If you want to have a look at those special videos become a member and join by clicking this link / @thinkingandtinkering The Spanish company is vortex bladeless - my bad!
Years ago I read an article about a wind fence , Multiple wires very close together one positive and next negative theoretically got electron exchange with air moving through it , never saw it again. Just thought about it watching this. Have also seen a generator ‘tree’ where the ‘leaves’ wiggle in the wind presumably using similar techniques to what you described here. Love your videos thanks!
The last time i saw one of those horizontal tubular fans was in the kitchen at Sheffield University when the one in the evaporator of the airconditioner i'd just installed, 'exploded'. I hadn't gone more than 20 miles before getting a call from base telling me to go back. The replacement fan unit did the same. Upon my third return, while in extreme 'Columbo' mode, i discovered that in both cases it spat out bits of blades when one of the short ladies tried to angle the outlet grill using her pen... It's amazing what happens when you thrust the end of a biro into plastic blades spinning at around 500rpm!
The way you conduct your presentations are encapturing and peaceful which makes it so easy to listen and appreciate the art of what you are teaching.great stuff I'm excited to dig into more videos like this.i love seeing others get excited about this stuff besides myself
This is really cool. One of the coolest wind mill designs I’ve seen is essentially hundreds of small sections 2-3ft long of your vertical fan on a thin cable. And stretched a few 100 yards over a canyon the power it was generating was orders of magnitude more then any wind turbine currently in use.
Wow! And to think that back in the early 1970s when the man I was then married to and I approached the utility co-operative, they said we were wasting our time. (Riiight..) THEN they asked if they could borrow our prototype for a weekend. I said "absolutely not", so they asked HIM if they "could deal only with him, since his woman was suspicious of their motives". He said "No. If she is suspicious, I should listen." So the co-open heads tried to force us in court (!). And lost. Bwahahahaha.....
Stringing a piece of flat cargo strap between two poles or structures. With the correct tension on the strap and a light breeze the strap will vibrate like crazy. This should give plenty of wave forms to the magnet/generator if you will. Thank you for the great content. Keep it up.
Just looked out my window at my Oak tree bowing in the wind, and envision little speakers all over it. I wonder what the maximum capacity of energy it could produce? Now I'm thinking if I could save on wires by using resonance some how... Suddenly forests become more valuable as a power plant. Get it. Power Plant. Trees, plants, making power... Come on That's Funny!
you could just get a bunch of broken speakers, take out the inductors. and attach them to the fulcrum of the tree branches, daisy chain them together and run them into a battery of some sort, you'd have, as you said, a literal *power plant*.
The whole world is Sound, its, vibration and resonance. We just use the wrong form of energy. Theres no need to use the detour over electric energy for the important lifeforce-friendly needs and results...
You mean synthetic photoabsorbent strings that generates energy from both the sun the wind and the termal differentiation... I would add roots able to create underground water collection .
Very good idea, I don't know if this has been posted already but if you take into account harmonics of a vibrating object you could fix the "reed" in the middle and each half would vibrate at exactly the same cycle. So an inductor at the center of each half would produce twice the current.
I just saw this video for the first time, and using another item from one of your videos, I came up with an idea. Using a panel of these items, with each one coated with your carbon paint batteries, set into moving salt water (ocean current), wouldn't that increase the power output considerably? What I'm envisioning would look like a series of undersea reeds swaying in the wind, generating electric current all the time.
i've been fascinated by the vortex wind generators for ages! awesome to hear your take on it. it'd be extremely cool if you can refine this into something practical.
its old world technology im telling u they had all this and more, cathedrals and buildings in old times where always power generators and there was a reset by the controllers, it’s about time again just listen to all them talk about “build back better”and time for a “great reset, aka new world order!
For the life of me, I simply cannot imagine why anyone would give this excellent video a thumbs down, unless they are seething with jealous indignation that someone, besides them, came up with a fascinating concept that they are willing to give away, freely. Shame on you, jealous thumbs-down-people. The better way to redeem yourself is to come up with your own inventions. A generous heart is a happy heart.
Imagine a tall building with windows (glass panels) all over it. Now imagine an inductor connected to each of those glass panels. Generating electricity each time the wind blew, each time people walked across it's floors, each time the elevator moved between floors... Connect a battery bank to the array of inductors... a building is now generating it's own power, or at the very least reducing it's footprint. This is kind of amazing from a society changing perspective.
The device I came up with over 15 years ago looked like a field of barley swaying in the wind and generating more amps by joining the currents in parallel and joining the voltages in series to get the best power output. The real problem in getting 'blue skies' technologies to the market is that lone inventors do not get any support from government backed schemes. I am 68 now and ageism brings even more hurdles. It is really the 'idea that holds the authority' , and it should not matter who comes up with a good idea. If an idea is good it should at least get a hearing so it can improve society and quality of life for everyone. I have subscribed.
More likely the resistance of the coil is 6 ohms (for a nominal 8 ohms speaker coil). And its funny how the meter wires are different lengths and disappear behind his leg, I call BS on any claim of useful power generated from this technique. Interesting in theory but please can the OP give a more honest presentation.
What would all the fibreglass and gear oil people do? It actually is a nice idea. Should apply for a government grant but as you are probably not related to Bill Grates or Gretta Dumberg, you would not get it.
Great information. I am trying to figure out why at 4:39 the readings on your meter aren't moving very much. Are you making a voltage measurement or current measurement? Please explain. Thanks
Energy, frequency and vibrations.....absolutely genius....my family member passed away last year...he was a radio ham...he’d also like to discover things...it’s really by chance that I’ve found your channel...👍
A light lose sheet covered with graphene on top of magnetic collector? I see cloth waving widely with wind. You keep finding simpler and simpler energy generation solution and they seem they can be mixed together, great work!
this was described in a TED talk several years ago as a way to provide power to rural Africa so people weren't dependent on fire for light. A strip of material stretched between two supports with a magnet attached to it in close proximity to a coil. The strip of material vibrated in the slightest breeze and produced current. The voltage was rectified and powered LEDs.
