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"Crowd Farm" to Collect Energy?
Cain writes to mention that a couple of MIT students would like to harness the mechanical power of large groups of people. "A Crowd Farm in Boston's South Station railway terminal would work like this: A responsive sub-flooring system made up of blocks that depress slightly under the force of human steps would be installed beneath the station's main lobby. The slippage of the blocks against one another as people walked would generate power through the principle of the dynamo, a device that converts the energy of motion into that of an electric current."
I love this! If they install something like this on the streets around me I am going to send the electric company a bill for my time to generate their power ... what am I a giant hamster to them?!
-- Josh
"Whoopie! Man, that may have been a small one for Neil, but that's a long one for me!" - Pete Conrad
Because you only go through the turnstiles once, but you take thousands of steps through the station.
Use the mosh pit to power the amps! the phrase "Behold the power of ROCK" has more meaning now
Ask not what you can do for your country. Ask what your country did to you
A Crowd Farm in Boston's South Station railway terminal would work like this: A responsive sub-flooring system made up of blocks that depress slightly under the force of human steps
I have a better idea. Why not make a system that generates energy under the force of collapsing Big Dig tunnel sections?
The theory of relativity doesn't work right in Arkansas.
3 to 4 year olds.
We could power a small coutry if we installed these in pre-schools.
Space Cadet
Wow... hook one of those up to my keyboad.... Well, just my delete key would generate a few megawatts of power.
-Unresolved symbol? Byte me!
Quit trying to steal my energy. I'm fat on purpose, you insensitive clod!
Why not just install wool carpets, make everyone take their shoes off and walk around in fuzzy socks. Then, they can touch special metal plates to donate their built-up static charge to the grid.
And for fun, they can make ramps without carpeting, for sliding down. Go back up, build up a charge, discharge and slide down again. I'd be on that all day!
The slippage of the blocks against one another as people walked would generate power through the principle of the dynamo, a device that converts the energy of motion into that of an electric current.
Ever walked in sand? It's many, many times slower and harder. So what are they going to do with travellers that are already exhausted from travel? Piss them off with a hard-to-walk-on floor. There's also NEVER 30,000 people in South Station; where did they get that number from? Let's put this in perspective: Fenway stadium, average summer weekend game, is ~30,000 people. Even at peak commuter rush hour, I think you'd be hard pressed to find even one TENTH that number of people at any one time.
The electric current generated by the Crowd Farm could then be used for educational purposes, such as lighting up a sign about energy.
Wow. Oh. Wow.
The MBTA (which is BILLIONS of dollars in debt) and Amtrak (same...) have much bigger priorities than some stupid concept like this. How about PA systems which actually work (and don't broadcast "please report suspicious packages, safety is our NUMBER ONE PRIORITY!" every 2 minutes), bus fareboxes which work in cold weather, online lookup+refilling of Charliecard balances, integration of Charliecards into the parking garages, or online bus status? (the busses have been equipped for years with such a capability.)
Or even the "signaling" systems in the orange line which are constantly broken, or replacing more cars on the green line (the newer cars use much more efficient motors which are also capable of regenerative braking), same for the red line. The entire orange and blue lines are also non-regenerative braking as well.
Please help metamoderate.
You had me at sandwich.
because most people jump over the turnstiles. :)
Some company in denmark is working on dance clubs that would work in a similar fashion (lights and volume powered by the activity on the dance floor). They debuted a working prototype of the floor (10 meters square) at the Live Earth concert. I just heard about it, but it sounds similar: http://www.sustainabledanceclub.com/
"Those who believe in telekinetics, raise my hand" - Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
A lot of comments on this in the thread. Energy is conserved but the question is where does the energy go when you walk on a normal surface. If you have a solid immovable floor the energy you impart onto the surface through friction gets dissipated as heat (slight bending of the material, compacting of the earth...). If you could "dissipate" this energy into electricity it might not be significantly harder to walk on such a surface. Also, if these are just piezos than you are basically just bouncing on what feels like slightly softer surface and I don't see that as a big problem. The practical issues however are a different story (maintenance, efficiency, cost/benefit).
yes the energy has to come from somewhere, but wouldn't the plates act as a shock absorber, rather than the downward energy being absorbed by your shin, it's being depressed down. If anything, with the appropriate tension it'd almost make it easier/more comfortable to walk, similar to certain rubberized walking surfaces. less impact on your shins and knees. the energy that is being used already exists and is being wasted walking on concrete (being absorbed by the shin and knee). so the law of thermodynamics is maintained, it just converts wasted energy into useful energy.
If all the exercise machines were in use 10 hours a day for a year, the gym could generate roughly $183 worth of electricity. At that rate, it would take about 82 years to pay off the initial $15,000 investment.
There are two types of people in the world: those who divide people into two types and those who don't.
Because Boston no longer has turnstiles for their subways. They have little "High tech"doors which open when you swipe a Charlie Ticket.
The First Law of Thermodynamics states that energy cannot be created from nothing. I believe that applies in Britain as well as the U.S., so the energy to power those plates came from somewhere. To wit, from the automobiles. The Second Law of Thermodynamics tells us that any time energy is transferred, some will be lost to entropy. Essentially such a device is A) using petrol in the cars to power the streetlights, and B) doing so less efficiently than would be putting petrol in the street lights and burning it there. It's a waste of fuel; indeed, a waste of dirty-burning fuel that creates CO2 (a greenhouse gas) and NO2 (smog). A horrible idea.
[Sir Garlon] is the marvellest knight that is now living, for he destroyeth many good knights, for he goeth invisible.
the japanese already have such a system http://www.japanfs.org/db/1667-e
And, more importantly, because, as Confucius say:
Man who go through turnstile sideways, is going to Bangkok.
Apology to Ubuntu forum.
I'm not a Troll, it's reverse psychology.
Forget dance clubs- put these in child daycares and you could probably close half the power plants...
Instead of tiles and dynamos, which would be constantly creating an uneven surface and making things difficult for children, the elderly, people in wheelchairs, people on crutches, etc., why wouldn't you just use a rubber surface with piezos on the underside?
When walking on a hard surface, the energy of each step is dissipated in the form of vibration, sound, and heat, most of which is absorbed by your legs. Walking on a slightly softer (not sand soft, though) surface, allows the surface to depress slightly, which absorbs most of the impact. The reason walking on sand is much harder than walking on a hard surface is that the sand moves out of the way when you push against it, causing you to exert more muscle effort to take the same size step. On a soft surface that has the proper "springiness", the floor won't move out of the way as much. The combination of springy floor and floors that bend slightly on every step is exceedingly comfortable to walk on. Ask anyone who's walked on one of those horizontal escalators in airports with the rubber belt instead of the escalator steps (I know there are some in O'Hare airport; I'm sure there are other places, too). You feel positively lighter.
If we attached hundreds of tiny piezoelectric devices per square foot on the underside of the floor, they will be able to capture the energy in the bending of the floor. The advantage of this is that the wiring infrastructure could be printed, like a circuit board, on the underside of rubber sections of floor, each of which could be swapped out for maintenance or replacement individually. Economies of scale would be in effect, since production of each floor tile would be identical to all the others before installation. Additionally, this floor might even be *more* comfortable than standard tile, and still allows for free movement of kids, the elderly, and the handicapped.
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