27-08-2014, 02:25 PM
WALK-N-CHARGE
[attachment=67153]
Abstract:
Walk and charge is one of the best technologies of the battery charging ! This technology is used for charging the low - power operated devices like the mobile phone batteries, MP3 player batteries, etc. Two technologies have been tested so far to convert energy used in walking into electrical power. The first one uses piezoelectric material, which is either incorporated in discrete devices within the boot, or is an integral part of the structure of the boot. This gets compressed while you walk and generates a substantial voltage, which when combined with appropriate electronics, can be used to charge a mobile phone battery.
The other one involves placing small electro-mechanical devices, such as a dynamo, in the heel of the shoe. The dynamo spins every time your heel strikes the ground, thereby generating a small amount of current. The specialty of the walk and charge technology is that it can generate as much energy as a AA battery in 21 minutes. A 20 minute walk charges your cell phone for a day’s usage. Even if 0.1% of the Indian population uses this device, it can generate 1500 kW/h of energy and can help reduce carbon emission by 2.25 tonnes per day. Thus, Walk-N-Charge promises you a source of energy that is not only clean, portable and inexpensive, but also charges your mobile while you get charged up!
The future outlook is for the boots to generate about 1-3 W of power, so that they can power future microelectronic devices, like MP3 players, Global Positioning Systems, etc. So, here’s to a future where you can listen to music on your morning walk, or catch up with calls on your cell phone, without worrying about dying batteries.
This paper also gives the additional information about the working , technical specifications and about the performance of the charger.
. INTRODUCTION
Walk-n-charge is one of the technologies used to charge the low-power operated devices like mobile phone batteries, MP3 player batteries, etc while you walk!
Two technologies have been tested so far to convert energy used in walking into electrical power, and more are on the anvil. The first one uses piezoelectric material, which is either incorporated in discrete devices within the boot, or is an integral part of the structure of the boot. This gets compressed while you walk and generates a substantial voltage, which when combined with appropriate electronics, can be used to charge a mobile phone battery. The other one involves placing small electro-mechanical devices, such as a dynamo, in the heel of the shoe. The dynamo spins every time your heel strikes the ground, thereby generating a small amount of current.
The piezoelectric device generates about 150 milliwatts of power as of now, which is not sufficient to run a cell phone, but would be enough to charge the battery slowly. The dynamo technology has the potential of generating much more power than this, but the design would be more complex, and hence more costly.
“Angels whisper to a man when he goes for a walk”. This surely holds true for Tejas Narasimhan, the project team leader who came up with the idea to store the energy that is spent while walking. It may sound ridiculous to some, but a group of six students from College of Engineering, Pune (COEP) have developed a portable device called ‘Walk-N-Charge’ (WnC) that charges your mobile for the entire day in a 20 minute walk. Aditya Nanavaty, Isha Nag, Rushikesh Pande, Shachi Pande, Sarvesh Patil, and Tejas Narasimhan teamed up for the venture and bagged the first prize at Energise, Techfest at IIT Powai on 26th January, 2009.
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
The basic shape of the prototype is a cylinder 50 mm in diameter and 100 mm in height. It weighs around 200 g because of the combined use of low-weight and high strength material. If produced on a large scale, it might cost about Rs 300 only.
IV.PERFORMANCE OF THE CHARGER
Each Walk-N-Charge is capable of generating minimum 3.5 Watts of power at normal walking speed (4 km/h). In other words, an intermittent walk of 20 minutes is sufficient to charge a mobile with around 1 hour talk time, which can be considered as an average person’s phone usage for a day. For a person with an average walking of half an hour per day, this device can generate 2 W/h of energy. Please note that this is energy obtained from average minimum normal walking.
People going for walks or working out on treadmills can generate a lot more. This value is for a single device. Subsequently, if the device has a total penetration (usage) of just 0.1% of our country’s population, it will mean a daily generation of 1500 kW/r of energy, which is clean, green.
Comparing it to conventional power stations, the device can offset carbon emissions equal to 2.25 tonnes per day (according to the WWF report 2005. Keiselwood power station, Australia). Walk-N-Charge would generate as much energy as a pencil cell in 21 minutes. If it is used for one hour daily, it would recover its cost in less than 12 days
. CONCLUSION
Hence, walk-n-charge is the best idea for battery charging. Even if 0.1% of the Indian population uses this device, it can generate 1500 kW/h of energy and can help reduce carbon emission by 2.25 tonnes per day. Thus, Walk-N-Charge promises you a source of energy that is not only clean, portable and inexpensive, but also charges your mobile while you get charged up!
