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Biomechanical Energy Harvester Is The Bee's Knees
A Biomechanical energy harvesting device consisting of an aluminum chassis and a generator disguised as a knee brace provide enough power to run your iPhone - and the rest of your mobile stuff. Volunteer testers generated about five watts dynamically as they walked.
(Biomechanical energy harvester device)
Science fiction fans know all about such devices; others must listen to this guy:
"Since muscles are the powerhouses of the body, my colleagues and I designed our device to generate electricity from the motion of the knee joint," said Max Donelan, director of the Locomotion Laboratory at Simon Fraser University in Canada. "It resembles a knee brace and weighs about 1.5 kilograms [3.3 pounds] including the gearing and generator."
And why do sf fans know all about it? Because we read about the stillsuit from Frank Herbert's Dune ages ago.
I've been collecting these stories; check out these examples of parasitic power harvesting:
-
- Backpack Generator Harnesses Power Of Walking
- Nanogenerator Harvests Mechanical Energy
- Vibration Energy Scavenging By Tiny Generator
- Flexible Integrated Energy Device (FIED) - Wearable Rechargers
- Breath-Powered USB Charger (And Stillsuit)
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 2/9/2008)
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Related News Stories - (" Engineering ")
Wearable Energy Harvester
'... he had tightened the chest to gain maximum pumping action from the motion of breathing.' Frank Herbert, 1965.
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