Charging drones, radio control models, robots and any other free ranging device through Tesla's wireless transmission of power (1) or by drawing current off of a power line (2) already gives me goosebumps. Now we have ambient backscatter (3) as another method, when the power hungry device is in range of a transmission tower; I wanna see AB applied to other roaming gadgets. On another note, how about adding a power generator fueled by motion to the gadget for uses when the transmission towers are too far away.-- Sunstone, Aug 14 2013 (1) Wireless transmission of power http://optics.org/news/3/7/31Tesla smiles [Sunstone, Aug 14 2013] (2) Micro plane perches to feed on power lines http://www.newscien...on-power-lines.htmlOld timers used to illegally pull power off of electric lines [Sunstone, Aug 14 2013] (3)Battery free cell phone tech demonstrated for the first time http://www.examiner...-for-the-first-timeFantastic; just incredible [Sunstone, Aug 14 2013, last modified Aug 15 2013] U.S. Army weapon shoots lightning bolts down laser beams http://www.gizmag.c...asma-channel/23117/Included just for fun [Sunstone, Aug 14 2013] Motion generator https://www.google....tents/US20130088020Power created by the motion of the power hungry object [Sunstone, Aug 14 2013] (4) Highway generator http://www.smartpla...heir-own-power/6348 [Sunstone, Aug 15 2013] (5) Cell phone charges itself http://inhabitat.co...rator-charger-kine/ [Sunstone, Aug 15 2013, last modified Aug 17 2013] (6) Temperature and pressure driven clocks http://thewatch.wat...lock-powered-by-air [Sunstone, Aug 15 2013] (8) Gravity power http://www.engineer...ping-Countries.aspx [Sunstone, Aug 15 2013] Many new inventions are combinations of existing inventions http://www.nolo.com...-patents-29891.htmlFrom about 1331 to 2007, patents for combination inventions were relatively easy to get [Sunstone, Aug 15 2013] Charging drones by sitting on power lines http://techcrunch.c...e-of-flying-drones/ [theircompetitor, Jun 24 2014] //On another note, how about adding a power generator fueled by motion to the gadget for uses when the transmission towers are too far away.//
Wow, what a cool idea! So, the movement of the object generates the power to move the object, which generates the power to move the object? So, the object can keep moving perpetually...yes?-- MaxwellBuchanan, Aug 14 2013 // Tesla's wireless transmission of power (1)//
Link (1) doesn't seem to refer to Tesla-style transmission of power. It refers to laser powering of planes, which actually works and is therefore better.
Link (5) seems to be a patent application drafted by someone who is, crucially, unfamiliar with the drafting of patent applications. It describes a system for recovering wasted energy from friction or vibration.
Anyway, the essence of your idea ("Take this technology I've read about and apply it to more things") is cutting-edge stuff.-- MaxwellBuchanan, Aug 14 2013 You're too polite, [Max]. [marked-for-deletion] Study suggests…-- ytk, Aug 14 2013 //You're too polite, [Max]// not something you read every day! :)-- po, Aug 14 2013 //You're too polite, [Max].// Aww, I was going for sarcasm and now you've blown my cover.
Perhaps the post could be saved. Take a few words from the original ("...and... through... power... (1)... we... (3)... wanna... far.") and just put different ones in between to make an invention.
