If you want to have a look at those special videos become a member and join by clicking this link / @thinkingandtinkering The Spanish company is vortex bladeless - my bad!
Years ago I read an article about a wind fence , Multiple wires very close together one positive and next negative theoretically got electron exchange with air moving through it , never saw it again. Just thought about it watching this. Have also seen a generator ‘tree’ where the ‘leaves’ wiggle in the wind presumably using similar techniques to what you described here. Love your videos thanks!
It's a larger version of the piezoelectric energy craze which has been "the power of the future" for decades yet is nowhere to be seen. It's a good thing that people keep playing around with it though, maybe some day someone invents a configuration that's viable and we'll have one more sustainable method of power generation!
The last time i saw one of those horizontal tubular fans was in the kitchen at Sheffield University when the one in the evaporator of the airconditioner i'd just installed, 'exploded'. I hadn't gone more than 20 miles before getting a call from base telling me to go back. The replacement fan unit did the same. Upon my third return, while in extreme 'Columbo' mode, i discovered that in both cases it spat out bits of blades when one of the short ladies tried to angle the outlet grill using her pen... It's amazing what happens when you thrust the end of a biro into plastic blades spinning at around 500rpm!
The way you conduct your presentations are encapturing and peaceful which makes it so easy to listen and appreciate the art of what you are teaching.great stuff I'm excited to dig into more videos like this.i love seeing others get excited about this stuff besides myself
This is really cool. One of the coolest wind mill designs I’ve seen is essentially hundreds of small sections 2-3ft long of your vertical fan on a thin cable. And stretched a few 100 yards over a canyon the power it was generating was orders of magnitude more then any wind turbine currently in use.
i've been fascinated by the vortex wind generators for ages! awesome to hear your take on it. it'd be extremely cool if you can refine this into something practical.
its old world technology im telling u they had all this and more, cathedrals and buildings in old times where always power generators and there was a reset by the controllers, it’s about time again just listen to all them talk about “build back better”and time for a “great reset, aka new world order!
Very good idea, I don't know if this has been posted already but if you take into account harmonics of a vibrating object you could fix the "reed" in the middle and each half would vibrate at exactly the same cycle. So an inductor at the center of each half would produce twice the current.
Great presentation Rob, thanks a lot!👍 Reminds me of a company that developed such generators and installed lots of them under a discothek's dancefloor, and under the steps of a stair. Unfortunately I remember neither the company's name nor the amount of power that could be generated over a day. But I just found it awesome.😃
Super interesting, thank you. But both do have moving parts. I would think that a fence type arrangement might be pretty useful. Think about how long a fence you could run along a coast.
You mean synthetic photoabsorbent strings that generates energy from both the sun the wind and the termal differentiation... I would add roots able to create underground water collection .
Imagine a tall building with windows (glass panels) all over it. Now imagine an inductor connected to each of those glass panels. Generating electricity each time the wind blew, each time people walked across it's floors, each time the elevator moved between floors... Connect a battery bank to the array of inductors... a building is now generating it's own power, or at the very least reducing it's footprint. This is kind of amazing from a society changing perspective.
I just saw this video for the first time, and using another item from one of your videos, I came up with an idea. Using a panel of these items, with each one coated with your carbon paint batteries, set into moving salt water (ocean current), wouldn't that increase the power output considerably? What I'm envisioning would look like a series of undersea reeds swaying in the wind, generating electric current all the time.
Two things: 1. this reminds me of another design from years ago where they used flexible plastic ribbons somewhat similarly to harness turbulent energy. On videos, it was noisy. 2. The Spanish company seems to use rigid pipes. I wonder how well this would work with an inflatable closed (textile?) pipe. And some ropes to conduct the movement to ground level. Soft robotics already have some neat solutions that may be useful here. Even if the pole gets damaged, it just flops down safely.
Wonder if it would me better having it in the middle of the "Reed" as opposed to the bottom? Or using a fan of reeds to catch the wind more effectively. Certainly interesting either way. I wonder how many would be required to produce a meaningful amount of power.
More likely the resistance of the coil is 6 ohms (for a nominal 8 ohms speaker coil). And its funny how the meter wires are different lengths and disappear behind his leg, I call BS on any claim of useful power generated from this technique. Interesting in theory but please can the OP give a more honest presentation.
Stringing a piece of flat cargo strap between two poles or structures. With the correct tension on the strap and a light breeze the strap will vibrate like crazy. This should give plenty of wave forms to the magnet/generator if you will. Thank you for the great content. Keep it up.
“If you build it, they will come”. Field of green. Very cool. I’m gonna buy up all the old speakers I can find at thrift stores and make myself a blanket.
