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Wind-powered Wi-Fi Sensors

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the self-sufficient-drones dept.

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."

9 of 89 comments (clear)

  1. not enough power for 802.11 by j1m+5n0w · · Score: 4, Informative

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

    1. Re:not enough power for 802.11 by EnderWigginsXenocide · · Score: 5, Interesting

      A sensor need not be on the network 24/7. When it's onboard memory has been filled to a certain capacity (say 80%) if fires up the transceiver and transmits to the network. You only need peak power on occasion. Give your windmill plenty of time to charge up a big capacator (or a small battery.)

      --
      Blessed are the pessimists, for they have made backups. -- 0 1 My two bits
  2. electric double layer caps by Montressor · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Flywheels? The simplest way to store power would be an electric double layer capacitor. No moving parts. They can come in up to 70F at 2.1V - that's 140 C of charge. At 10 mW of power, 2.1V is 5mA of current; that means that it can stay above 1.5V for 2 hours. If a higher voltage is needed, put the capacitors in series. And these are not huge devices. Here's a datasheet for one

  3. Remember those retro propeller beanies.. by Mechcommander · · Score: 5, Funny

    How about bring them back with a geeky Wi-Fi vengeance?

    Possibly even attach an LED headband to it to tell others how close to a hotspot they're in. C'mon, I see profits galore!

  4. Prior Art by karvind · · Score: 5, Funny

    Propeller Beanie hats :)

  5. Wi-Fi and Wind by Chrontius · · Score: 4, Insightful

    First, these aren't wind powered sensors that transmit over wi-fi -- they're wind-powered sensors that detect a wi-fi node nearby. There's a big difference in power levels there. The first sounds really nifty, and with lower-power radio systems would be really cool. The second sounds like something ThinkGeek will have on clearance in about two years.

  6. Wi-Fi by Montressor · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Will people stop applying this term to everything? Wi-Fi is referring to wireless LAN, not to any device that happens to use the radio spectrum. Use "wireless", or "radio", or "remote".

  7. Re:Doing It The Hard Way? by EnderWigginsXenocide · · Score: 5, Informative

    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. "

    --
    Blessed are the pessimists, for they have made backups. -- 0 1 My two bits
  8. Environmental effects? by Ritz_Just_Ritz · · Score: 5, Funny

    10cm?!?! You'll decimate the local Japanese beetle population! We can't have that. Somebody alert PETA!