Incidentally, while we're all here: "Tesla - part genius, part twat - discuss."-- MaxwellBuchanan, Aug 14 2013 //Tesla - part genius, part twat//
I do believe you're thinking of Edison. Tesla would be better described as “part genius, part looney toon”.-- ytk, Aug 14 2013 No, Edison was part genius, part thief (1% and 99%, I believe).-- MaxwellBuchanan, Aug 14 2013 "Wow, what a cool idea! So, the movement of the object generates the power to move the object, which generates the power to move the object? So, the object can keep moving perpetually...yes?" — MaxwellBuchanan, Aug 14 2013
Yes, exactly Maximum. The turbulence in the sky, the rough terrain the robots cross, the crashing high seas the drone ships encounter, will all act to excite the motion generators on board. This just like the highway generators (4) that will produce the electricity to recharge the very same electric cars that traveled the highway and generated the electricity in the first place - perpetually. Regenerative braking and flywheel power storage will recover the energy lost in power conversions from highway generators back into the electric car batteries. Then we have the cell phone that powers itself (5) via motion - perpetually like a self winding watch swinging from a palm tree in the breeze at the seashore. Add to that the clock that is powered by perpetual changes in barometric pressure or temperature(6). A tidal or wave generator (7) could charge the batteries of the electrically propelled water craft that created the waves that generated the power initially - perpetually. As long as fuel exists (will all hydrogen in the universe be consumed in toto? - not if the government passes a law against it it won't), solar, wind and fusion energy will exist side by side. All in all I must ask if the heavy weight of the water created by burning lightweight hydrogen and oxygen, harnessed by a gravity fed (8) generator, in conjunction with utilizing= the heat produced during the water creation process and converted to steam engine provided energy, would produce almost enough horsepower to re-separate the hydrogen from the oxygen?-- Sunstone, Aug 15 2013 // All in all I must ask if ... would produce almost enough ... ///
In short, yes, with a low degree of certainty in the value of "almost".
Go read up on Entropy. Wikipedia will do if you haven't got access to better resources. Follow the links.
In a closed system, entropy will always increase, or in other words, useful energy will always decrease. This is fact. A similar, related issue is that low grade (ie not very energy dense) sources of energy are very difficult to exploit, and most certainly difficult to exploit efficiency, largely due to entropy.
The confusions arise in non-closed systems, where you have access to what seems like free energy.
Lastly, you might well be able to trick up a phone's inertia gererator, and electrical efficiency to a point where it can function. But would it be economical to do so, given other sources of energy at lower capital and operating cost? Most likely not. Your barometrically powered clock is a great example. It's really neat and all, but it's very uneconomical to invest such complexity into a device that would at most, consume a few tens of watt-hours over it's useful life, that could be contained in a couple of cheap batteries.-- Custardguts, Aug 15 2013 Insert obligatory - "In this house we obey the laws of thermodynamics!!"-- Custardguts, Aug 15 2013 Just inserting my own ha'penny worth...forgive me for stating the blindingly obvious here...we all live in a closed system (the universe) and all we really do is concentrate energy. For example, a wind generator will concentrate the energy of the wind, which we then tap into.
One very crude system where this might work is a lighter than air balloon based drone. It has a load of fishing line attached to a generator. It then snags my neighbour's tv aerial, and the wind yanking the balloon about will then generate electricity. Batteries full, the drone chops off that bit of line and buggers off, and I get my cut from the tv aerial repair chap.
That it is not very efficient, is not the point, that it can do this repeatedly without landing, or human interaction is the point.-- not_morrison_rm, Aug 17 2013 // we all live in a closed system (the universe) //
If your technology is sufficiently advanced, that's more of of a lifestyle choice than a hard-and-fast rule.-- 8th of 7, Aug 17 2013 I will write my Emperor and advise that that he/she bypass Congress, work with the Justice Department, and rescind the law of thermodynamics by Executive Order. Once I explain the extra votes the act will generate he/she will be enthralled (not that he/she needs the votes). When we get the Executive Orders completed for no voter ID required and election day voter registration for invasive species, the votes from cold blooded creatures who will no longer have to depend on laying on a rock in the Sun for warmth. The laws of physics will fall faster then the US Constitution.-- Sunstone, Aug 18 2013 Well, the trial run to set the value of Pi in Idaho (?) didn't go too well.
//If your technology is sufficiently advanced
Personally, I'm still trying to work out what a fondue set actually is, so call me back in a century or two.-- not_morrison_rm, Aug 18 2013 random, halfbakery