ...way to go
always mosh clockwise
I reckon many other places in the world are fairly windy, even if they are not a coastal city or some such.
The revolution will not be televised.
What kind of environmental impact does this have. Think of the number of endangered birds killed by flying into one of these windmills. I also read something about windmills affecting the local climate, sounds like more trouble then its worth.
turbine bu the mouth piece so it recharges as you talk into it? It'll never die!
no.
they idle as needed.
You friend must have heard the bleeding of the air brake system and made that silly jump to conclusion.
No air-turbines in semis.
Just what this world needs. Drivers are already driving badly talking on cell phones. Now they'll have one less hand on the steering wheel... the other will be holding their phone out the window!
Now the next time I'm talking on my cell phone in a wind tunnel, I won't have to worry about my battery life. Sounds like a Catch 22 to me.
The device will help mobile phone users charge their phones while travelling in a bus, a car or a train. All they need to do is -- place the turbine against the wind flow.
Why didn't I think of it! A way to use the power of my car to charge my cell phone. Ingenious!
Ironically, the word ironically is often used incorrectly.
I wish that the editors would only post stories that actually had some specs or detailed description of the tech behind new devices. Just a press release and some hype would only warrant a couple of sentences.
"Lack of technical competence coupled with the arrogance of power, as usual, leads to no good end."
I can just see the next version of the SCOTTEVEST with turbines on the hood, combined with the solar epaulettes... perhaps voltaic electrodes in boots for when trudging through salt marsh?
Design for Use, not Construction!
" GOOD!! "
MY SECRET DIARIES
Now if your cell battery starts to get low while chatting to your friend while driving, you can just crank up your A/C, roll down your window, and hold one arm out the window while you eat and change the radio station with the other.
Or for when your battery is a little low, but you just really need to call someone - you can blow on your phone for a few minutes, then pass the phone to a friend (if you have any left) and they can call 911 since you're hyperventilating.
Seriously, in public transportation - of the times when you can hold your phone up to a window - you might want to purchase some tshirts that say "I'm an idiot, steal my expensive phone after I get off the bus". Any other times, you should be able to find a much more efficient and timely manner of charging your phone. Windows down + A/C up == your car is burning excess energy.
cyn, free software and *nix operating systems enthusiast.
Now you don't have to go to the red light district to get a blow job...
-- Bird in the Bush: The Renewable Energy Blog http://www.birdinthebush.org
$0.02,
ptd
I'm an animal lover -- they're delicious!
Energy doesn't come free.
Suppose you put a turbine at the end of a windmill blade. How do you place it?
You want to place it so that the mouth of the turbine catches as much wind as possible, right?
But... by doing so, you take some of the energy that would otherwise propel the blade. So you steal directly from the main windmill blade.
And... along the edge? You add turbulence, further slowing the blade.
Inside the blade? Less extra turbulence, but it is much more obvious that you're robbing the main blade of wind that would be pushing it.
Now assuming you're willing to do all that, we need to get the power back up the blade, and into the grid. Wires and etc, and an inefficient connection between the rotating blade and the base.
An industrial windmill does generate about a megawatt. So how many of these turbines do you need, to replace one entirely? (you do the math) Picture the nightmare of finding the one that failed. And being a little thing, you'll be replacing it instead of repairing it...
Next: how much energy does it take to make your little turbine, vs how much it will deliver over its lifetime?
I would wager that in the larger scheme of things, the mini-turbines are less a net generator of energy, than another means of transferring energy from one place and time to another.
A torch.
There's nothing louder than a German on a cell phone.
Especially in an airport.
Think about it. Soon, people will be farting on their cell phones to charge them.
Imagine..
*LOUD FARTING NOISE*
Person 1:"Uh.. dude what are you DOING?"
Person 2:"I'm charging up my cell phone."
1:"Yeah ok!"
2:"No, I'm for real, dawg"
2:"Here, try it yourself"
1: *FARTS INTO CELL PHONE*
*Battery meter goes up by one bar.*
1: "Whoa, amazing, man! I gotta get me one of these!"
... but im constantly trying to keep my pone away from the wind wile i'm using it.
They must eat more lentils there...
yeah, right. 'those' guys, the ones you're degrading with the fart jokes.
they do eat more lentils there, yo. thats why they're generally fitter than your average consumerican slob.
; -- the corruption of government starts with its secrets. a truly free people keep no secrets. --
Is she willing to be seen in public with you wearing that? :)
A witty saying proves you are wittier than the next guy.
The part that I do not understand is:
The primary objective of the device is to extend mobile 'connectivity' where there is no electricity
If there is no electricity how do they power the cell towers ? Maybe big wind turbines ? I can see however how this would be of great for satellite phones. Not having to worry about your satellite phone battery sounds great, total freedom.
... or are you just happy to see me?
It would be so simple to put an air scoop on that was connected to an interior valve where you could put your device on and it would recharge from outside air.
Or you could maybe hook it up to the filter so the air was cleaner. Hell, drill a few holes in buses, put in a few of these ports, and watch people take more bus trips since they can charge their phones for free.
Buy Steampunk Clothing Online!
If you have your A/C up, why roll down the window? Put your phone up to the A/C! Or heck get one of those A/C vent cup holders and put your phone there. Heck, why not get a car-to-phone charger that is easily available at your local Radio Shack?
If you have your own vehicle, you don't need the turbine charger.
Until the conspiracy between the US gov't and other world powers that prevents usage of zero point energy to give unlimited free energy for things like charging my cell phone, I won't be happy. That is, why use air when you can use "110 orders of magnitude greater than the radiant energy at the center of the Sun" to charge a battery?!
Unless, of course, it were cubium powered. Ignoring cubium indicts you evil!
---------The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.
