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Georgia Tech Unveils Prototype Nanogenerator
Researchers at Georgia Institute of Technology have created a working prototype nanogenerator capable of generating as much as 4 watts per cubic centimeter of continuous direct current. The generators are green (to use), drawing power from natural motion in the surrounding environment. They are based on non-toxic chemicals and should be safe for use in biomechanical implants, but that's not their only potential use. From the article: "If you had a device like this in your shoes when you walked, you would be able to generate your own small current to power small electronics," Wang noted. "Anything that makes the nanowires move within the generator can be used for generating power. Very little force is required to move them."
That's pretty fucking sweet. Maybe this could be used to power wireless transmitters on your tire (tire pressure gauges), rather than using batteries or inductive power transfer.
I wonder though what frequency and amplitude gives you that kind of power output. This might not be quite as useful as it first sounds if it requires ultrasonic vibrations.
Think about it- at 4 watts per square centimeter. 40,500,000 sq cm to the acre. Find yourself a baren 1 acre field in the desert in Northern California that gets minor earthquakes all the time (and there are a few). Bury 40,500,000 of them, and attach them to charging massive capacitors, and put in a computerized matching inverter, and you've got a 162MW generating plant that has virtually NO environmental impact.
SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
Although I'm sure you were trying to be funny, this wouldn't work. The devices work on vibration. Where as windmills are designed to limit vibration. Vibration impacts the windmill's efficiency. Although there would be plenty of centrifugal force, there would be little vibration.
Depending on how little motion they require, line streets with them on both sides (or even under the pavement) and power street lights with them. The possiblities for hilarity to ensure are jut boundless.
Absolutely- this too is a variation on a power application I've heard about annecdotally here at my employment. Seems back in the 1960s, as they were pushing I-5 through Southern Oregon, they had a problem in the Rogue Valley. They laid down the road bed, came back the next morning, and found the local farmer had blown it up. Turns out it was a bureaucratic mistake- they hadn't actually bothered to file condemnation papers on his field. When they went to court to do so, he asked for no compensation other than to: a. Put a tractor tunnel under the freeway and b. be allowed to lay the roadbed himself. They were puzzeled by this second idea- until they saw him put down the roadbed- instead of just the normal layer of gravel, he put down a thin layer of gravel, a copper pipe zigzaged with the ends on one side, and then another layer of gravel. He then allowed them to pave over the top. To this day, the local school, his farmhouse, and the city hall are warmed from blowing air through that pipe; the combination of the traffic and solar heat on the roadway keeps a pretty constant 80F coming out of the pipe at all times.
SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.