German student creates electromagnetic harvester that gathers free electricity from thin air A German student has built an electromagnetic harvester that recharges an AA battery by soaking up ambient, environmental radiation. These harvesters can gather free electricity from just about anything, including overhead power lines, coffee machines, refrigerators, or even the emissions from your WiFi router or smartphone. This might sound a bit like hocus-pocus pseudoscience, but the underlying science is actually surprisingly sound. Dennis Siegel, of the University of Arts Bremen, does away with the charging pad, but the underlying tech is fundamentally the same. The efficiency of wireless charging, however, strongly depends on the range and orientation of the transmitter, and how well the coil is tuned to the transmitter’s frequency. As a concept, though, Siegel’s electromagnetic harvester is very interesting. One question does remain, though: How much ambient, wasted electromagnetic radiation is actually available? (See: How wireless charging works.)
How 3D printing could revolutionise the solar energy industry | John J Licata | Environment During President Obama's recent state of the union address, I was particularly drawn to one specific comment he made. The statement by the president I'm referring to was, "A once-shuttered warehouse is now a state-of-the art lab where new workers are mastering the 3D printing that has the potential to revolutionise the way we make almost everything." 3D printing has been increasingly used to produce jewellery, dental work, prototyping and even creating human organs. However, as an energy strategist, I'm most excited about the potential for 3D printing to revolutionise solar panel and photovoltaic (PV) cell manufacturing. For starters, for those not familiar with 3D printing, it's the ability to make a three-dimensional "solid" object from digital design specifications. You may be asking why I'm so positive on its relationship to solar power. Well, that's easy. Another benefit is cost. Then there's the lower weight and size.
Stretchy battery drawn to three times its size 26 February 2013Last updated at 11:39 ET By Jason Palmer Science and technology reporter, BBC News The team tested their battery by stretching it 300% while it powered an LED lamp Researchers have demonstrated a flat, "stretchy" battery that can be pulled to three times its size without a loss in performance. While flexible and stretchable electronics have been on the rise, powering them with equally stretchy energy sources has been problematic. The new idea in Nature Communications uses small "islands" of energy-storing materials dotted on a stretchy polymer. The study also suggests the batteries can be recharged wirelessly. In a sense, the battery is a latecomer to the push toward flexible, stretchable electronics. But consumer products that fit the bendy, stretchy description are still very few - in part, because there have been no equally stretchy, rechargeable power sources for them. S for stretch The new work hinges on "self-similar", serpentine wires between the battery elements
GravityLight — Using Gravity To Bring Light To The Developing World Renewable energies are all the rage these days and are assumed to be a big part of meeting energy demands in the future. Yet solar, wind, and hydroelectric each have geographic limitations and suffer from intermittent issues that can make their utility not as dependable as one would like. In light of this, what would be ideal is a source of energy that can be utilized at will and available anywhere at anytime. That may be a pipe dream to meet all energy needs, but when it comes to delivering basic lighting to the more than 1 billion people without reliable light, a design and innovation company called Therefore Products believes it has the answer in GravityLight. On the simplest level, GravityLight converts gravitational energy into light, just like its name promises. For the last four years, the project has been aimed at a way to replace kerosene lamps used in certain parts of the world still. Here’s the pitch from the team at DeciWatt.org that’s working with Therefore Products:
Researchers develop new technique to scale up production of graphene micro-supercapacitors (Phys.org)—While the demand for ever-smaller electronic devices has spurred the miniaturization of a variety of technologies, one area has lagged behind in this downsizing revolution: energy-storage units, such as batteries and capacitors. Now, Richard Kaner, a member of the California NanoSystems Institute at UCLA and a professor of chemistry and biochemistry, and Maher El-Kady, a graduate student in Kaner's laboratory, may have changed the game. The UCLA researchers have developed a groundbreaking technique that uses a DVD burner to fabricate micro-scale graphene-based supercapacitors— devices that can charge and discharge a hundred to a thousand times faster than standard batteries. These micro-supercapacitors, made from a one-atom–thick layer of graphitic carbon, can be easily manufactured and readily integrated into small devices such as next-generation pacemakers. Kaner and El-Kady discuss the technology behind their micro-supercapacitors (December 2012):
MIT unveils Solar cells that can be 3D printed on ordinary paper, plastic or fabric The new printing process uses vapors, not liquids, and temperatures less than 120 degrees Celsius. These “gentle” conditions make it possible to use ordinary untreated paper, cloth or plastic as the substrate on which the solar cells can be printed. In order to create an array of photovoltaic cells on the paper, five layers of material need to be deposited onto the same sheet of paper in successive passes, using a mask (also made of paper) to form the patterns of cells on the surface. And the process has to take place in a vacuum chamber. The resilient solar cells still function even when folded up into a paper airplane. In their paper, the MIT researchers also describe printing a solar cell on a sheet of PET plastic (a thinner version of the material used for soda bottles) and then folding and unfolding it 1,000 times, with no significant loss of performance. Source : MIT
Mechanical Pencil That Draws Carbon Nanotubes Developed By MIT Researchers Here’s something you may not realize: the graphite in inexpensive pencil lead has the same chemical composition as carbon nanotubes, considered a “Golden Child” of futuristic materials because they make highly sensitive sensors. Now, MIT researchers have made their own pencil lead consisting of carbon nanotube powder, allowing fabrication of functional sensors to be literally drawn on paper. As the saying goes, it really doesn’t get any better than this. Previous methodologies for making sensors involved dissolving the nanotubes in dichlorobenzene, which is an organic solvent that is labeled a carcinogen and an environmental hazard. Now graphite consists of carbon networks in sheets whereas in nanotubes…you guessed it, they’re in tubes. To test whether inscribed nanotubes can still act as a sensor, the researchers created thin gold electrodes on paper that were bridged by coloring in the gap with the pencil. So why hasn’t this idea been pursued before?
Cyborg search-and-rescue insects' power source unveiled 24 November 2011Last updated at 15:51 The research team proposed putting two spiral energy harvesters on either side of a beetle's thorax Efforts to create an army of cyborg insects are being pursued by a team of US-based engineers. The group is investigating ways to harvest energy from the creatures to power sensors and other equipment fastened to their bodies. The team has created an energy scavenging device that is attached close to the insects' wings. It suggested the creatures might one day be used to aid search-and-rescue operations and surveillance. The University of Michigan team of engineers published their study in the Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering. Power source The report noted that, despite major advances in micro-air-vehicle technology, no-one had been able to match the aerodynamic performance and manoeuvring capability of insects. The team rejected the idea of using miniature solar panels because they would be dependent on available light. Muscle power Cyborgs
Simple Solar Power - News by a1ronzo | May 02, 2013 | 12:05 am | 27 comments Light contains energy. When light hits a conductor (or semiconductor) some of the energy is translated into moving electrons, creating current. Solar Cell Huge - 5.2W 180x220mm (7.09x8.66") Solar panels come in many varieties. Output voltage range: The panel above will output a voltage between 0V and 10V depending on the intensity of light and what you have attached to the solar panel (i.e. the load). Thanks to pveducation.org for the graph. The sweet spot for operation is called the maximum power point (top of blue curve) and is around 8V @ 650mA for this specific panel. If you wanted to use this solar panel to power your RedBoard, make sure the voltage regulator can handle at most 10V on the input (which it does). Another design choice for solar power is to use the Energy Harverster board. In this setup, supercaps are attached to the input to give more control over when and how much power is delivered to the output at 3.3V.