h a l f b a k e r yWhy not imagine it in a way that works?
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So, you drive one of those new-fangled electric cars? Can't find a charging station in the places you normally park? Fear not. Use the parking lot traffic to generate electricity for battery charging.
Across the traffic path, roll out a length of hose, plugged at one end and attached to a pneumatic
motor at the other. The pneumatic motor would be powered by the air pressure impulses generated by cars driving over and flattening the hose. The motor turns a generator which adds some charge to your batteries. Bigger hose=more power, more traffic=more power.
Possibly, the pneumatic pulse could directly cause the movement of a magnet within a coil of wire which would generate electricity.
Works kinda like those old fashioned service station bells. An actual dinging service station bell attached would cut down on air pressure available to run the generator but that loss will be more than offset by the children who are thereby enticed to continuously jump up and down on the hose to make the bell ring.
What it might look like (in AZ, of course).
http://bz.pair.com/fun/pumpedUp_r.JPG
[26Kb image] Only because this idea is so difficult to visualize. [bristolz, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004]
Alternatively, I guess you could install these in the parking lots everywhere and plug the car in.
http://www.halfbake...ting_20Speed_20Bump
[half, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004]
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I see your half-Utopia now. Every car electric. Every car sucking energy from every other car. Every parking lot covered with hoses, like giant plates of spaghetti... (+) |
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electricity produced by a generater would be ac and
would need to be converted into dc to be able to charge
the batteries, and this would cause a lot of electrical
loss. You'd be able to charge the battery easier by hand
with a crank than dragging around a 40 foot hose in the
back of your electric car. Carrying around that hose
would take more energy from the car than it would give in
recharging. |
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no, ALL tubes must be filled with custard. But this would
work better if you had a bunch of magnet-covered bowls
of custard all over the car, with spoons with coils of wire
and a cord going to your circuitry in them, so all the
neighborhood kids eating the custard out of the bowls
would charge you batteries. |
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"electricity produced by a generater would be ac". Ehh, not quite, Sparky. Using a segmented commutator, as opposed to the slip rings found in an AC generator, a generator is capable of producing pulsating DC output. It's been done that way for quite some time. Automobile charging systems were creating DC before semiconductor rectifiers existed. |
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The hose should also have a Schrader valve on it, so if you happen to be at a gas station with “free air” (for your tires) you can connect your generator to it. You could probably get a pretty good charge out of it before the attendant realizes what you’re doing. |
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Good thought, AO. Absent a service station, there's plenty of compressed air available in those toroidal rubber storage tanks attached to nearby cars. |
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Stealing the free air...nice. |
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Nice churn [lebob], better than the current harvest. |
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Better would be a vacuum-operated alternator. When operating at anything less than full throttle, gasoline engines expend a considerable amount of energy producing vacuum. Worse, this energy gets turned into heat at a location where heat is bad for efficiency. Harnessing the energy would cool the intake air, enhancing engine efficiency in addition to providing "free" energy. |
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Pluterday, your vision sounds like the vehicular equivalent of BitTorrent. |
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its a good idea persay, put a little impractical. The generator would produce so little electricity that it wouldn't be worth it. Like almightytesla said you be better off using a hand crank. |
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//its a good idea persay// Persay? Who he?
sp. "per se" (or possibly "Percy") |
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