Posted on 10/25/2010 5:05:11 AM PDT by PeaceBeWithYou
Dr. Long Que, assistant professor of electrical engineering at Louisiana Tech University, has reported success in designing and fabricating a device that allows microscale electronic devices to harvest their own wasted energy.
The work was described in a paper published in the September edition of Applied Physics Letters, co-authored by students Pushparaj Pathak, Tianhua Zhang, Yuan He, and Shashi Yadav.Developed at Louisiana Tech and described in the paper, this technology uses a cantilever made out of piezoelectric material -- material capable of converting distortions to itself into electrical energy -- and is coated with a carbon nanotube film on one side. When the film absorbs light and/or thermal energy, it causes the cantilever to bend back and forth repeatedly, which causes the piezoelectric material to generate power as long as the light and/or heat source is active.
Through cyclical bending activity, the device would essentially allow small electronic devices to harvest their own operational energy.
"The greatest significance of this work is that it offers us a new option to continuously harvest both solar and thermal energy on a single chip, given the self-reciprocating characteristics of the device upon exposure to light and/or thermal radiation," said Que. "This characteristic might enable us to make perpetual micro/nano devices and micro/nanosystems, and could significantly impact the wireless sensory network."
In their experiments, Que's research team showed that the device could generate enough power to adequately operate some low-power microsensors and integrated sensors. One of the most unique and innovative aspects of this energy harvesting system is its ability to "self-reciprocate" -- the perpetual production of energy without needing to consume other external energy sources.
The researchers state that the self-reciprocation occurs from the cantilever's constant absorption of photons and its high electrical conduction and rapid thermal dissipation into the environment. The self-reciprocation phenomenon has been routinely observed, not only in the lab, but also in the field under sunlight. This technology can also harvest different types of energies such as vibrational and wind energies.
"It is truly a hybrid energy-harvesting technology," Que said. "My lab has been optimizing and making great progress on this technology in an effort to enhance its efficiency and overall performance, indicating great promise for this technology."
I always wanted to make an electric generator out of one of those bobbing bird deals. I figured out an acre field of 50 ft high birds could power my house and those feathers would look great!
The concept of reusing waste energy for more work effort has a long history including “Mallet” locomotives where exhaust steam is used in a second set of low-preasure cylinders or turbos to boost power in autos. Looks like this is sort of the electronic equivalent of capturing wasted heat energy.
Well, down here, you could wire all your A/C units and get some juice back, and a layer on the roof might make your cooling free or almost.
This could really make tubes economical...................
Techie ping!............
This reminds me of the piezoelectric generator called the Palouse Piezoelectric Power engine:
“To operate, the P3 needs only an external heat source, such as a burning fuel, the sun, a wood stove, waste heat from electronics, or even body heat. The P3 engine consists of a fluid and bubble sealed between two membranes. It converts thermal power to mechanical power when the bubble expands in response to pulses of heat that sometimes near 300 times a second. As the bubble enlarges, so does the entire engine. Between heat pulses, the engine contracts as its heat dissipates. The P3 expands and contracts so quickly it actually vibrates. One of the engine’s membranes is made of silicon; the other is a thin-film piezoelectric generator as wide as a white blood cell (two to three microns). As heat moves in and out of the engine, the expanding and contracting bubble puts pressure on the piezoelectric membrane, which turns the mechanical power created by the engine into electric power.”
http://wsm.wsu.edu/s/index.php?id=626
This is a perpetual motion machine of the second kind. It would be cool if it worked. I suspect that it suffers the same drawback as most perpetual motion schemes. They’ll only work if the cause and effect in them is more complex the the inventor can understand.
I myself have one of these which is a chip array of back diodes. It produces DC and chills down at the same time.
It's not just a stereo amp, it's a space heater and night light! ;-)
So now our nanobot overlords are self powered? Great. Just great.
I've designed/built with tubes since the late 60's, mostly audio. My main guitar amp (Fender Twin Reverb) has a quad of 6L6GC's that display a similar corona when driving hard, but the combination you captured of the red-orange filament light and the blue corona is just unearthly!
Thanks for posting!
The device is described as requiring an energy input. So, why do you say it is a perpetual energy machine?
Thanks, but I just found the picture, I can’t take credit for it. It is a sweet photo, though.
Thanks for the ping.
“The device is described as requiring an energy input. So, why do you say it is a perpetual energy machine?”
From the article unless I’m misreading it.
One of the most unique and innovative aspects of this energy harvesting system is its ability to “self-reciprocate” — the perpetual production of energy without needing to consume other external energy sources.
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