Really interesting! I’ve been wondering about alternative ways of generating electricity from wind for a while now. I love turbines but they can be noisy. One idea I had was using the movement of a tree swaying in the wind to pull a line of magnets through a tube with coils around it. A bit of paracord from the top of the tree would pull the magnets through the tube and a spring to pull them back. Only problem is that I’m afraid of heights!
I've been thinking of that one too. A poplar tree would be ideal for this, being tall and flexible enough to move quite a bit in the wind. I have an Italian Cypress and Juniperus 'Skyrocket' would also be a good contenders, I reckon. One problem, I'm not too hot with electrics, am new to the channel, and don't really know what I'm looking at here. I want to start generating our own electricity, can't rely on solar (Scotland), and live to the south of some fussy neighbours (so the flickering blades of a full-blown wind turbine won't be popular). I do like the idea of a 'reed mat' - if only I knew what these inductors, etc were and what sort of size, shape and whatnots I'd be looking for. But the tree idea would be great if I knew where to start.
Why are all the simple ideas always the greatest? Must classify as a miracle for the believers. Thanks for a great inspirational video. Keep it up Robert.
Brilliant! Since everything in the universe vibrates to one degree or another, it is only a matter of time to find the correct materials and geometry to harvest those vibrations. Resonance seems to be the key.
Ive heard of this system before. Many years ago(I don't remember the details) a fellow thought this would be a great way for ppl in high rise units to get power from their balconies. On hearing his wire balustrade humming in the wind and keeping him awake during the night. It fails in 2 main ways, 1 the system is noisy(obviously the noisier the more power) 2 Mainly it is not very economic. Best for ultra-low power remote sensing where high reliability is important. No spinning parts to hit wayward wildlife. Much better to fly a kite.
There is actually a reed type wind generator that has already been used at quite large scale test installations. They operate more like how you tension a piece of grass and blow it to make a noise. So picture an elongated narrow frame with a piece of fabric like material that has a magnet mounted near one end surrounded by a stationary coil. Pretty efficient, bird safe, but can generate a certain amount of noise. Make a bunch of these mounted in parallel grid array about the size of say a solar panel. then add as many panels as you like for the power needed.
Depending upon the materials you use; could it be tuned like a speaker and work off sound waves rather than wind? I mean: if what it really does is work off vibration, then couldn't you tune the sensitivity (by using highly tensile materials) to use sound from say; a busy intersection or an industrial plant for instance, as the actual motive force? Great work as always Robert, you always inspire.
I am amazed how often the titles are not accurate and most don't pick that up...Glad that you did otherwise, I wouldn't be able to resist saying something. Robert has some great ideas and content...but suspect many of these videos are teasers for his paid members!
@Timothy Mckee it's driving me crazy! i'm going to figure out how to stop the earth from from spinning and orbiting the sun and electrons from spinning and vibrating so i can relax! thinking a little more, the guys that run a wire into the air and measure a voltage may actually be on to something. the rotation of the earth with it's iron core.
Exactly. If there is movement of any kind, even if it's not perceptible, there is at least one moving part. If there is a moving part, there is wear or fatigue.
Super interesting, thank you. But both do have moving parts. I would think that a fence type arrangement might be pretty useful. Think about how long a fence you could run along a coast.
Hello Robert. It's matter the coils what shape and size are? Can use large like 50A speaker coils and or toroidal chock coils or has to be like the one you showed wounded cylindrical? Thanks
I don't know mate - to be honest I just made random guesses with what I had laying around - the cool thing is it worked at all and any sort of optimisation is going to improve it for sure - if it was me I would experiment with your suggestions and see which works better
I had the same thought. Multi purpose, multi functional. You'd want to somehow tilt either the blades or the whole contraption to actually face the sun, though, without losing any of the movement generated by the wind. Possibly follow the lines and patterns of nature? 😉 A tree has many, proportionally tiny photovoltaic cells that shiver in the breeze, for example.
“If you build it, they will come”. Field of green. Very cool. I’m gonna buy up all the old speakers I can find at thrift stores and make myself a blanket.
Great idea, Robert. My questions are many, but my first one is: Why give away your ideas rather than search out angel investors to capitalize a company that produces these products? Second: If you hear of anybody on your channel who takes this idea of yours and actually produces working prototypes, would you send them my way? I work for the marketing agency who helped Yeti Coolers become capitalized and we developed their marketing strategy that turned them from a two-man operation into nearly $1 billion-a-year in annual earnings. Love your ideas. You’re a generous and very smart man. Keep up the great work!
This is quite a good idea. Q; how to make it better ? Much better. Use two reeds tuned to a resonant frequency Your assembly is upside down. Two reeds clamped at the bottom with the magnet assembly on the top. As the wind passes through the reeds it will whistle ( the resonant frequency )- that whistle creates the movement with the magnet vibrating within a fixed coil. Try that. Should you require assistance let me know.
Hey Robert! Lovely idea! I was wondering about that small inductor and if you had a part number or suggestions regarding how I should look for one that can match with an energy harvesting circuit (like the LTC3588 or the LTC3108). Cheers and thank you for all your wonderful videos!
Fantastic experimentation. Your demonstration of the variant in this wind turbine is very contegeous and awesome. Thanks for a new approach to renewable energy reserves. It is an endless reserve and a very suttle low cost way to tap. Thanks again.
Thank you. I have been following you for years and even repeating many of your findings. As always, you are very inspirational. Playing with the concepts you have demonstrated has been nothing more than entertaining. However after watching your video, I find myself once again desiring to revisit and reinvestigate your findings with a few variations. :)
I've not heard of the vortex wind generator and your experiments and demonstration are fascinating- something that could be made cheaply from waste materials would be great for developing countries, too. Very interesting video and you explain how the system works very well.
