Curse

Mercury Angel · Sep 11, 2005, 11:41 PM // 23:41

Quote:

http://physicsweb.org/articles/news/9/9/6/1
Power walking

8 September 2005

Scientists in the US have invented a back-pack that converts the up and down motion of walking into electricity. The device can generate 7.4 watts and could be used by field scientists, aid workers and soldiers to power mobile phones, GPS instruments and other devices without having to carry heavy replacement batteries (Science 309 1725).
The back-pack
The back-pack

"We have for the first time generated significant levels of electricity from normal human movement," says Lawrence Rome of the University of Pennsylvania and the Marine Biological Laboratory in Massachusetts. Previous attempts to generate electricity from walking relied on devices built into shoes but this only produced about 20 milliwatts of power. Although high forces are exerted when the shoe touches the ground, little or no mechanical work - which is given by the product of force and distance - is done because of the short distances involved.
Lawrence Rome
Lawrence Rome

To overcome this problem, Rome and colleagues exploit the up and down movement of the hips that occurs during walking, which can be as high as 5--7 centimetres. "If you are carrying a load in the back-pack, it has to go up and down the same vertical distance on each step as your hip," explains Rome. The team calculated that it takes considerable mechanical work - about 18 Joules per step - to lift a backpack weighing 36 kilograms through a distance of 5 centimetres. This mechanical work can then be converted into electricity.

The new back-pack is based on a rigid-frame pack similar to those used by hikers. However, the compartment carrying the load is suspended from the frame by vertical springs. As the hips drive the frame of back-pack upwards, the load lags behind it, which causes a differential movement between the two. Mechanical energy is extracted by attaching a toothed rack to the load plate, which meshes with a toothed gear on the frame. This gear is attached to a generator that can produce electricity. This electricity can be used as it is generated or it can be stored in a lightweight rechargeable battery.

Test performed on six male volunteers who used the back-pack while walking on a treadmill showed that they used less energy to generate electricity than expected. Moreover, the volunteers could generate more electricity by simply walking faster or carrying a heavier load.

The team now plans to improve the rechargeable batteries that go with the back-pack and Rome has set up a company called Lightning Packs LLC to develop the device further.

Belle Dumé

It's not a whole lot of power, but I think it's rather clever. Charge your cell-phone, gameboy, graphing calculator or whatever it's compatible with while you walk around. Who knows where else it might lead as well?

A lot of advances like these to encourage people to walk more for health benefits, and to save money, and we can move to being a far cleaner society.

Up the energy efficiency and capacity, decrease the size for convenience, and have the entire family carry these around; You might actually be able to power a device or 2 around the house.

Keep in mind, I'm not talking about using these solely. There're also advances in cheaper solar cells;
One of these days, you'll probably be able to just walk down to a home improvement store, pick up a few rolls, and coat your roof with them or something o_O

Anyway, just thought it was an interesting article for those who enjoy reading about technological advances in the field of energy and energy conservation.

Synthos · Sep 11, 2005, 11:55 PM // 23:55

Now mabey this would convince people to get off their fat asses and go generate some power! ..mabey

HAHAHAH... sttyyyyllleeeiisshhh. Its like the next iPod! Man i just cant wait to get one of those and walk downtown with

Im not trying to downplay the technology, i just suppose they should make it a bit smaller

I was hopeing something that could be sewen into a backpack of normal size.

Mercury Angel · Sep 12, 2005, 12:03 AM // 00:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by Synthos

Now mabey this would convince people to get off their fat asses and go generate some power! ..mabey

HAHAHAH... sttyyyyllleeeiisshhh. Its like the next iPod! Man i just cant wait to get one of those and walk downtown with

Im not trying to downplay the technology, i just suppose they should make it a bit smaller

I was hopeing something that could be sewen into a backpack of normal size.

XD
Yes, the size is definitely on the limitations list for me.

Probably going to be a while until they get it more convenient. Or at least aesthetically pleasing o_O

All of the tubes on an alienware liquid cooling PC would look rather unattractive in other contexts, but they made them stylish.

I hope the picture is just a prototype model, anyway.

Xue Yi Liang · Sep 12, 2005, 12:18 AM // 00:18

Wow, neat.

At $2000 a device it could pay for itself in only.... 17 years!!! (j/k)

If this were available I'd probably rig up a bunch of 3rd world kids in series to power up my personal electronics and a machine to shake up my Mai Tais.

Divinitys Creature · Sep 13, 2005, 01:56 AM // 01:56

I'm sure I'm not the only onw who thinks this is a bit silly for mst people. I could see how it might help a soldier who needs power but for people in cities, well they could just use a battery and recharge the battery from the wall.

Divine Elemental · Sep 13, 2005, 01:59 AM // 01:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by Divinitys Creature

I'm sure I'm not the only onw who thinks this is a bit silly for mst people. I could see how it might help a soldier who needs power but for people in cities, well they could just use a battery and recharge the battery from the wall.

LoL exactly

Mercury Angel · Sep 13, 2005, 05:02 PM // 17:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by Divinitys Creature

I'm sure I'm not the only onw who thinks this is a bit silly for mst people. I could see how it might help a soldier who needs power but for people in cities, well they could just use a battery and recharge the battery from the wall.

Well, yeah, and as Xue had said, even jokingly, odds are the energy it saves would most likely not add up to the price you paid for quite a while, unfortunately.

However, while fuel sources such as coal may be cheap, environmental cleanup in the future one day probably won't be. We can't just wait until we reach a critical point when either non-replenishable fuel sources hit a critical level, or pollution does.

I don't think things like this will EVER entirely replace a main source of power, the idea is to merely supplement it, and if cheaply, even better.

It's not yet at a commercial point, but I posted this as it might become relavent for the gamer on the go, or anyone with portable accessories, someday. Well, that, and such articles are generally entertaining conversational matter.

On a related note, there's a Flashlight called, "EverLife", which you charge by shaking. It's not very good though; it doesn't store the power for later use.
You have to shake it for about 1/6th-1/12th the time you want to use it, and it lights and remains lit until the charge runs out. In an emergency other than a typical blackout, I somehow doubt you're going to be in the mood to stand around shaking a flashlight for 1 minute straight, just for 5 minutes of light.
Add a "Hey you, Pikachu!" to it, and it's instantly fun though.

Kidding.

Anyway, once again, this was more for conversational matter, I'm fully aware that it's not very ... practical at this point. Like the idea of recycling down here, it's just not the kind of thing people can conveniently do. (Recycling center is quite a few miles away, and no city implemented system to pick things up for you. And if you're going to try and save up enough to make the trip worthwhile, think again; Apparently, huge bins of recycleable materials drops the property value of your own house, and those nearby, and since our city is run by a family of realtors re-elected again and again... you can guess how that goes. Citation!)

Alura Pyro · Sep 13, 2005, 05:14 PM // 17:14

wow why not just strap 2000 girbils to your back in their little running wheels it would be cuter

Xue Yi Liang · Sep 13, 2005, 08:44 PM // 20:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alura Pyro

wow why not just strap 2000 girbils to your back in their little running wheels it would be cuter

Well, I don't wanna be the fella who goes to a petstore to sheepishly request 2000 gerbils. The person behind the counter just might give me an unexpected wink...

d4nowar · Sep 13, 2005, 10:00 PM // 22:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xue Yi Liang

Well, I don't wanna be the fella who goes to a petstore to sheepishly request 2000 gerbils. The person behind the counter just might give me an unexpected wink...

Armageddon!

Or if you haven't heard about that before then uhh... ignore that.