[aprssig] Re: now, 1.5 Lptops Per Child : power options?

[Scott Miller]

I was thinking about this the other day... when I was in Hong Kong, I 
saw tons of little gadgets hitting the market that have little 
hand-crank dynamos.  Smaller ones than I've seen before in flashlights 
and radios, too - little LED lights and cell phone chargers and such.

My first thought was to try building a regular windmill with one, but 
perhaps a simpler mechanism like a cup vane anemometer would work.  If 
you could get a couple hundred mW out of it, that'd be enough to power 
remote sensors and such where solar power might not be suitable.

As for human power, my biggest gripe with hand cranks is that they're 
awkward for small devices, and they're not really a good match to the 
way the human body is able to generate power.  When you're turning a 
little tiny crank like that, you're probably spending most of your 
energy just moving your arm around.  The pull string sounds like a 
better idea.  For bigger installations, what about a big bucket of dirt 
on a rope over a pulley?  Hoist the weight up and let it unwind at a 
steady rate, like the weights in an old clock.

Scott
N1VG

Kurt Freiberger wrote:
> Somewhere there's an African village that charges batteries with a 
> generator connected to a kids' playground merry-go-round.  That's a neat 
> harness of resources!
> 
> 73/Kurt
> 
> 
> Chris Kantarjiev wrote:
>>>> What alternative power options are being provided with the OLPCs? 
>>>> Hand crank? Solar panel? foot pedal? 
>>> Only a universal wall-wart.  
>>
>> That's for the G1G1 XOs being delivered to the US. Other parts of
>> the world are getting hand cranks and/or pull strings. The solar
>> panels are becoming available.
>> There's a group in India working on a "cow power" charging station
>> that should eventually be able to charge 10 XOs at a time.
>>
>> 73 de chris K6DBG
>>
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