I could see adapting a wind chime for this. Instead of just air creating the vibrations, you’d have the pendulum hitting the reeds. Basically a way to concentrate the energy of a light breeze.
I believe they use a piezoelectric crystal to extract the power. This not only works in the wind, but from seismic and acoustic energy. Those crystals often release their voltage in the kilovolts, allowing one to transform it down while transforming up the amperage.
Great presentation Rob, thanks a lot!👍 Reminds me of a company that developed such generators and installed lots of them under a discothek's dancefloor, and under the steps of a stair. Unfortunately I remember neither the company's name nor the amount of power that could be generated over a day. But I just found it awesome.😃
Two things: 1. this reminds me of another design from years ago where they used flexible plastic ribbons somewhat similarly to harness turbulent energy. On videos, it was noisy. 2. The Spanish company seems to use rigid pipes. I wonder how well this would work with an inflatable closed (textile?) pipe. And some ropes to conduct the movement to ground level. Soft robotics already have some neat solutions that may be useful here. Even if the pole gets damaged, it just flops down safely.
This may work with Piezo Transducers if the reed was to distort the disc slightly it should produce pulses of power. This was very interesting and gave me some good ideas.
I'm SO excited to see this video. A few decades ago I had an idea hit me to do something very similar to this to capture energy from very light wind. I never took the time to build anything to see if it would actually work, and it ended up being in the large pile of old ideas in the back of my brain. It brings such a smile to my face to see that the idea actually would have worked, and to see it in action right here! Keep up the great work Robert, I am a huge fan of all of your videos.
In the industrial instrument world, a metal rod in a pipe is used to measure flow in the pipe. The frequency change indicates the amount of flow. I like the idea, because it should be more environmentally friendly than windmill farms. Windmills kill a lot of birds.
Where were all these videos when my kids were younger and we were racking our brains to come up with something cool for a school science project? Seriously, parents should be tuning in to your channel. :) Keep up the great work!
A round pole or wire in the wind makes a vortex that switches side to side rapidly, known as a Street vortex. Street vortex causes flags to wave, you can see the frequency. Use piezo-electric disks to convert force to electric, pinch the base between discs and set an axle above then the pole, bamboo stick might be nice. You can flash a led with a tap on a piezo. With 4 diodes, a cap and resistor you can keep the led lit by tapping. Shorter/stiffer smaller dia sticks should vibrate faster.
So if we built these as panels of reeds or battens and put them along side major roads or motorways to replace the current noise absorbing panelling we could both reduce traffic noise and generate power for local use? Would these absorb more energy than passive panels making things quieter for nearby residents?
@@ironnam8107 That would be an insignificant factor if engineered correctly. Some subwoofers are capable of long term use at thousands of watts. I've pulled many drivers apart and there are some massive voice coils out there.
Thanks for this wonderful video! I look forward to trying that myself.What a blessing you are that every episode you make is a gift to the world I believe.Thank you kind sir. May good health and longevity be yours.♥️👍
Wonder if it would me better having it in the middle of the "Reed" as opposed to the bottom? Or using a fan of reeds to catch the wind more effectively. Certainly interesting either way. I wonder how many would be required to produce a meaningful amount of power.
What if you married a bladed fan with a cam of some sort to the speaker magnet? You might be able to get a longer and more consistent stroke out of your magnet? Maybe even a cam shaft with multiple magnets running slightly out of phase from each other? Just another option.
Good idea! You just need a tiny inexpensive device, produced in the millions, and then some robots to fix them to the stems of the grain. Then the fields that feed you will also power your everything.
@@TheRapand Yes, and the devices could also create an electrical field for pest and disease control, lol. I have had a similar idea for a while now to address the Pine Beetle Infestation in North America - Build millions, billions of tiny robot beetle predators and let them loose. Program them to recognize Pines and the beetles, drop power stations in increments, and they can Roomba to it to repower. Actually, could think about applying it to many evasive species. Australian Cane toads, robot dolphins to kill all the invasive carp in US.... Oh! Robot Giant King Cobras to eradicate the pythons in Florida...lmao
The idea of reversing the speaker to generate electricity is awesome. Put them in the noisy down town areas or near factory's. On high ways to power up light poles on highways. Andy place where noise is an issue can off set the anoiance with the bennifit of free energy.
Digikey/mouser/or ripped out of any old electronics with power supplies. You'll have better performance if you find some with laminations instead of ferrite cores, but the cost is much higher.
Cool idea. The real question is how much power it generates for a given cost of materials. In general the power generated is probably proportional to the area of wind it interacts with. It would be interesting to see how the power output compares for a given cross section with a turbine design. I suspect that the turbine will be more efficient and cheaper at larger scales as you can just get bigger whereas a bigger reed might not work so well. As others have noted, there clearly IS a moving part.
@@ThinkingandTinkering Wouldn´t a microphone produce a tiny bit of power anyway, if you put it in the wind, the wind blows in the microphone and produces a lot of signal usually.. This is used in many games on the DS, because blowing in the microphone usually maxes out the signal. So if got that bit right, it´s a question of hooking up a lot of tiny mics to a diode-bridge and then possibly joule-thiefs?
@@ThinkingandTinkering How much would the cost/watt be? Because the reason why we are building those huge towers for wind turbines is that while a small one is fine for a home owner it is not as economical to build a million 500W microturbines as twenty 25MW ones. Given these tiny devices would likely need to be assembled by hand it seems like you need some minimum size to make them cost effective. Good news is the upper part can be a piece of plastic pipe or an inflated balloon or whatever, no high tech or expensive materials needed.
