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Talk-Powered Cell Phones Won't Need Batteries
alphadogg writes "It's possible that in the future conversations on your cell phone could generate enough electrical power to run the phone, without batteries.
That's one possible outcome of recent work by a team of Texas researchers, who appear to have discovered that by building a certain type of piezoelectric material to a specific thickness (about 21 nanometers, compared to a typical human hair of 100,000 nanometers), you can boost its energy production by 100 percent. And the technology could power not just phones, but a whole range of low-power mobile devices and sensors. The breakthrough is an example of 'energy harvesting' that can convert one kind of energy, such as vibrations or solar rays, into electricity."
That's why people are always shouting at them?
Just set it in a Pyramid and use pyramid power to keep it topped off. That is what they ancient Egyptians did.
Don't forget to call your Mummy.
Sorry about the writing. Robot fingers, you know? Cliff Steele in DOOM PATROL #23
Most modern phones are probably much too power hungry to be get enough energy from audio vibrations, even you manage to ramp up the efficiency close to 100%, which is unlikely to ever be practical.
Where this could be useful is in specialized low-power devices that get bundled into emergency survival
kits.
OTOH, future cellular devices might incorporate enough improvements into power efficiency (e.g., e-ink displays), such that you could significantly extend battery life and perhaps even power a very basic subset of the phone when the battery runs out.
Also, harnessing vibrations efficiently might be very useful in surgically implanted medical devices where replacing the battery can be rather inconvenient.
TurnKey Linux: if it can be easy, it should be easy
Wonderful. I can just imagine being in a restaurant or an elevator with a group of people with phones all saying "Low Power - please speak louder."
Have you tried turning it off and on again?
Combine this with voice recognition apps like www.vlingo.com and cell phones in the not-too-distant future will bear as much resemblance to current day phones as they did in 1990.
And, no I am not talking about the Matrix...ok...it crossed my mind.
I remember there was also a digital watch that worked on body heat. I could not find that one, but I found another, non-digital. http://www.roachman.com/thermic .
Fight Spammers!
These could be wall panel in loud factories and make the electric meters run slower....someday, maybe even backwards...wait....that darn 2nd law of Thermodynamics, again! Okay, slower.
Does this mean with enough teenage girls in the house you could get all the free energy you want?
Lets assume that a minimum channel capacity (bits/s) is required to support a conversation, even if we use the absolute best vocoder that eliminates all redundant information. Shannon's Law then says that for a given noise power (set by the environment) there is a minimum signal power which must be transmitted to get error free transmission. Again we are assuming we have an optimal codec, which achieves Shannon's bound. This sets the absolute minimum power consumption of an ideal radio telephone. A real life phone will use more than this. My guess is that this theoretical minimum power is greater than the power which can be harvested from the human voice.
I can imagine at some point in the future it would benefit us to produce these in massive quantities, gigantic vats 10 stories tall, thousands of incubators for these piezo powerplants.. load them up in special military aircraft and spray them far and wide.. across the great plains, the bread basket of america., absorbed into the living breathing cellulose of corn and wheat and soy beans.. through the miracle of the modern food chain all human beings would become self powering devices capable of extraordinary feats, possibly jumping tall buildings in a single leap? In the dark our eyes would glow and a vibrant radiance of glorious splendor would be self perpetuating at the local discoteks.
I don't know if this would work for me, because I usually just end up listening on my phone.
Yes, honey. Ok, honey. Will do, honey.
However Olivetti is working on a cellphone powered like a self-winding watch, by arm-motion.
...we had talk powered land lines.
Just hand these out to teenage girls and we'll have enough power to supply the entire world for all its needs.
-- Will program for bandwidth
Sweet. Only 5 years till I have to figure out that this causes brain tumors or not!
It's all fun and games till someone divides by 0. Then it's hilarious.
Wow, that is amazing!!!
Now if someone could tell me what the baseline of this increase is, we might actually learn something...
(seriously, does anyone know what the efficiency of current nano-piezoelectric power generators are?)
Don't you mean talk powered sea lines?
Can you hear me now? ...no? HOW ABOUT NOW?!?!!!!!
It is fully powered by the emanations of the mystical bs! Our marketing departments are now revenue generators (well, generators period)! Hallelujah for bspower! Finally, a cheap and ubiquitous energy source for the masses!
Current cell phone technology is perhaps four orders of magnitude away from piezo power. At ten times the piezo power level, say 10mW, you may as well use small cheap batteries. One non-rechargable AAA cell would run for approx 700-800 hours at those levels.
Engineering is the art of compromise.
I seem to recall a time years ago that a PC manufacturer (perhaps Compaq?) claimed to have developed a keyboard that could recharge a laptop battery by the kinetic energy of the key movement.
Yet for some reason we don't all have those...
