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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: 3) by zim on Saturday April 12 2014, @09:05PM
No... That's stupid.
I'd rather just carry another battery. Or any of the battery with cord products that will charge those phones without replaceable batterys. Or use a 12 volt plug. Or use a 120 volt plug. Or use any of the solar trickle charge products that already exist. Or charge my phone before i leave home like i do now.
But i'm not standing there like a dipshit waving my phone around.
It's a neat technology. But so far this application of it is entirely stupid.
(Score: 1) by tftp on Saturday April 12 2014, @11:30PM
But i'm not standing there like a dipshit waving my phone around.
If you are willing to convert your muscle (fat/sugar) energy into electric power for the phone, waving the phone is the least efficient way to do that. Your arm is heavy, and muscles are not 100% efficient. Most of your muscle power would be wasted on moving the arm, heating it up, sweating, breathing heavily, etc. This is why bicycles have gears - to optimize the power transfer between strong but slow muscles and fast periphery of the wheels.
There are already muscle-powered generators, and they are far better at extracting your muscle power than this hand-waving stuff. Even if air were to be solid, like rack and pinion, you still would lose power on your arm novement, as I said. But air is not solid; this means further losses, like in a slushbox of an old car. One should be happy to recover 0.1% of the spent energy this way.
Then there is the issue of protection of those windmills. Phones are small; but you cannot make a cover with tiny holes - it presents a significant resistance to the airflow. Your phone becomes larger, but you won't be using windmills every day - an electric outlet, or a USB port, are far more convenient, and they deliver more power at basically zero cost. I can think of a rare occasion when you, without your car, find yourself in a forest, far from civilization but - magically - within the cellular coverage. Unfortunately, there is no wind in a forest. You need to leave it... which is often the very problem you are trying to solve. You would better off having a magnetic compass and a map in your phone. A GPS receiver would be perfect. Then save power, do not call - send SMS with your coordinates to someone who will rescue you.
If someone wants to have an emergency backup power source for the phone, most people already have it - it's called a vehicle. But if you are all alone, then invest into a spare battery (maybe a single use one, with a cord that you pull to activate.)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 13 2014, @02:24PM
Too bad we don't have automatic quartz movements [wikipedia.org] in small form factors [seiko-cleanenergy.com].