[attachment=67153]
Abstract:
Walk and charge is one of the best technologies of the battery charging ! This technology is used for charging the low - power operated devices like the mobile phone batteries, MP3 player batteries, etc. Two technologies have been tested so far to convert energy used in walking into electrical power. The first one uses piezoelectric material, which is either incorporated in discrete devices within the boot, or is an integral part of the structure of the boot. This gets compressed while you walk and generates a substantial voltage, which when combined with appropriate electronics, can be used to charge a mobile phone battery.
The other one involves placing small electro-mechanical devices, such as a dynamo, in the heel of the shoe. The dynamo spins every time your heel strikes the ground, thereby generating a small amount of current. The specialty of the walk and charge technology is that it can generate as much energy as a AA battery in 21 minutes. A 20 minute walk charges your cell phone for a day’s usage. Even if 0.1% of the Indian population uses this device, it can generate 1500 kW/h of energy and can help reduce carbon emission by 2.25 tonnes per day. Thus, Walk-N-Charge promises you a source of energy that is not only clean, portable and inexpensive, but also charges your mobile while you get charged up!
The future outlook is for the boots to generate about 1-3 W of power, so that they can power future microelectronic devices, like MP3 players, Global Positioning Systems, etc. So, here’s to a future where you can listen to music on your morning walk, or catch up with calls on your cell phone, without worrying about dying batteries.
This paper also gives the additional information about the working , technical specifications and about the performance of the charger.
. INTRODUCTION
Walk-n-charge is one of the technologies used to charge the low-power operated devices like mobile phone batteries, MP3 player batteries, etc while you walk!
Two technologies have been tested so far to convert energy used in walking into electrical power, and more are on the anvil. The first one uses piezoelectric material, which is either incorporated in discrete devices within the boot, or is an integral part of the structure of the boot. This gets compressed while you walk and generates a substantial voltage, which when combined with appropriate electronics, can be used to charge a mobile phone battery. The other one involves placing small electro-mechanical devices, such as a dynamo, in the heel of the shoe. The dynamo spins every time your heel strikes the ground, thereby generating a small amount of current.
The piezoelectric device generates about 150 milliwatts of power as of now, which is not sufficient to run a cell phone, but would be enough to charge the battery slowly. The dynamo technology has the potential of generating much more power than this, but the design would be more complex, and hence more costly.
“Angels whisper to a man when he goes for a walk”. This surely holds true for Tejas Narasimhan, the project team leader who came up with the idea to store the energy that is spent while walking. It may sound ridiculous to some, but a group of six students from College of Engineering, Pune (COEP) have developed a portable device called ‘Walk-N-Charge’ (WnC) that charges your mobile for the entire day in a 20 minute walk. Aditya Nanavaty, Isha Nag, Rushikesh Pande, Shachi Pande, Sarvesh Patil, and Tejas Narasimhan teamed up for the venture and bagged the first prize at Energise, Techfest at IIT Powai on 26th January, 2009.
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
The basic shape of the prototype is a cylinder 50 mm in diameter and 100 mm in height. It weighs around 200 g because of the combined use of low-weight and high strength material. If produced on a large scale, it might cost about Rs 300 only.
IV.PERFORMANCE OF THE CHARGER
Each Walk-N-Charge is capable of generating minimum 3.5 Watts of power at normal walking speed (4 km/h). In other words, an intermittent walk of 20 minutes is sufficient to charge a mobile with around 1 hour talk time, which can be considered as an average person’s phone usage for a day. For a person with an average walking of half an hour per day, this device can generate 2 W/h of energy. Please note that this is energy obtained from average minimum normal walking.
People going for walks or working out on treadmills can generate a lot more. This value is for a single device. Subsequently, if the device has a total penetration (usage) of just 0.1% of our country’s population, it will mean a daily generation of 1500 kW/r of energy, which is clean, green.
Comparing it to conventional power stations, the device can offset carbon emissions equal to 2.25 tonnes per day (according to the WWF report 2005. Keiselwood power station, Australia). Walk-N-Charge would generate as much energy as a pencil cell in 21 minutes. If it is used for one hour daily, it would recover its cost in less than 12 days
. CONCLUSION
Hence, walk-n-charge is the best idea for battery charging. Even if 0.1% of the Indian population uses this device, it can generate 1500 kW/h of energy and can help reduce carbon emission by 2.25 tonnes per day. Thus, Walk-N-Charge promises you a source of energy that is not only clean, portable and inexpensive, but also charges your mobile while you get charged up!