For those suckers here who "Walk" to get places...

T

Tempistfury

It Wandered In From the Wastes
I saw this article and thought "Huh." One of those things, where if improved apon could become actually pretty nifty and good to have. I'd be willing to walk around with an extra 5 to 15 pounds on my back, if it meant that I could re-charge my laptop or something similar. Imagine your car batterie dies. You sling on your backpack and pace back and forth a bit, and wham you have enoughpower now to give it a jump start. Dunno... what do ya'll think?

http://aolsvc.news.aol.com/news/article.adp?id=20050908224609990024
Reuters News on AOL said:
Backpack Designed to Generate Power From Walking

WASHINGTON (Sept. 9) - A backpack that converts a plodding gait into electricity could soon be charging up mobile phones, navigation devices and even portable disc players, U.S.-based researchers said on Thursday.

Their backpack design converts mechanical energy from up-and-down movement of the backpack's cargo to electricity during normal walking.

Fueled by a snack, hikers can put the spring in their steps to good use, the researchers write in Friday's issue of the journal Science.

The backpack is deliberately designed to shake around a bit. The up-and-down movement of the backpack's cargo compartment against the frame of the pack turns a gear connected to a generator.

The simple magnetic coil generator is similar in principal to those seen in hand-cranked radios, flashlights that work after a rhythmic shaking and other devices.

Humping along just under 85 pounds (38 kg) of weight in the backpack can produce up to 7 watts of electricity, Lawrence Rome and colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania report.

This is more than enough electricity to simultaneously power an MP3 music player, a personal digital assistant, night vision goggles, a handheld global positioning satellite navigation device, and a mobile telephone.

The not-so-graceful human gait is a big help in making the pack work, they reported.

Human hips rise and fall about 2 inches with each step and a backpack worn by a person who is walking rises and falls as well, they said.

"As humans walk, they vault over their extended leg, causing the hip to rise 5 to 7 centimeters on each step. Since the backpack is connected to the hip, it too must be lifted 5-7 centimeters," Rome said in a statement.

"It is this vertical movement of the backpack that ultimately powers electricity generation."

But nothing is free, so what does this energy cost the hiker?

Little more than a snack, said Rome.

"Metabolically speaking, we've found this to be much cheaper than we anticipated. The energy you exert could be offset by carrying an extra snack, which is nothing compared to weight of extra batteries," Rome said.

"Pound for pound, food contains about 100-fold more energy than batteries."

09/09/05 02:45 ET
Click to expand...
 
Well it?s an idea, but not a new one. There are quite many concepts of clothing that glow in the dark and get the energy from movement. Same goes for those watches that use movement as it?s power source (I had one that used light).

A backpack..hhmm..why not just make them into boots or jackets.
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Love lyrics advice
 
There isn't that much detail in this article unfortunately. I think small solar panels are a lot better in terms of weight and efficiency, although they would be affected by weather. If a car battery runs down now, it's probably better to go solar or just push the car down a slope. Then again, why not just used the hand-cranked generator in the first place, if the mechanism can't be miniaturized. When hiking, I try to travel as light as possible. I would never want to be carrying 38 kg (85 pounds) of stuff, especially for the low wattage. Lighter loads probably make this device even more inefficient. But the general movement generation concept sounds like it could be useful, if only they can come up with a better design.
 
I can get excersize and play World of Warcraft on my laptop *at the same time*? AWESOME!
 
Why would a demon prince of the abyss play wow anyway.

OT: This idea is like 50 years old, thats when the first kinetic powered watches appeared, IIRC, this is nothing new nor is it particularly useful. I remember, however, watching a documentary a few years ago (I belive it was "Beyond 2000", wow, that was actually a loong time ago), anyways, there was this duder who invented this... thingamajig which allowed him to actually recharge his laptop using a crank. I thought that would be pretty neat.
 
From what I gather from the article it seems that it would be more efficient to jump up and down than walk, or use a stair- master or something. Imagine the populace of the world hopping around on pogo sticks. :roll: hop to it!
 
i dont know about the effeciency of walking/running around with an 85 pound kenetic generator on your back to power something as small as an mp3 player.
 
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