This isn't going to turn out well.
#ANNOYINGELECTRONICPACIFIER
Posted on 01/15/2014 10:48:13 AM PST by smokingfrog
Forget hand-cranked chargers and solar-powered cases, the latest way to solve the ever-present problem of a dying phone battery is by using thin air.
Researchers from Texas have developed a miniscule ‘micro-windmill’ that is just 1.8mm wide and can transform wind energy into electricity.
The team behind the design claim hundreds of the nickel devices could be fitted to a phone case, for example, and users could charge their phone simply by waving it in the air.
- - - -
The technology was built by micro-engineering experts at the University of Texas Arlington (UTA).
Each windmill is made of flexible nickel alloy components capable of taking strong winds without breaking.
They are so small that ten of them can fit onto a single grain of rice.
Professor J.C. Chiao from the university said: ‘The micro-windmills work well because the metal alloy is flexible and the design follows minimalism for functionality.
‘Imagine that they can be cheaply made on the surfaces of portable electronics, so you can place them on a sleeve for your smartphone.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Please, document any incident in which static electricity from a car’s wheels has blown up a gas station.
Doesn’t that conveniently fit the homosexual agenda?
The Yellow Jacket, a cell phone case that doubles as a stun gun, is much cooler.
First, because it's very difficult to design an inverter that takes 20 kV DC in and produces 5V out. There are no semiconductors that can take that voltage. This is one of the reasons why DC is not as easy to work with as the AC. For the latter you only need a transformer.
Second, there isn't that much of energy to bother with. Say, the car to ground capacitance is 1000 pF, and the voltage is 20 kV (any more and it will leak out, through tires or through ions in the air.) Then:
u = 0.5 * 1nF * (20kV)^2 = 0.2J
0.2 joules is, by definition, 200 mA through 1 Ohm for 1 second. In other words, it generates 0.2 watts for one second. This is just enough to power a keyfob LED (20 mW) for ten seconds - something that a cheap coin battery does 100x more reliably and more efficiently.
Merely read the warnings at the gas pumps, read the warnings at the gas cans that say “Fill outside of the vehicle.” Call any gas station and ask them why these are there. Static electricity is a hazard to anyone filling a gas can in the car. Read and study a little bit. Hundreds of youtubes, I’d bet, on this.
First, because it’s very difficult to design an inverter that takes 20 kV DC in and produces 5V out. There are no semiconductors that can take that voltage.....You seem knowladgible. Get to work. Ask for a grant.
This isn't going to turn out well.
#ANNOYINGELECTRONICPACIFIER
No tech info so it is non meaningful…Best question is HOW UCH taxpayer went into this boondoggle??
Most of the static electricity is generated by the person sliding across the seat fabric. That’s why you should stay outside the car while filling-up. When you’re filling a gas can, place it on the ground so it will be grounded (esp. if it is a metal can). Plus, if you overfill the gas can, you don’t want it to be inside the vehicle.
Just wait until people start waving around their phones in movie theaters to charge them up.
LOL!! Now that is funny.
I can picture drivers doing this in the fast lane. Slowing down 5 miles per hour (as they typically do) to be “safe”.
Not arguing. I just don’t see grabbing the door handle, opening the trunk(or whatever) grabbing the gas can and and grabbing the pump nozzle as not discharging the static electricity from getting out of my seat (which I don’t have to slide across). Nor does anyone else have to slide across.
HA! You beat me. +1
I guess it’s just me.
I haven’t learned how to levitate myself yet.
We should make slightly larger versions of these, and mount them to the heads of every Democrat politician in office. All the hot air they emanate would keep them spinning all day long! Energy crisis solved.
How about using those beanie hats with the windmill?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.