@@Ludifant Most microphones are going to be connected to an amplifier. In the case of your DS, phone, etc, the amplifier is going to be drawing power from the battery to boost the signal enough to make it usable for audio. I am not implying that your idea will not work though, because speakers and microphones work on the same basic principle of using coils of wire and permanent magnets to generate electrical signals.
The nice thing about that hydroturbine is that the water that sets the reed under vibration could be flowing in any one way and even change direction like sea waves, and it would still work.
reminds me of the shaker torch ,there a magnet sliding up and back a tube with a coil ,then all the perifial electronics to charge the torch storage cell ,this guy is a visionary keep at it mate
It's weird I haven't seen the term "windbelt" mentioned here anywhere yet. It's at least from 2009 by a company called Humdinger wind or something like that. The principle is aeroelastic flutter, aka takoma narrows bridge
I don't understand most of what you explain but , I'm really glad that I've found your channel. Eventually some of the knowledge will sink into my thick head.
@@ThinkingandTinkering Thanks Robert, I will use some of the concepts you explain, to create something weird. A cup of tea and an afternoon tinkering in a shed, absolute bliss! If it triggers the imagination of the kids as well then that is a huge bonus. You are a really great presenter, you have a real passion for what you do and you deliver your knowledge without distracting bullshit and just a pinch of humour! Perfect!
@@ThinkingandTinkering If you can find an old printer imaging unit, it will probably have a piezoelectric sensor to detect the toner level. If you can set that a paper thickness away from the vibrating airfoil, you may be able to induce a voltage?
It's a very interesting concept Rob, some years ago I suggested to some people that a similar method could be used to generate power by installing induction magnets and coils under a road surface as cars drive over it it would produce a lot of power using gravity thrust as the cars weight went over such a structure it might have fallen on deaf ears at the time but just a thought. Also can use a similar system under a carpeted floor where many people are walking over it.
Outstanding! I'm new to the channel and have found mecca! For the speaker, the coil is moving in a gap with little tolerance so the cone shape helps to keep it evenly located as it moves. a reed might have the coil rub especially in heavier winds which might be an issue long term but dang! I like it. The little blind/inductor thingy would be interesting toadapt as some sort of clothing that captures your energy as you walk. Great stuff.
Just thinking about this some more. When you extract energy from the vibrating structure, you essentially dampen the vibration. That means there is a fine balance between extracting energy and sustaining the vibration of the reed.
As someone who was thwarted by planning regs over putting a small (3 Kw) wind turbine on the house this may be a way forward and will keep an eye on it as it may get traction due to no moving parts and could be scalable like PV cells. That aside, what was the low profile squirrel cage fan on you bench when the video started. Hopefully a turbine?
Offers some really interesting possibilities for fitting these on domestic rooftops. The pvc pipe guides makes it effective no matter which way the wind comes in from and could be used to, effectively, auto furl if the wind gets too high (would require them to be motorised) making the turbine very aerodynamic! How large do you think the squirrel cage fan would need to be to turn something that generates a useful amount of power e.g. 2Kw? Will you be continuing the development or are there other videos to watch?
Years ago I read an article about a wind fence , Multiple wires very close together one positive and next negative theoretically got electron exchange with air moving through it , never saw it again. Just thought about it watching this. Have also seen a generator ‘tree’ where the ‘leaves’ wiggle in the wind presumably using similar techniques to what you described here.
Love your videos thanks!
The last time i saw one of those horizontal tubular fans was in the kitchen at Sheffield University when the one in the evaporator of the airconditioner i'd just installed, 'exploded'. I hadn't gone more than 20 miles before getting a call from base telling me to go back.
The replacement fan unit did the same. Upon my third return, while in extreme 'Columbo' mode, i discovered that in both cases it spat out bits of blades when one of the short ladies tried to angle the outlet grill using her pen...
It's amazing what happens when you thrust the end of a biro into plastic blades spinning at around 500rpm!
The way you conduct your presentations are encapturing and peaceful which makes it so easy to listen and appreciate the art of what you are teaching.great stuff I'm excited to dig into more videos like this.i love seeing others get excited about this stuff besides myself
I could see a panel of these on the side of a building as a ‘vertical field of grass’ with the wind patterns becoming a work of art
Thanks for the imaginative visual. I can see this too.
Excellent
I had a similar vision, a field of them (i have room for this, and a lot of wind) arranged with an aesthetic.
Yeah and after 36 days, it would charge an iPhone.
@@libenasukro oh so minus
This is really cool. One of the coolest wind mill designs I’ve seen is essentially hundreds of small sections 2-3ft long of your vertical fan on a thin cable. And stretched a few 100 yards over a canyon the power it was generating was orders of magnitude more then any wind turbine currently in use.
Link?
Wow! And to think that back in the early 1970s when the man I was then married to and I approached the utility co-operative, they said we were wasting our time. (Riiight..) THEN they asked if they could borrow our prototype for a weekend. I said "absolutely not", so they asked HIM if they "could deal only with him, since his woman was suspicious of their motives". He said "No. If she is suspicious, I should listen." So the co-open heads tried to force us in court (!). And lost. Bwahahahaha.....
Stringing a piece of flat cargo strap between two poles or structures. With the correct tension on the strap and a light breeze the strap will vibrate like crazy.
This should give plenty of wave forms to the magnet/generator if you will.
Thank you for the great content. Keep it up.
Just looked out my window at my Oak tree bowing in the wind, and envision little speakers all over it. I wonder what the maximum capacity of energy it could produce? Now I'm thinking if I could save on wires by using resonance some how... Suddenly forests become more valuable as a power plant. Get it. Power Plant. Trees, plants, making power... Come on That's Funny!
Literally tons of momentum to be harvested there
you could just get a bunch of broken speakers, take out the inductors. and attach them to the fulcrum of the tree branches, daisy chain them together and run them into a battery of some sort, you'd have, as you said, a literal *power plant*.
