unitedelectric
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Not Just Hot Air
Nate Alder was scuba diving off the coast of Brazil when the idea struck him. It was 2006, and he was spending his summer break from Brigham Young University backpacking around the country and working on his advanced scuba certification. During one of the scuba seminars, he learned about how divers in cold climates pump argon gas into their dry suits for insulation. As a former snowboard instructor, he wondered if argon could be used to warm skiers and snowboarders too.
11.25.2009 at 05:50pm - Comment by unitedelectricNot breathable. Probable not very usefull for strenuous outdoor activities. I would also hesitate to rely on the vales/canisters/pumps in critical situations. They'll find some niche uses, but far from revolutionary.
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Video: Bombproof Wallpaper vs. a Wrecking Ball
- DIY
Power Walking
You're halfway through listening to "Layla" when it happens: Your MP3 player's battery dies. Normally you'd have to wait until you were at your computer to finish rocking out, but there is an easy and eco-friendly way to do it on the go. First, slip a piezoelectric transducer -- a device that generates a tiny charge when touched -- into your shoe. A connected module collects the voltage created every time you take a step and continuously powers up a rechargeable AA battery. (It takes a lot of walking to get a full charge, but it's perfect for reviving or topping off a gadget.) Once the battery is charged, put it into a DIY five-volt converter, and plug in your dead MP3 player. Now you can listen to the guitar solo while you walk some more juice into another battery.
5.21.2009 at 12:11am - Comment by unitedelectricAn intermitant 30mw of power will not even wake up your MP3 player. Peizo scavenging schemes are for sensors and not much else.
- The Environment
Three Bodacious Green Innovations
Plug-N-Play Cars
Zero to 60 mph in about nine seconds may sound sluggish, but it's a breakthrough for a zero-emissions, all-electric car that can travel up to 100 miles on a single charge and hit speeds of 85 mph. That's the claim of the i MiEV (for "Mitsubishi Innovative motor Electric Vehicle"), a new plug-in four-door coupe. The i MiEV runs on a pack of 22 lithium-ion batteries, but unlike other electric cars, including the Chevy Volt and Tesla Roadster, the i MiEV doesn't require a liquid cooling system to avoid overheating.1.29.2009 at 07:14pm - Comment by unitedelectricThe road system wont work without some sort of binary or isobutane closed loop vaccum system, where the working fluid can boil at low temps. Not enough heat to push a turbine with water. Aslo, hydrocarbons would be dangerous underneath asphalt for obvious reasons.
- Gadgets
A More Efficient Hybrid
One of the first things Eric Mattessich discovered in engineering school was that the typical internal combustion engine blows about 70 percent of the energy it creates straight out of the tailpipe in the form of heat. So, he wondered, could he adapt the kind of heat-recapturing mechanisms used to make powerplants more efficient to work on hybrid cars? “The technology has been around since the 1900s,” he points out. “It’s just that no one has put it into such a small package before.”
9.8.2008 at 01:14pm - Comment by unitedelectricThere is plenty of room for heat scavenging in IC engines without restriciting exhaust flow too badly. Heat exchangers can be arranged in a planar fluid-flow direction. Exchangers could be wrapped around exhaust components, which can reach 500 degrees externally. A binary turbine process could easily tap the heat of the cooling fluid in the radiator. I love this man's thinking!
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December 2009: Best of What's New
In our December issue, Popular Science names the 100 best innovations of the year: bombproof wallpaper, self-parking cars, the fastest helicopter, and 97 more. Plus inventor profiles and videos.
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