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UT Arlington (Texas) researchers earlier this year designed a micro-windmill that may become an innovative solution to cell phone charging or other applications where large windmills are not preferred.
Smitha Rao and J.-C. Chiao designed and built the device that is about 1.8 mm at its widest point. A single grain of rice could hold about 10 of these tiny windmills. Hundreds of the windmills could be embedded in a sleeve for a cell phone. Wind, created by waving the cell phone in air or holding it up to an open window on a windy day, would generate the electricity that could be collected by the cell phone's battery.
The micro windmills were tested successfully in September 2013 in Chiao's lab. The windmills operate under strong artificial winds without any fracture in the material because of the durable nickel alloy and smart aerodynamic design.
"The problem most designers have is that materials are too brittle," Rao said. "With the nickel alloy, we don't have that same issue. They're very, very durable."
(Score: 2, Insightful) by xtronics on Saturday April 12 2014, @04:51PM
I don't think it takes genius to realize that people don't want windmills in their phones.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Nerdfest on Saturday April 12 2014, @05:20PM
You might not even notice it. Perhaps it could help charge it up if you wore your phone on your belt just by walking, although I would think gyros might be a better solution. The advantage of wind is that you could get some charge just by leaving it sitting out in most places.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by frojack on Saturday April 12 2014, @05:25PM
Sitting out? You mean like out on the sidewalk? On the roof of your car?
There is no wind on my desk. (My chair perhaps, but not on the desk).
When embedded in the cell phone case, as the article suggests, where does the exhaust wind go? You have to have open space behind a turbine, or the wind won't go through the turbine.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Saturday April 12 2014, @06:40PM
The fart-charger: Double-bio, first takes the wind energy, and then burns the released biogas for extra energy. ;-)
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by frojack on Saturday April 12 2014, @05:20PM
Ah, but invent anything, hang the words cell phone on it, and grab attention!
In anything short of a T9 tornado, there simply isn't enough energy in the wind hitting a cell phone sized target to make any headway in charging a battery. Plus they are so delicate that merely handling the phone would destroy them.
I can't imagine a single realworld use for these.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by xtronics on Saturday April 12 2014, @05:30PM
It takes a "useful amount of energy" to charge a phone.
You also might want to look into the cube root problem involved here and learn about exergy while you are at it. Wishful thinking should not be confused with engineering.
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