I thought the same
The planet is the magnet
I also noticed this, if you would somehow inject nano tubes in the vains of tree leaves, how much power would you get from say a OAK tree.
The whole world is Sound, its,
vibration and resonance.
We just use the wrong form of energy.
Theres no need to use the detour over electric energy for the important lifeforce-friendly needs and results...
I can imagine a field of synthetic wheat that generates power.
You mean synthetic photoabsorbent strings that generates energy from both the sun the wind and the termal differentiation...
I would add roots able to create underground water collection .
We have enugh gen therapy in our food already thanks !
Wow
@@antoniopacelli Woooow
@@antoniopacelli if someone wanted to learn more about this, what should they read/watch?
Very good idea, I don't know if this has been posted already but if you take into account harmonics of a vibrating object you could fix the "reed" in the middle and each half would vibrate at exactly the same cycle. So an inductor at the center of each half would produce twice the current.
Thanks! Rob I love your vids came back to this one though:)
wow - cheers mate
I just saw this video for the first time, and using another item from one of your videos, I came up with an idea. Using a panel of these items, with each one coated with your carbon paint batteries, set into moving salt water (ocean current), wouldn't that increase the power output considerably? What I'm envisioning would look like a series of undersea reeds swaying in the wind, generating electric current all the time.
Tide generation.
What is the inductor you are using and is something like it for sale somewhere? I am having trouble replicating your experiment
i've been fascinated by the vortex wind generators for ages! awesome to hear your take on it. it'd be extremely cool if you can refine this into something practical.
its old world technology im telling u they had all this and more, cathedrals and buildings in old times where always power generators and there was a reset by the controllers, it’s about time again just listen to all them talk about “build back better”and time for a “great reset, aka new world order!
For the life of me, I simply cannot imagine why anyone would give this excellent video a thumbs down, unless they are seething with jealous indignation that someone, besides them, came up with a fascinating concept that they are willing to give away, freely. Shame on you, jealous thumbs-down-people. The better way to redeem yourself is to come up with your own inventions. A generous heart is a happy heart.
Imagine a tall building with windows (glass panels) all over it. Now imagine an inductor connected to each of those glass panels. Generating electricity each time the wind blew, each time people walked across it's floors, each time the elevator moved between floors... Connect a battery bank to the array of inductors... a building is now generating it's own power, or at the very least reducing it's footprint.
This is kind of amazing from a society changing perspective.
The device I came up with over 15 years ago looked like a field of barley swaying in the wind and generating more amps by joining the currents in parallel and joining the voltages in series to get the best power output. The real problem in getting 'blue skies' technologies to the market is that lone inventors do not get any support from government backed schemes. I am 68 now and ageism brings even more hurdles. It is really the 'idea that holds the authority' , and it should not matter who comes up with a good idea. If an idea is good it should at least get a hearing so it can improve society and quality of life for everyone. I have subscribed.
Amazing, everything he connects to that multi-meter generates exactly 6.1 volts!
More likely the resistance of the coil is 6 ohms (for a nominal 8 ohms speaker coil). And its funny how the meter wires are different lengths and disappear behind his leg, I call BS on any claim of useful power generated from this technique. Interesting in theory but please can the OP give a more honest presentation.
You’re just such a great team of people and people in general for making these videos . Thank you so much !
I had an idea about 15 years ago that could do this on trees and branches so that every tree could become a generator..
You had that idea 15 years ago, did you?
What would all the fibreglass and gear oil people do? It actually is a nice idea. Should apply for a government grant but as you are probably not related to Bill Grates or Gretta Dumberg, you would not get it.
@@stewartmackay interesting
Perhaps it is a good time to commercialise it now?
Want to commercialise it?
Great information. I am trying to figure out why at 4:39 the readings on your meter aren't moving very much. Are you making a voltage measurement or current measurement? Please explain. Thanks
Can you make a video showing you assembling the inductor?
Energy, frequency and vibrations.....absolutely genius....my family member passed away last year...he was a radio ham...he’d also like to discover things...it’s really by chance that I’ve found your channel...👍
A light lose sheet covered with graphene on top of magnetic collector? I see cloth waving widely with wind. You keep finding simpler and simpler energy generation solution and they seem they can be mixed together, great work!
The sheet would have to be partially rigid if you don't live somewhere with constant high winds.
this was described in a TED talk several years ago as a way to provide power to rural Africa so people weren't dependent on fire for light. A strip of material stretched between two supports with a magnet attached to it in close proximity to a coil. The strip of material vibrated in the slightest breeze and produced current. The voltage was rectified and powered LEDs.
Really interesting! I’ve been wondering about alternative ways of generating electricity from wind for a while now. I love turbines but they can be noisy. One idea I had was using the movement of a tree swaying in the wind to pull a line of magnets through a tube with coils around it.
A bit of paracord from the top of the tree would pull the magnets through the tube and a spring to pull them back.
Only problem is that I’m afraid of heights!
lol - me too! - but what I did and what you are thinking of aren't too far apart mate
Robert Murray-Smith absolutely, just scaled up to tree size.
@@AntCooke I have just bought a forrest.. Very happy with this..
@@ThinkingandTinkering How to make silica powder for smelting metal
I've been thinking of that one too. A poplar tree would be ideal for this, being tall and flexible enough to move quite a bit in the wind. I have an Italian Cypress and Juniperus 'Skyrocket' would also be a good contenders, I reckon.
One problem, I'm not too hot with electrics, am new to the channel, and don't really know what I'm looking at here.
I want to start generating our own electricity, can't rely on solar (Scotland), and live to the south of some fussy neighbours (so the flickering blades of a full-blown wind turbine won't be popular).
I do like the idea of a 'reed mat' - if only I knew what these inductors, etc were and what sort of size, shape and whatnots I'd be looking for. But the tree idea would be great if I knew where to start.