Fantastic experimentation. Your demonstration of the variant in this wind turbine is very contegeous and awesome. Thanks for a new approach to renewable energy reserves. It is an endless reserve and a very suttle low cost way to tap. Thanks again.
Really interesting! I’ve been wondering about alternative ways of generating electricity from wind for a while now. I love turbines but they can be noisy. One idea I had was using the movement of a tree swaying in the wind to pull a line of magnets through a tube with coils around it. A bit of paracord from the top of the tree would pull the magnets through the tube and a spring to pull them back. Only problem is that I’m afraid of heights!
I've been thinking of that one too. A poplar tree would be ideal for this, being tall and flexible enough to move quite a bit in the wind. I have an Italian Cypress and Juniperus 'Skyrocket' would also be a good contenders, I reckon. One problem, I'm not too hot with electrics, am new to the channel, and don't really know what I'm looking at here. I want to start generating our own electricity, can't rely on solar (Scotland), and live to the south of some fussy neighbours (so the flickering blades of a full-blown wind turbine won't be popular). I do like the idea of a 'reed mat' - if only I knew what these inductors, etc were and what sort of size, shape and whatnots I'd be looking for. But the tree idea would be great if I knew where to start.
Energy, frequency and vibrations.....absolutely genius....my family member passed away last year...he was a radio ham...he’d also like to discover things...it’s really by chance that I’ve found your channel...👍
I'm SO excited to see this video. A few decades ago I had an idea hit me to do something very similar to this to capture energy from very light wind. I never took the time to build anything to see if it would actually work, and it ended up being in the large pile of old ideas in the back of my brain. It brings such a smile to my face to see that the idea actually would have worked, and to see it in action right here! Keep up the great work Robert, I am a huge fan of all of your videos.
A light lose sheet covered with graphene on top of magnetic collector? I see cloth waving widely with wind. You keep finding simpler and simpler energy generation solution and they seem they can be mixed together, great work!
*very* interesting, thanks a lot for sharing it, I guess with loads of vibrating elements there'd be some harmonics and phases details to sort but it sounds very nice, even makes one wonder how the vegetal world may use this subtle kinetic pressure to eventually convert it or store it, which is possibly documented somewhere so I'll look into that ! Thanks !
Hi Robert. What a great project. Lots of toroid coil inductors available but what would provide the most efficient core material to use for vibrating within the coil - Neodymium magnetic rods?
Hey Robert! Lovely idea! I was wondering about that small inductor and if you had a part number or suggestions regarding how I should look for one that can match with an energy harvesting circuit (like the LTC3588 or the LTC3108). Cheers and thank you for all your wonderful videos!
This may work with Piezo Transducers if the reed was to distort the disc slightly it should produce pulses of power. This was very interesting and gave me some good ideas.
Just looked out my window at my Oak tree bowing in the wind, and envision little speakers all over it. I wonder what the maximum capacity of energy it could produce? Now I'm thinking if I could save on wires by using resonance some how... Suddenly forests become more valuable as a power plant. Get it. Power Plant. Trees, plants, making power... Come on That's Funny!
you could just get a bunch of broken speakers, take out the inductors. and attach them to the fulcrum of the tree branches, daisy chain them together and run them into a battery of some sort, you'd have, as you said, a literal *power plant*.
The whole world is Sound, its, vibration and resonance. We just use the wrong form of energy. Theres no need to use the detour over electric energy for the important lifeforce-friendly needs and results...
There is actually a reed type wind generator that has already been used at quite large scale test installations. They operate more like how you tension a piece of grass and blow it to make a noise. So picture an elongated narrow frame with a piece of fabric like material that has a magnet mounted near one end surrounded by a stationary coil. Pretty efficient, bird safe, but can generate a certain amount of noise. Make a bunch of these mounted in parallel grid array about the size of say a solar panel. then add as many panels as you like for the power needed.
Thank you. I have been following you for years and even repeating many of your findings. As always, you are very inspirational. Playing with the concepts you have demonstrated has been nothing more than entertaining. However after watching your video, I find myself once again desiring to revisit and reinvestigate your findings with a few variations. :)
Brilliant! Since everything in the universe vibrates to one degree or another, it is only a matter of time to find the correct materials and geometry to harvest those vibrations. Resonance seems to be the key.
this was described in a TED talk several years ago as a way to provide power to rural Africa so people weren't dependent on fire for light. A strip of material stretched between two supports with a magnet attached to it in close proximity to a coil. The strip of material vibrated in the slightest breeze and produced current. The voltage was rectified and powered LEDs.
What would all the fibreglass and gear oil people do? It actually is a nice idea. Should apply for a government grant but as you are probably not related to Bill Grates or Gretta Dumberg, you would not get it.
