Talk-Powered Cell Phones Won't Need Batteries 197
alphadogg writes "It's possible that in the future conversations on your cell phone could generate enough electrical power to run the phone, without batteries.
That's one possible outcome of recent work by a team of Texas researchers, who appear to have discovered that by building a certain type of piezoelectric material to a specific thickness (about 21 nanometers, compared to a typical human hair of 100,000 nanometers), you can boost its energy production by 100 percent. And the technology could power not just phones, but a whole range of low-power mobile devices and sensors. The breakthrough is an example of 'energy harvesting' that can convert one kind of energy, such as vibrations or solar rays, into electricity."
Isn't this fairly common already (Score:5, Funny)
a return to Pyramid Power (Score:5, Funny)
Just set it in a Pyramid and use pyramid power to keep it topped off. That is what they ancient Egyptians did.
Don't forget to call your Mummy.
Re:not enough energy to power a modern cell phone (Score:5, Funny)
Mmmm, I dunno. If this turns out to be true my wife could talk on the phone enough to power the whole grid.
That's just great. (Score:5, Funny)
Wonderful. I can just imagine being in a restaurant or an elevator with a group of people with phones all saying "Low Power - please speak louder."
So cool... (Score:1, Funny)
These could be wall panel in loud factories and make the electric meters run slower....someday, maybe even backwards...wait....that darn 2nd law of Thermodynamics, again! Okay, slower.
This is very interesting technology (Score:1, Funny)
Technology not for some married men (Score:5, Funny)
Yes, honey. Ok, honey. Will do, honey.
Texas (Score:3, Funny)
However Olivetti is working on a cellphone powered like a self-winding watch, by arm-motion.
Supply energy to the world! (Score:5, Funny)
Just hand these out to teenage girls and we'll have enough power to supply the entire world for all its needs.
Re:Isn't this fairly common already (Score:5, Funny)
I see you've met my sister. She comes through clear as a bell from 8 states away. Next time, I'll have her turn her phone on...
Traffic noises are helpful now! (Score:5, Funny)
Hey, my phone's running low on power, let me find some heavy traffic and big trucks so it'll be loud enough for me to hear you!"
Next thing you know you'll have to shake your phone to get features to work (oh, wait...)
I'm not yelling.... (Score:4, Funny)
...I'm just charging my batteries.
"battery's almost dying, I need to talk some more, let me call AOL and try to cancel."
Re:Supply energy to the world! (Score:3, Funny)
Nah, for that you need a tiny dynamo underneath each button...
Re:So cool... (Score:3, Funny)
These could be wall panel in loud factories and make the electric meters run slower....someday, maybe even backwards...wait....that darn 2nd law of Thermodynamics, again! Okay, slower.
I'm sure you could come up with noise sources that don't draw from the grid to get the meter to run backwards without violating entropy. It all depends on not keeping the system closed.
One way would be to regularly feed humans to the machinery. They don't consume power off of your grid, but they sure do make a lot of noise, especially when inserted feet first.
Re:Music! (Score:2, Funny)
Just hold one of the headphones up to it once in a while.
Re:not enough energy to power a modern cell phone (Score:5, Funny)
His heart implant is failing hand me a vibrator stat!
Re:Free energy? (Score:1, Funny)
Does this mean with enough teenage girls in the house you could get all the free energy you want?
Yes, yes, yes, yes. Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES YES YES YES! YES-YES-YES-YES! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Re:Supply energy to the world! (Score:5, Funny)
Nah, for that you need a tiny dynamo underneath each button...
Bad girls have that under their zipper.
Re:Isn't this fairly common already (Score:5, Funny)
If she's that loud, her vocalizations could probably power other "battery operated" devices she may use...
I feel a great disturbance in the force (Score:5, Funny)
No battery required (Score:5, Funny)
If you assume normal human speech is about 60dB. We know dB = 10 log(I/I0) where I0 is 10^-12 W/m^2. So 60dB works out to about 10^-6 W/m^2 -- that's a microwatt per square meter. With 100% efficiency and a mike of 1 cm^2 collecting area, that's around 10^-10 W -- 0.1 nano-watts. (Thanks phliar [slashdot.org] for the calculations.)
Then utilize this energy using recent advances in String Theory, and you have a workable solution.
Here's a picture of a prototype. [worldofstock.com]