Why are all the simple ideas always the greatest? Must classify as a miracle for the believers. Thanks for a great inspirational video. Keep it up Robert.
cheers mate
Brilliant! Since everything in the universe vibrates to one degree or another, it is only a matter of time to find the correct materials and geometry to harvest those vibrations. Resonance seems to be the key.
Nicola Tesla would agree.
You should try a ratchet strap with a glued on magnet. In wind you get great vibration. Cheers J
Ive heard of this system before. Many years ago(I don't remember the details) a fellow thought this would be a great way for ppl in high rise units to get power from their balconies. On hearing his wire balustrade humming in the wind and keeping him awake during the night.
It fails in 2 main ways, 1 the system is noisy(obviously the noisier the more power)
2 Mainly it is not very economic.
Best for ultra-low power remote sensing where high reliability is important. No spinning parts to hit wayward wildlife. Much better to fly a kite.
There is actually a reed type wind generator that has already been used at quite large scale test installations. They operate more like how you tension a piece of grass and blow it to make a noise. So picture an elongated narrow frame with a piece of fabric like material that has a magnet mounted near one end surrounded by a stationary coil.
Pretty efficient, bird safe, but can generate a certain amount of noise.
Make a bunch of these mounted in parallel grid array about the size of say a solar panel. then add as many panels as you like for the power needed.
Brilliantly informative and inspirational video. No awful music either. Thank you!
It's fake
@@fkingride.5500 Oh no really? So what you're saying is that all those moving coil microphones I've used over the years don't work. Amazing!
Depending upon the materials you use; could it be tuned like a speaker and work off sound waves rather than wind? I mean: if what it really does is work off vibration, then couldn't you tune the sensitivity (by using highly tensile materials) to use sound from say; a busy intersection or an industrial plant for instance, as the actual motive force? Great work as always Robert, you always inspire.
absolutely mate cheers
It does have a moving part!
I am amazed how often the titles are not accurate and most don't pick that up...Glad that you did otherwise, I wouldn't be able to resist saying something. Robert has some great ideas and content...but suspect many of these videos are teasers for his paid members!
@Timothy Mckee it's driving me crazy! i'm going to figure out how to stop the earth from from spinning and orbiting the sun and electrons from spinning and vibrating so i can relax! thinking a little more, the guys that run a wire into the air and measure a voltage may actually be on to something. the rotation of the earth with it's iron core.
Exactly. If there is movement of any kind, even if it's not perceptible, there is at least one moving part. If there is a moving part, there is wear or fatigue.
There is no mechanical moving part it’s like a vibrating membrane isn’t considered a mechanical moving part
No spinning parts, which is the real thing that kill birds and bats with the blades, but that's a lot less catchy.
As electrical engneering student this video is helpful. Thanks.
Super interesting, thank you. But both do have moving parts. I would think that a fence type arrangement might be pretty useful. Think about how long a fence you could run along a coast.
Rob, much respect for those working on these projects...but that is a moving part.
By the way, I love your channel, attitude, presentation. Many thanks for all your shares.
Hello Robert. It's matter the coils what shape and size are? Can use large like 50A speaker coils and or toroidal chock coils or has to be like the one you showed wounded cylindrical? Thanks
I don't know mate - to be honest I just made random guesses with what I had laying around - the cool thing is it worked at all and any sort of optimisation is going to improve it for sure - if it was me I would experiment with your suggestions and see which works better
Now with flexible graphene solar cells, why not make the reeds photovoltaic as well :D
I was thinking the same thing!
@Todd Berkeley that is an ingenious idea, double the power.
Double Power generation. Ingenius. But depends whats the best material for the Bladeless generation.
@@EdgeMan ah, an American I see?
I had the same thought. Multi purpose, multi functional. You'd want to somehow tilt either the blades or the whole contraption to actually face the sun, though, without losing any of the movement generated by the wind. Possibly follow the lines and patterns of nature? 😉 A tree has many, proportionally tiny photovoltaic cells that shiver in the breeze, for example.
“If you build it, they will come”. Field of green. Very cool. I’m gonna buy up all the old speakers I can find at thrift stores and make myself a blanket.
Its called a "MICROPHONE"
yes very clever, the gadget that turns on lights by voice !
good one ......😂
@@johnnygeejr500 Or by clamping 😂
Microphones are just speakers, backwards.
stewart caldwell yep!
Great idea, Robert. My questions are many, but my first one is: Why give away your ideas rather than search out angel investors to capitalize a company that produces these products? Second: If you hear of anybody on your channel who takes this idea of yours and actually produces working prototypes, would you send them my way? I work for the marketing agency who helped Yeti Coolers become capitalized and we developed their marketing strategy that turned them from a two-man operation into nearly $1 billion-a-year in annual earnings. Love your ideas. You’re a generous and very smart man. Keep up the great work!
This is a really good idea. I was wondering how efficient it would be with piezo crystals.
i like the idea mate - give it a go - do a video and share with everyone
Also use this idea with moving water, I think Piezos have been used in systems generating energy from sea surf dynamics movement.
A wind microphone😀
I thought the same. Piezo either side to get max compression. Would require more complex regulation circuitry than mags though. Ta.
I think this is the tech that the 'Spanish Company' is using.
This is quite a good idea.
Q; how to make it better ? Much better.
Use two reeds tuned to a resonant frequency
Your assembly is upside down.
Two reeds clamped at the bottom with the magnet assembly on the top.
As the wind passes through the reeds it will whistle ( the resonant frequency )- that whistle creates the movement with the magnet vibrating within a fixed coil.
Try that. Should you require assistance let me know.
Hey Robert! Lovely idea! I was wondering about that small inductor and if you had a part number or suggestions regarding how I should look for one that can match with an energy harvesting circuit (like the LTC3588 or the LTC3108). Cheers and thank you for all your wonderful videos!
Good question. Would be nice to hear back.