Ive heard of this system before. Many years ago(I don't remember the details) a fellow thought this would be a great way for ppl in high rise units to get power from their balconies. On hearing his wire balustrade humming in the wind and keeping him awake during the night. It fails in 2 main ways, 1 the system is noisy(obviously the noisier the more power) 2 Mainly it is not very economic. Best for ultra-low power remote sensing where high reliability is important. No spinning parts to hit wayward wildlife. Much better to fly a kite.
This is just awesome. Love the quick experimenting and creativity without too much fussing about. Now, if you make an a bit bigger one and put it inside a tornado it can charge a Tesla 😁👍
I've not heard of the vortex wind generator and your experiments and demonstration are fascinating- something that could be made cheaply from waste materials would be great for developing countries, too. Very interesting video and you explain how the system works very well.
The nice thing about that hydroturbine is that the water that sets the reed under vibration could be flowing in any one way and even change direction like sea waves, and it would still work.
I could see adapting a wind chime for this. Instead of just air creating the vibrations, you’d have the pendulum hitting the reeds. Basically a way to concentrate the energy of a light breeze.
Thanks for this wonderful video! I look forward to trying that myself.What a blessing you are that every episode you make is a gift to the world I believe.Thank you kind sir. May good health and longevity be yours.♥️👍
I had the same thought. Multi purpose, multi functional. You'd want to somehow tilt either the blades or the whole contraption to actually face the sun, though, without losing any of the movement generated by the wind. Possibly follow the lines and patterns of nature? 😉 A tree has many, proportionally tiny photovoltaic cells that shiver in the breeze, for example.
Nice builds! It reminds me of this weird wind turbine made by saphon energy out of Tunisia. A diaphragm moves in the wind and It stores kinetic energy With an hydraulic accumulator or motor. They say it overcomes the betz limit. Interesting stuff, love your channel.
Thank you Robert, this just shows how, with a little research and knowledge gained from taking things apart can be successfully implemented using what many people just throw away. Fantastic.
Where were all these videos when my kids were younger and we were racking our brains to come up with something cool for a school science project? Seriously, parents should be tuning in to your channel. :) Keep up the great work!
Digikey/mouser/or ripped out of any old electronics with power supplies. You'll have better performance if you find some with laminations instead of ferrite cores, but the cost is much higher.
Cool idea. The real question is how much power it generates for a given cost of materials. In general the power generated is probably proportional to the area of wind it interacts with. It would be interesting to see how the power output compares for a given cross section with a turbine design. I suspect that the turbine will be more efficient and cheaper at larger scales as you can just get bigger whereas a bigger reed might not work so well. As others have noted, there clearly IS a moving part.
@@ThinkingandTinkering Wouldn´t a microphone produce a tiny bit of power anyway, if you put it in the wind, the wind blows in the microphone and produces a lot of signal usually.. This is used in many games on the DS, because blowing in the microphone usually maxes out the signal. So if got that bit right, it´s a question of hooking up a lot of tiny mics to a diode-bridge and then possibly joule-thiefs?
@@ThinkingandTinkering How much would the cost/watt be? Because the reason why we are building those huge towers for wind turbines is that while a small one is fine for a home owner it is not as economical to build a million 500W microturbines as twenty 25MW ones. Given these tiny devices would likely need to be assembled by hand it seems like you need some minimum size to make them cost effective. Good news is the upper part can be a piece of plastic pipe or an inflated balloon or whatever, no high tech or expensive materials needed.
@@Ludifant Most microphones are going to be connected to an amplifier. In the case of your DS, phone, etc, the amplifier is going to be drawing power from the battery to boost the signal enough to make it usable for audio. I am not implying that your idea will not work though, because speakers and microphones work on the same basic principle of using coils of wire and permanent magnets to generate electrical signals.
Great video, very inspiring. Apart from generating electricity, a system based on this idea could help protect buildings etc from damage in high winds, just as trees and bushes do.
Good idea! You just need a tiny inexpensive device, produced in the millions, and then some robots to fix them to the stems of the grain. Then the fields that feed you will also power your everything.
@@TheRapand Yes, and the devices could also create an electrical field for pest and disease control, lol. I have had a similar idea for a while now to address the Pine Beetle Infestation in North America - Build millions, billions of tiny robot beetle predators and let them loose. Program them to recognize Pines and the beetles, drop power stations in increments, and they can Roomba to it to repower. Actually, could think about applying it to many evasive species. Australian Cane toads, robot dolphins to kill all the invasive carp in US.... Oh! Robot Giant King Cobras to eradicate the pythons in Florida...lmao
So if we built these as panels of reeds or battens and put them along side major roads or motorways to replace the current noise absorbing panelling we could both reduce traffic noise and generate power for local use? Would these absorb more energy than passive panels making things quieter for nearby residents?
