Using Air to Recharge Your Cell Phone 346
sanspeak writes "Now you do not have to look for a power outlet to charge your cell phones. Department of Industrial Design at Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi have come up with a mobile turbine which generates around 3 to 4 watts of energy - sufficient to charge a mobile phone. It costs around $4, fits in your pocket and runs on air ;-). What else do you want ?"
Alternatives (Score:5, Insightful)
Hanging out your phone from a car, bus or (shock!) train is pretty dangerous stuff, maybe superman will find this thing handy.
I hope they haven't patented this technology yet, 'cos I'm rolling out my air-powered fan next month.
A better idea! (Score:3, Insightful)
$4? No it doesn't (Score:5, Insightful)
Why? Because people are suckers.
Re:compressed air: not efficient (Score:4, Insightful)
Not just for cellphones... (Score:2, Insightful)
Think wider.
Think mine detectors.
Think Cambodia, Rwanda, Ethiopia.
People who really, really need some piece of low-power electronic equipment, and DON'T have four different charging stations already, and whom it will cost an arm and a leg - literally! - if they are careless.
Coming to think of it, I'm not surprised this comes from India.
Re:Blow or run really fast (Score:2, Insightful)
So if I need to charge my phone, I can drive my 12 MPG SUV around town and hang this turbine out the window?
Cool! That is such a leap forward.
Re:Blow or run really fast (Score:3, Insightful)
You increase wind resistance quite a bit just by opening the window. In fact, it has been noted that you are actually better off using the A/C than opening the window, because opening the window decreases your fuel economy more than running the A/C.
Now, unless you have one of those 1980s cell phones that are roughly the size of a boombox of the same era, your cell phone uses less energy than your car A/C.
Frankly opening your window to charge your cell phone is incredibly inefficient and should only be contemplated if you were going to open the window anyway.
Now... mounting it on your motorcycle.... then you are talking. However you
are still only transfering kinetic energy of the vehicle going forward against
the wind into electricity. That kinetic energy is provided by the engine... seems more direct to just get the energy from your alternator.
-Steve
Re:What else do you want? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Blow or run really fast (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:uhh... (Score:3, Insightful)
Racism is telling people they can't drink from the same water fountains as other people, or refusing to sell a house to them based on their skin color, or herding them into gas chambers, or dragging them behind pickup trucks, or chanting "Death to all ABC" where ABC is the race of your choice.
Joking about an accent which, let's be honest here, can sometimes border on absolutely incomprehensible is possibly in bad taste but definitely not RACISM.