Wind-powered Wi-Fi Sensors

Glenn Fleishman writes "According to an article at Indolink a 10-centimeter diameter windmill can produce the 7.5 milliwatts needed for a wireless sensor. The paper was published earlier (available as a PDF), but Nature magazine has apparently picked up the tidbit. The process flexes piezoelectric crystals to create a current. Although flywheels aren't mentioned in this article, it seems like a windmill, a flywheel, and a solar cell could in combination produce effective power in a range of conditions for remote wireless devices, including network relays obviating batteries entirely."

Comments

not enough power for 802.11

[j1m 5n0w]

802.11 cards typically consume around 1 or 2 watts. They are probably targeting much simpler radios, like those used in motes.

Re:Doing It The Hard Way?

[EnderWigginsXenocide]

Also found on the internet: " The piezoelectric generator is a much more efficient way of converting wind energy on a small scale than the conventional generators that create energy for the national power grid from wind turbines.

A conventional generator that used a 10-cm turbine would convert only 1 per cent of the available wind energy directly into electricity. A piezoelectric generator ups that to 18 per cent, which is comparable to the average efficiency of the best large-scale windmills, says Priya. "