A magnetic generator that actually works as advertised
Once you’ve indulged in a bit of schadenfreude and watched the CEO of ‘perpetual motion’ company Steorn explaining why it is that his demo failed to work, marvel at the fact that magnetism can be used to create a ready source of energy - this
little gadget is powered by small vibrations {correction} moving a bundle of tiny magnets, which creates a tiny electric current that can power an equally tiny electronic device, like a sensor. How great would it be to have a phone you could recharge with a vigorous shake?
July 9th, 2007 at 6:09 pm
Uhm, the power havester does *not* use the Earth’s magnetic field to generate power!
It uses the mechanical vibrations to move a resonating mass (probably a MEMS cantilever) which has a magnet attached to the end. The moving magnet generates the magnetic flux that is converted to current.
I’m going to go out on a limb and say the flux changes in the Earth’s magnetic field (you’re talking *nano* Teslas over several hundred miles — see here) are probably unsufficient to power modern sensors.
I think *maybe* you should re-read the article…
July 10th, 2007 at 2:17 am
I stand corrected, Travis, thanks for that. In my defence, I’ve been a bit hurried in posting these last few days thanks to the rebuild and various other commitments … but that’s no excuse, really.
September 7th, 2007 at 6:18 pm
Popular Science…
I couldn’t understand some parts of this article, but it sounds interesting…