People are arguing where am I going to get this much air or holding out arms would be dangerous.
But people seldom realise where it will be used. Consider the Indian Subcontinent where it is not that cold and people mostly have two wheelers. This generates sufficient wind so as to not to stick your arm to charge the phone.
From TFA
"The primary objective of the device is to extend mobile 'connectivity' where there is no electricity."
As you might know if you are traveling and also true if you are at lot of places in villages where there is no electricity.
So before slandering the design or making jokes of it think of the geography it will probably make sense.
It's all a clever ploy to sell lanyard cables. Of course, you'll also need the fancy leather case that has the holes for the turbine and the lanyard cable. Naturally you'll want to color coordinate your lanyard cable with your belt/shoes or purse/nail polish.
"I'm not impatient. I just hate waiting." - My Dad
Policeman: Please blow into this straw for 5 secs or until the unit beeps. Driver: Policeman: Keep blowing.... Policeman: Keep blowing.... Policeman: Keep blowing.... Policeman: And stop. Driver: Am I over the limit? Policemand: nope but my phones now well charged!
I assume the inventor of this nifty turbine is that 17 yr old that ace'd the NASA "exam" right?
Because, I have a pill that I can sell you that will convert 13 to 20 gallons of H2O into any hydrocarbon based product... 1970's anyone anyone?
Comment removed based on user account deletion
...it takes 3 weeks of air moving at least 35 mph with a humidity of no more than 20% to charge it...and it's gone when you stop. This is going to be as feasable as the internal combustion engine that runs on water.
just using the cigarette lighter socket?
The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
This isn't new, hell, Paris Hilton's brain has been running on air for 24 years!
It runs on hot air, which scientists have found is constantly being channelled through cell phones.
NO IT IS NOT!!!!!! AUUGH!!!!
Okay, I'm sorry.. I just can't take it anymore. This is not an innovation by any stretch of the imagination (you say "portable turbine", I say "little windmill"). Second, the application and practicality are extremely limited. Let's look at the scenarios.
Scenario 1: You live someplace windy Supposing you take this turbine, stick out your window that receives good airflow in an area that has *continuous* wind (let's say you live in a lighthouse). Given the average cost of electricity, It'll take 25 hours of contuous charging to save yourself one penny. If this thing costs $4, it'll take 10,000 hours to pay for itself.
Scenario 2: You stick this on the top of your car Yeah, this will charge your cell phone, but conservation of energy says that the increased drag on your car will result in decreased fuel efficiency in equal proportion. Seeing as how your car already has a device that converts engine cycles into electricity (the alternator) you're better off just plugging in your car charging kit.
I'm all for clean power but a semester of physics tells you that there's little (or nothing) to be gained here. I hope I didn't offend the parent post, but I felt I had to bring about a reality check before somebody suggested charging their phone by clipping their turbine to an electric fan -- and then I would have to kill.
or did someone already make that joke?
how about taping into your local nike slave trading shoe shop and ask them to attach a small hose...say 5mm diameter run it up your leg to the turbine unit which is attached by clip to your belt that way whenever you take a step the air from you sole would spin the turbine .....if you run low on battery you just pace from side to side like i do on my phone anyways
WTF - Speak in acronyms already, i can't figure out what you mean otherwise boss
I notice that people who live in high RF traffic zones or who regularly use wireless tech are also missing out on a whole range of perceptive abilities which those who don't expose themselves are already beginning to take for granted. Those of you who know what I mean, know what I mean. Those who don't, can't.
-The choices you make today are who you become tomorrow.
-Let it happen naturally. If not, it will find a way to force itself into your life.
-FL
Well, here we have a device to power one's phone with air, and earlier we were introduced to the BatMax battery sticker, which was total snake oil. I suspect that by combining the two technologies, one could obtain a phone powered by snake gas... but then, of course, one would have to be exceedingly careful with it, to avoid breaking it and letting the magic smoke out...
I tried to find pictures of this device, but no luck.
Anyone know what kind of turbine this?
that showers and dresses me in the morning, irons my noose, gets me in the car, argues with my boss while getting a good cup of joe out of the machine, drives me home. changes me again. Puts me in some bad boy threads, takes me down the local bar, orders (and PAYS) my drinks, chats up women and see's me home OK - with the woman (women?) - then makes sure I wake up the next day with no trace of regret or hangover. Then we are talking.
.. however, you do realize that 40 people holding out their arms of the bus/jeepney/trolly with little turbine fans will only decrease the gas/fuel efficiency of the vehicle, thus not really helping us save resources at all. Man alive, do I have to think of everything around here?
I must go give my cell phone a blow.
As always, exchange rates are used without any thoughts of PPP.
The price of Rs. 200 is roughly $17 PPP.
Why??
...if it gets charged by the sound (energy?) coming out of our mouth while talking..the more you talk, the more the phone will charge...
--
I refuse to answer that question on the grounds that I don't know the answer.
With different "conclusions" you can "jump" to. Get it? It's a "Jump to Conclusions" mat.
Cool! Amazing Toys.
Well there is no need to bother about this claim.In india everything can be done.Like story of this guy who topped NASA's examination.(which NASA does not conduct) (This story appeared sometime back in the entire Indian media) http://www.indiadaily.com/breaking_news/25602.asp then this http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/102 3507.cms
(Times of India is considered to be the most reputable from India)
Now appears the real story on BBC.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4283733.stm
so wait for BBC :p
cheers
man, if that thing came out it would be sweet. im all ways running low on battery and i go hikeing/camping a lot so theres no power outlet.
"Have you tried staples?" - Bill Murray
There are 2 kinds of people in this world. Those that can keep their train of thought,
This is definately one of those shiny little things that you keep around as long as it takes the corporate world to release one with a camera.