Of course, very few people do much typing on their laptops now, but there are some people who presumably could have found it quite useful.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
Hey, my phone's running low on power, let me find some heavy traffic and big trucks so it'll be loud enough for me to hear you!"
Next thing you know you'll have to shake your phone to get features to work (oh, wait...)
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
So I can sing to power my mp3 player while I'm listening to it? Cool :)
Finally, a way to harness all the gas energy I produce on a regular basis.
...I'm just charging my batteries.
"battery's almost dying, I need to talk some more, let me call AOL and try to cancel."
As a maritime employee, I use sound powered phones on a daily basis. While they work great and definitely get the job done, they're always a little on the quiet side and tinny sounding. They generate just enough juice to get that low quality voice across. Even if boosted by 100%, I highly doubt that'd be enough for a cellphone, not one capable of doing anything besides just talking at least. There still would have to be some sort of battery in the device to allow you to dial and establish the initial cell signal. I could see some clever implementations of an improved piezoelectric device though. It'd help slow down battery drain if you're constantly on the cellphone at least a little.
The mW needed to transmit the cell signal? Or the power needed to illuminate the 2x2" full color screen with real-time GPS positioning, speakerphone, and fluid game play?
The former.. possible. The latter.. only if you put the phone in a paint mixer.
CommentBot 0.7a running with args "-module irritate,disagree -target random"
It sounds like talking will just provide a way to charge the phone... it's still going to need some sort of power source to be running when you're not talking into it. Isn't this more like an alternator for a car?
Bullshit, there is no way shouting would produce the required amount of power to operate a phone, theese things are very powerhungry.
Even if a voice isn't powerful enough, what about noisy environments? Outdoors beside HVAC equipment? Surely that'd be enough to power LED lighting or help solar panels trickle-charge battery banks?
Now that the talk part has been solved, we just need to work on the listening part.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
by typing on it?
Now every phone conversation can start a tornado or hurricane somewhere!
This is the worst kind of irresponsible technology. Idiots! The last thing we need is for the Earth to be bombarded by solar rays.
I'm filing my patent for my newly invented perpetual motion device.... in a dildo.
I think I'll call it the "Infinibrator"
It does not matter if they improve the microphone efficiency to exactly 100% The amount of power in any reasonable voice is miniscule at best. And most of the power is in the lower part of the register, where the sound wavelengths are several meters long. And to get even a fraction of the power out of a wave, you need a microphone at least a quarter wavelength across.
So even if cell phone microphones were a foot in diameter, they'd only capture a few milliwatts on voice peaks. And cell phones need a couple watts of power full-time to output a watt or so to the antenna. No way, Jose, and by at least three zeros after the "1".
With this new technology, I'm pretty sure my wife can power our entire house! Of course things will get pretty dark and cold when she's not home, but that happens already anyway.
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pickup_(music)
It could be possible if the battery powered the mic.
The current cellular network infrastructure requires RF power in the milliwatts. Even a 100% conversion of the acoustical energy would come up short by many orders of magnitude.
Using the same "it's possible..." logic you could come up with any number of highly improbably scenarios.
your cell phone battery dies..no fear because your cell phone can make at least one call if you shake it(like those flashlights)
A little googling found that: a cell phone requires something on the order of 1W (while in use). Speaking in a normal voice produces on the order of 0.00001W of sound energy. I don't think cell phone power requirements could ever get that low (unless the cell towers were much closer together). Interesting idea, though.
Prov 9:8 Do not rebuke mockers or they will hate you; rebuke the wise and they will love you.
How would you be able to receive a call without any power?
it's a very small amount of power in this, not to mention the fact that people don't always talk on their cell phone (some do more texting)
what i think would be better is having a weight that is off-center, which could turn a generator-thingy around as you walk (if you keep it in your pocket)
Those of us who think they know everything annoy those of us who do.
...no mo
...Lorenzo / I'm into kinky crustaceans. I just discovered internet praWn.
As if millions of cellphone users cried out "bullshit!" and were suddenly silenced.
My daughters would cause them to melt or explode!
Professional Politicians are not the solution, they ARE the problem.
With as much as my girlfriend talks, I should be able to power the whole house! Hell, throw in her sister and together they could power the whole neighborhood! The only downside is that I won't be able to come up with as many good reasons/excuses to get her to shut up. Time to invest in earplugs!-)
But you didn't take into account that THEY listen all the time, even when your phone is "off".
All that excess power is transmitted back to the phone company, who has peering agreements with the power company, and they sell back all that juice.
Some of the windbags I know will generate plenty of power...
My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my Father! Prepare to die!
Some back-of-the-envelope calculations: normal human speech is about 60dB. We know dB = 10 log(I/I0) where I0 is 10^-12 W/m^2. So 60dB works out to about 10^-6 W/m^2 -- that's a microwatt per square meter. With 100% efficiency and a mike of 1 cm^2 collecting area, that's around 10^-10 W -- 0.1 nano-watts.