Awesome. A microphone is essentially the same thing, and I never thought to use a voice coil for power. I have turned a speaker into a microphone before though . Now I have another excuse to start collecting old speakers again. Lol I currently have well over 20 drivers (speakers) with voice coils ranging from 1" to 4". But they all work and the cones are not falling apart. Anywhere from guitar speakers to hi-fi home stereo to professional pa drivers. I wonder what the efficiency would end up being, if it would be possible to get 500 watts from a 500 watt rms speaker. I do have a dual voice coil subwoofer with an aluminum cone and massive vented magnet I suppose would be an acceptable candidate to learn on to answer those questions. Robert you never cease to amaze.
I am amazed how often the titles are not accurate and most don't pick that up...Glad that you did otherwise, I wouldn't be able to resist saying something. Robert has some great ideas and content...but suspect many of these videos are teasers for his paid members!
@Timothy Mckee it's driving me crazy! i'm going to figure out how to stop the earth from from spinning and orbiting the sun and electrons from spinning and vibrating so i can relax! thinking a little more, the guys that run a wire into the air and measure a voltage may actually be on to something. the rotation of the earth with it's iron core.
Exactly. If there is movement of any kind, even if it's not perceptible, there is at least one moving part. If there is a moving part, there is wear or fatigue.
I saw a similar sensor on a large motor done by the uni of Manchester. The research was to test when the motor needed servicing and we were using data analysis software from my company. But a couple of questions before i start to experiment, how thick was the neoprene and what size coil (uH) did u use? Thx for the video, also I think rain would also add to the effect.
@@ironnam8107 That would be an insignificant factor if engineered correctly. Some subwoofers are capable of long term use at thousands of watts. I've pulled many drivers apart and there are some massive voice coils out there.
@@ThinkingandTinkering If you can find an old printer imaging unit, it will probably have a piezoelectric sensor to detect the toner level. If you can set that a paper thickness away from the vibrating airfoil, you may be able to induce a voltage?
Thanks for sharing your knowledge and expertise. I am planning to add this technology to my solar panels system on my balcony. What inductor size, inductance, would you recommend? With the speakers, instead, bigger the speaker more the power generated? Thanks in advance for your kind reply.
Outstanding! I'm new to the channel and have found mecca! For the speaker, the coil is moving in a gap with little tolerance so the cone shape helps to keep it evenly located as it moves. a reed might have the coil rub especially in heavier winds which might be an issue long term but dang! I like it. The little blind/inductor thingy would be interesting toadapt as some sort of clothing that captures your energy as you walk. Great stuff.
It's a very interesting concept Rob, some years ago I suggested to some people that a similar method could be used to generate power by installing induction magnets and coils under a road surface as cars drive over it it would produce a lot of power using gravity thrust as the cars weight went over such a structure it might have fallen on deaf ears at the time but just a thought. Also can use a similar system under a carpeted floor where many people are walking over it.
For the life of me, I simply cannot imagine why anyone would give this excellent video a thumbs down, unless they are seething with jealous indignation that someone, besides them, came up with a fascinating concept that they are willing to give away, freely. Shame on you, jealous thumbs-down-people. The better way to redeem yourself is to come up with your own inventions. A generous heart is a happy heart.
Volts with zero amps is zero power. The minute you put a load on the coil the reed will be damped out and will stop vibrating. All you have there is a bad quality microphone
Just match the load to the wind speed, not rocket science. Plus imagine attaching the magnets to a tree? We can be too negative and dismiss things before we know Be careful of your assumptions is all I say.
@@andrewnorris5415 I guess science and physics is not your thing then. Ok let me help you out. Have a look at speaker efficiency for a clue, or prove me wrong by turning the trees in your garden into a power generator. Out of the box thinking is great, but this video is very misleading since he never actually generated any power, only volts. I can create 25,000 volts just by rubbing a balloon, but how much power do you think that charged up balloon will deliver?
Depending upon the materials you use; could it be tuned like a speaker and work off sound waves rather than wind? I mean: if what it really does is work off vibration, then couldn't you tune the sensitivity (by using highly tensile materials) to use sound from say; a busy intersection or an industrial plant for instance, as the actual motive force? Great work as always Robert, you always inspire.
Thank you, Sir!!! You have rattled my memory...you may be interested in the work of Vaughn North, Sandy, UT... Until retirement, was my patent attorney... He utilized sonics to electricity, buried receiver in sand at the beach, for example... I know he was granted US patent(s)... I always thought would be great in Boise of the city...
ahh so thats his patent they stole for national security purposes. This is what comprises the land sensors around installations I bet. Interesting concept till I seen this vid and your comment never linked the two. Thanks ace!
