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Researchers Build Wearable Generators

Posted by samzenpus on from the power-from-the-people dept.

schliz writes "From the itnews article: 'Bioengineers from the University of Auckland have developed cheap, lightweight rubber power generators that could harvest up to a Watt of power if embedded in shoes. The researchers built on "dielectric elastomer generator" technology that used the movements of a flexible, non-conductive material to build up charge in attached electrodes.'"

13 of 84 comments (clear)

  1. Help power cars? by froggymana · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I wonder if something like this could be embedded in the tires of a car to help generate electricity to power it self. Would it actually be able to generate enough electricity to make it worthwhile for an electric car though?

    --
    "To prevent this day from getting any worse, I'll just read ERROR as GOOD THING" 1GJU8xLuDKDxEs4KLf8fAGyptoDsqvEsBT
    1. Re:Help power cars? by QBasicer · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I wonder if something like this could be embedded in the tires of a car to help generate electricity to power it self. Would it actually be able to generate enough electricity to make it worthwhile for an electric car though?

      Unfortunately, the extra energy you'd get out of the generators would be provided by the engine (conservation of energy). You'd only get a benefit if the car was coasting downhill by turning the potential energy into electric energy. Since energy conversion isn't 100% efficient, you'd actually lose energy and be further behind in the process.

      --
      x86, oh yes, I'm pro.
    2. Re:Help power cars? by WrongSizeGlass · · Score: 2

      These could be placed in the shoes of the secret service men who run along the President's car. Finally, a president who drives a hybrid!

    3. Re:Help power cars? by bmo · · Score: 5, Funny

      What we need is to find a way to coast uphill without having to coast downhill.

      I've got it.

      Put a magnet on the end of a pole in front of the car. It'll pull itself up a hill!

      http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_laxcr841Fm1qewll0o1_500.jpg

      --
      BMO

    4. Re:Help power cars? by Unoriginal_Nickname · · Score: 2

      They're hot from friction with the road.

    5. Re:Help power cars? by michelcolman · · Score: 2

      Depends on your definition of "slip". If you say a tire is slipping when its rotational speed does not match the theoretical zero-slip speed of a rolling tyre (which is a common definition), then yes, it is slipping pretty much constantly while driving. However, this "slip" is comparable to your being able to move your finger forward and backward while touching something, without the finger actually sliding over the surface, just using the elasticity in your fingertip. A tyre can keep doing this as it rolls around, which means the calculated "slip" is not really the tire sliding over the surface, but rather a continuously repeated deformation of the tyre surface which can give a significant difference between the theoretical zero-slip speed and the actual tire rotation speed. So while it is slipping according to the naive definition "speed does not match", it is usually not slipping when you use the "sliding, screeching" definition. That only happens in tight turns or when you drive like I do ;-)

      This deformation-pseudo-slip does generate some heat since rubber does not reversibly deform perfectly without energy loss, but this is nowhere near the amount of energy released in a "real" slip.

  2. Obvious statement by 1s44c · · Score: 2

    If you wear these walking will become 1 watt harder.

  3. Been hearing this for a while now by Trepidity · · Score: 5, Informative

    This might be a new advance, but it's hard to tell. Here is a Slashdot story from 2001 with basically the same "researchers find a way to make shoes generate power" line.

    --
    10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
  4. This is useless, but... by bmo · · Score: 2

    ...it's perfect for a gag.

    Hook this up to a pack of capacitors and I can go 'round zapping people, at random, without any need to find any woolen carpets to shuffle my feet across.

    "Hi, Bob, that's a nice tray of cmos chips ya got there." *zap*

    --
    BMO

  5. Olympics by Flipstylee · · Score: 2

    Perhaps with enough of these the olympics could power itself...

  6. Re:Up to a Watt of power by bemymonkey · · Score: 4, Interesting

    A watt can recharge an entire smartphone battery in 1-2 hours... I'd welcome a pair of shoes that provides me with a Watt of power when I walk around.

  7. Next, they'll be... by ToastedSpider · · Score: 2

    inventing stillsuits. Add a bit of spice and we're set!

  8. Re:Up to a Watt of power by TD-Linux · · Score: 3, Insightful

    One watt and then if you want another watt you have to buy some more shoes? I can't see it catching on.

    A watt is a unit of power, not energy. The lifetime of the shoes is unspecified. Speaking of a watt, that's a lot of power for an energy harvester like this, and sounds too good to be true - because it is. The article only shows a 10mW generator, though that is still enough for periodic radio transmissions. Also, I would guess because it is electrostatic in operation, it would also work as a fairly large capacitor for temporarily storing the energy.