Color me skeptical.
Unlimited growth == Cancer.
I wonder if it'd work for other vibrations like those incurred while pushing keys to text. "Must Twitter faster... phone's dying!"
My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
Some yahoo in a boombox car drives by and your phone explodes.
What if someone's mute and needs the phone only for sending texts?
"wut f all i do is txt? is my batery d00med? hope they stil sel pwr cbls. wut bout my genrashun? :("
That was the response from my brother when I sent a link to this news page.... Sad reality.
Living together with the wife and 3 daughters, our household might even be able to push some power back into the grid...
Behold, a new unit of power: Naggawatt
Table-ized A.I.
With this invention, the old phrase "Talk is cheap" is out of the window. Shoot whoever came up with that in the first place!
Also, as the technology grows and becomes widely adopted, the phrase "Power-talk" will make an entry into the English dictionary.
"The Oxford English Dictionary, 2012 Edition.
Power-talk(1) (n, adv) - The crude, despicable act of shouting into a mobile phone to power it up using piezo electric technology.
Power-talk(2) (n, adv) - The act of talking high and mighty with those less powerful than you to intimidate them or to display an apparent sense of superiority. As in, The power-talk by Barack Obama to Muhammed Ahmedinejad apparently had no effect on the Iranian leader, except to light up his mobile phone's display briefly.
If you don't succeed at first, try again. If you still don't succeed, try harder. If nothing works, try reality shows.
More details about the prototype of an existing voice-powered telephone system: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tin_can_telephone
If you assume normal human speech is about 60dB. We know dB = 10 log(I/I0) where I0 is 10^-12 W/m^2. So 60dB works out to about 10^-6 W/m^2 -- that's a microwatt per square meter. With 100% efficiency and a mike of 1 cm^2 collecting area, that's around 10^-10 W -- 0.1 nano-watts. (Thanks phliar for the calculations.)
Then utilize this energy using recent advances in String Theory, and you have a workable solution.
Here's a picture of a prototype.
Why stop to cell phones? If they could add a layer of piezoelectric material to walls, buildings, cars, etc...the entire world would be able to talk its way into powering itself. We would have turned noise pollution into something useful.
Perhaps it's by coincidence, but I recently read Robert A. Heinlein's short story named "Let There Be Light" from the collection of short stories entitled "The Man Who Sold The Moon". It speaks of ways of maximizing energy capture by using appropriately shaped quartz crystals. Took only, like, what, 65 years (since that story was first published)?
Who said you had to talk?
Just set it next to your speakers when you crank your music up loud.
My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
OK. Do some simple math. Let's say the RF output of the phone (radio) is 250 mw (low). The generaly rule of thumb is that the power in to an RF stage is twice that of the output. So we need 1/2 watt to power the rf amplifier. The voice out of a human lets say is 1 watt. Again the efficiency is not 100%. Let's say it is again 50 % or 1/2 watt. That is doable you say? Well, everyone knows there is no free lunch in radio, physics or insurance salesman. Look at the duty cycles, the voice is not 100% duty cycle. The radio will be closer to a 100% duty cycle than voice because of channel overhead. Given the need to power the receiver, the modulator, the LCD screen, the microprocessor, there is no way it will work. Interesting concept. But not for another 50 years.
I could charge my phone in a second: "Muad......DAVE!"
Tiller's Rule: Never use a word in written form that you've only heard and never read. You will end up looking foolish.
I wouldn't mind s text-powered cell phone. At the rate I text there must be excess energy for all of those keypresses that could be harvested.
We could power entire metropolises with my mother in law.
This technology wouldn't work for me.
99% of my calls are from girlfriends who only want me to listen to them go on for hours about their problems. I never get a chance to say anything.
Serving your airship needs since 1995.
Oh, great, so then we'll have to listen to idiots not only talking LOUDER but screaming into their cellphones in public places... or in offices with bad reception....
mark
This whole discussion is hilarious if you've ever been on a Navy ship. Am I the only one who remembers the salty old first class sending some poor sot of a new seaman running all over the ship looking for batteries for the sound-powered phones? Lots of fun for everyone, except the FNG, of course.
So to recharge your phone all you have to do is place it in front of a tv or stereo or any mechanical/motorized device that makes a lot of noise.
Then you'd never hear it ring!
How about a keyboard charging batteries from keystrokes, or a mouse charging from clicks and movement. Would mean much for laptops.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound-powered_telephone
sound powered telephones.
sound waves cause a diaphragm to move a coil back and forth between the poles of a powerful but small permanent magnet, generating the required audio-frequency voltage in the coil
much like the can on a string, but works through walls
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