Fantastic experimentation. Your demonstration of the variant in this wind turbine is very contegeous and awesome. Thanks for a new approach to renewable energy reserves. It is an endless reserve and a very suttle low cost way to tap. Thanks again.
Thank you.
I have been following you for years and even repeating many of your findings. As always, you are very inspirational.
Playing with the concepts you have demonstrated has been nothing more than entertaining.
However after watching your video, I find myself once again desiring to revisit and reinvestigate your findings with a few variations. :)
awesome mate - go for it
I've not heard of the vortex wind generator and your experiments and demonstration are fascinating- something that could be made cheaply from waste materials would be great for developing countries, too. Very interesting video and you explain how the system works very well.
I see the potential to include a piezoelectric crystal to increase the voltage here.
You should see my potential when i add rocks to my system as well
I was thinking that...with the twisting and pressing bending..
I could see adapting a wind chime for this. Instead of just air creating the vibrations, you’d have the pendulum hitting the reeds. Basically a way to concentrate the energy of a light breeze.
nice mate
You could use is as a fence rather than on the roof where it ming look strange...
That was exactly what I was thinking. I came to the comments to say that, but you beat me to it. Good job! :-)
Look strange? LOL! I'd be more concerned about the noise generated on the roof... As you try to sleep in the bedroom below...
more constant wind the higher up you go
I believe they use a piezoelectric crystal to extract the power.
This not only works in the wind, but from seismic and acoustic energy.
Those crystals often release their voltage in the kilovolts, allowing one to transform it down while transforming up the amperage.
Great presentation Rob, thanks a lot!👍
Reminds me of a company that developed such generators and installed lots of them under a discothek's dancefloor, and under the steps of a stair. Unfortunately I remember neither the company's name nor the amount of power that could be generated over a day.
But I just found it awesome.😃
Two things:
1. this reminds me of another design from years ago where they used flexible plastic ribbons somewhat similarly to harness turbulent energy. On videos, it was noisy.
2. The Spanish company seems to use rigid pipes. I wonder how well this would work with an inflatable closed (textile?) pipe. And some ropes to conduct the movement to ground level. Soft robotics already have some neat solutions that may be useful here. Even if the pole gets damaged, it just flops down safely.
This may work with Piezo Transducers if the reed was to distort the disc slightly it should produce pulses of power.
This was very interesting and gave me some good ideas.
I'm SO excited to see this video. A few decades ago I had an idea hit me to do something very similar to this to capture energy from very light wind. I never took the time to build anything to see if it would actually work, and it ended up being in the large pile of old ideas in the back of my brain. It brings such a smile to my face to see that the idea actually would have worked, and to see it in action right here! Keep up the great work Robert, I am a huge fan of all of your videos.
cheers mate - thanks for taking the time to post
loved the demonstration, I can see there's a lot of playing to be had with this one.
cheers mate
In the industrial instrument world, a metal rod in a pipe is used to measure flow in the pipe. The frequency change indicates the amount of flow. I like the idea, because it should be more environmentally friendly than windmill farms. Windmills kill a lot of birds.
Brilliant, thank you so much. I have been wondering for years how much energy a tree produces when it waves in the wind
glad you liked it mate - cheers
My thoughts exactly my friend. Ever since I was a little boy (over half a century ago)
ahh you may want to look into electroculture with yannick then. He goes into all kinds of this stuff. God speed
It doesn’t produce any energy. It may convert it from one form to another.
Where were all these videos when my kids were younger and we were racking our brains to come up with something cool for a school science project? Seriously, parents should be tuning in to your channel. :) Keep up the great work!
cheers mate
Amazing idea, it would be nice to see a video on the next stage, linking a couple together and charging a battery from them.
A round pole or wire in the wind makes a vortex that switches side to side rapidly, known as a Street vortex. Street vortex causes flags to wave, you can see the frequency.
Use piezo-electric disks to convert force to electric, pinch the base between discs and set an axle above then the pole, bamboo stick might be nice.
You can flash a led with a tap on a piezo. With 4 diodes, a cap and resistor you can keep the led lit by tapping. Shorter/stiffer smaller dia sticks should vibrate faster.
What a refreshingly new idea - might have a play with this mate, thanks for sharing.
In just 2 short videos I have fallen in love with your channel!
Robert would love to know how they do it to get a good amount of power
Strength in numbers
So if we built these as panels of reeds or battens and put them along side major roads or motorways to replace the current noise absorbing panelling we could both reduce traffic noise and generate power for local use? Would these absorb more energy than passive panels making things quieter for nearby residents?
Well, actually there is a moving part. The pole or reed must move to make the system work.
never mind mate - it's awesome anyway
Robert Murray-Smith true, it is indeed awesome. My poor attempt at humor I guess.
And the coil moving in the magnet is the part that can wear out
@@ironnam8107 Amen
@@ironnam8107 That would be an insignificant factor if engineered correctly. Some subwoofers are capable of long term use at thousands of watts. I've pulled many drivers apart and there are some massive voice coils out there.
Thanks for this wonderful video! I look forward to trying that myself.What a blessing you are that every episode you make is a gift to the world I believe.Thank you kind sir. May good health and longevity be yours.♥️👍
I have no business being here, I'm a heating engineer but I love how you fiddle, sir.
I do mess about mate lol
Dude. I worked at Walmart for the last 9 years. If you don't have any business watching this, I certainly don't.
Yet here we are. 😉
Looks like I’ve hung onto all that old stereo equipment for a reason. Freaking awesome brother! Love it.
Wonder if it would me better having it in the middle of the "Reed" as opposed to the bottom? Or using a fan of reeds to catch the wind more effectively. Certainly interesting either way. I wonder how many would be required to produce a meaningful amount of power.
I remember a similar thing using a strip of video tape stretched out from the speaker cone vibrating like Venetian blinds do in the wind.
