from the brushing-up-on-power-generation dept.
Novel new way to generate electricity from wind. It's very low power—this isn't going to replace wind turbines. But it might find a niche for powering remote telecom or LED lighting. From Nature, http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2014/140923/ncomms5929/full/ncomms5929.html
Technologies to harvest electrical energy from wind have vast potentials because wind is one of the cleanest and most sustainable energy sources that nature provides. Here we propose a flutter-driven triboelectric generator that uses contact electrification caused by the self-sustained oscillation of flags. We study the coupled interaction between a fluttering flexible flag and a rigid plate. In doing so, we find three distinct contact modes: single, double and chaotic. The flutter-driven triboelectric generator having small dimensions of 7.5 × 5 cm at wind speed of 15 ms−1 exhibits high-electrical performances: an instantaneous output voltage of 200 V and a current of 60 μA with a high frequency of 158 Hz, giving an average power density of approximately 0.86 mW. The flutter-driven triboelectric generation is a promising technology to drive electric devices in the outdoor environments in a sustainable manner.
The triboelectric effect (which is also known as triboelectric charging) is a type of contact electrification in which certain materials become electrically charged after they come into frictive contact with a different material.
This link shows a prototype with video of the flapping "flags" mounted on a car for testing (*not* intended to power the car...): http://txchnologist.com/post/98237458365/cars-rooftop-device-makes-electricity-from-rushing
(Score: 2) by cafebabe on Saturday October 18 2014, @12:47PM
I know that it is just for testing, but it reminds me of an xkcd cartoon involving a wind turbine and a really big fan [xkcd.com].
1702845791×2
(Score: 2) by frojack on Saturday October 18 2014, @05:33PM
The triboelectric effect (which is also known as triboelectric charging) is a type of contact electrification in which certain materials become electrically charged after they come into frictive contact with a different material.
Seems like the old "Catification", due to the static electricity generated while rubbing a Cat on something else.
The effect was highly dependent on how you held the cat, (the "cat hold", later shortened to cathode) requiring some skill to avoid bloodshed.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by cafebabe on Saturday October 18 2014, @06:34PM
Is that process significantly affected by the frictional co-efficient of the cat [gamboling.co.uk]?
1702845791×2
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Saturday October 18 2014, @05:51PM
Anyone found out what material the research group used?