What if you married a bladed fan with a cam of some sort to the speaker magnet? You might be able to get a longer and more consistent stroke out of your magnet? Maybe even a cam shaft with multiple magnets running slightly out of phase from each other?
Just another option.
I imagined fields of grain waving in the wind. All that energy can be captured.
Good idea! You just need a tiny inexpensive device, produced in the millions, and then some robots to fix them to the stems of the grain. Then the fields that feed you will also power your everything.
you've just given me a grainwave !
Haha! how about eat it !?
@@TheRapand Yes, and the devices could also create an electrical field for pest and disease control, lol.
I have had a similar idea for a while now to address the Pine Beetle Infestation in North America - Build millions, billions of tiny robot beetle predators and let them loose. Program them to recognize Pines and the beetles, drop power stations in increments, and they can Roomba to it to repower. Actually, could think about applying it to many evasive species. Australian Cane toads, robot dolphins to kill all the invasive carp in US.... Oh! Robot Giant King Cobras to eradicate the pythons in Florida...lmao
@@blackopal3138 Surely the most invasive species is the US Army? Lol
The idea of reversing the speaker to generate electricity is awesome.
Put them in the noisy down town areas or near factory's. On high ways to power up light poles on highways. Andy place where noise is an issue can off set the anoiance with the bennifit of free energy.
Interested in learning where to buy the inductors and coils.
Digikey/mouser/or ripped out of any old electronics with power supplies.
You'll have better performance if you find some with laminations instead of ferrite cores, but the cost is much higher.
?? BUY ?? look in the trash, they are everywhere! And...you become a recycler, good for the environment.
Cool idea. The real question is how much power it generates for a given cost of materials. In general the power generated is probably proportional to the area of wind it interacts with. It would be interesting to see how the power output compares for a given cross section with a turbine design. I suspect that the turbine will be more efficient and cheaper at larger scales as you can just get bigger whereas a bigger reed might not work so well. As others have noted, there clearly IS a moving part.
Creative, Clever, and so well explained. Thank you!
glad you liked it - cheers for the post
Thanks Robert, I thought a bladeless wind turbine was a fake. I can see your idea being used on cars and trucks to great benefit to mankind.
very cool! seems like it would be a breeze to mass produce
I was thinking those little microphones - in which case it would be
Breeze .. lol i see what you did there!
@@ThinkingandTinkering Wouldn´t a microphone produce a tiny bit of power anyway, if you put it in the wind, the wind blows in the microphone and produces a lot of signal usually.. This is used in many games on the DS, because blowing in the microphone usually maxes out the signal. So if got that bit right, it´s a question of hooking up a lot of tiny mics to a diode-bridge and then possibly joule-thiefs?
@@ThinkingandTinkering How much would the cost/watt be? Because the reason why we are building those huge towers for wind turbines is that while a small one is fine for a home owner it is not as economical to build a million 500W microturbines as twenty 25MW ones. Given these tiny devices would likely need to be assembled by hand it seems like you need some minimum size to make them cost effective.
Good news is the upper part can be a piece of plastic pipe or an inflated balloon or whatever, no high tech or expensive materials needed.
@@Ludifant Most microphones are going to be connected to an amplifier. In the case of your DS, phone, etc, the amplifier is going to be drawing power from the battery to boost the signal enough to make it usable for audio. I am not implying that your idea will not work though, because speakers and microphones work on the same basic principle of using coils of wire and permanent magnets to generate electrical signals.
Interesting presentation but what are those two wire rack looking things attached over what might be windows behind you in the final footage?
drying racks for the paper battery mate
No way 😂 that’s so cool I’ve just had a thought could you make a new type of hydro turbine from it 🤷♂️
awesome mate
The nice thing about that hydroturbine is that the water that sets the reed under vibration could be flowing in any one way and even change direction like sea waves, and it would still work.
you could! Seems The Good Doctor posts most of these to get people to think, build, and experiment. You are the captain of your own ship.
reminds me of the shaker torch ,there a magnet sliding up and back a tube with a coil ,then all the perifial electronics to charge the torch storage cell ,this guy is a visionary keep at it mate
Great! Mount it on trees, bamboo should work well.
for sure
... or feathers.
@@ThinkingandTinkering absolutely for sure all those wires needed to collect the electricity from all elements, will make it not feasible. :)
Daneel you sound like the 19th century gas light company discouraging Edison and Tesla's ideas. Oh it will never work! They said.
It's weird I haven't seen the term "windbelt" mentioned here anywhere yet. It's at least from 2009 by a company called Humdinger wind or something like that. The principle is aeroelastic flutter, aka takoma narrows bridge
I love how tickled he is when things work. Cracks me up.
I don't understand most of what you explain but , I'm really glad that I've found your channel. Eventually some of the knowledge will sink into my thick head.
lol - it's not all that complicated mate - just start with a small project and have a go
@@ThinkingandTinkering Thanks Robert, I will use some of the concepts you explain, to create something weird. A cup of tea and an afternoon tinkering in a shed, absolute bliss! If it triggers the imagination of the kids as well then that is a huge bonus. You are a really great presenter, you have a real passion for what you do and you deliver your knowledge without distracting bullshit and just a pinch of humour! Perfect!
I like it just watch a field of tall grass for how it patterns in wind.
me too mate
@@ThinkingandTinkering
If you can find an old printer imaging unit, it will probably have a piezoelectric sensor to detect the toner level.
If you can set that a paper thickness away from the vibrating airfoil, you may be able to induce a voltage?
My husband had this idea since he was a child, I don't know if showing him this will make him happy or sad?
@@nicoleyensen7062 the greatest regret is not following that dream and then see some one else get rich from it.
@@rogerstarkey5390 I have one I was thinking of trying xxx
What about placing the reeds near noisy highways or concert halls? How much energy we could harvest there?
this is really cool! ,i'll try it out as soon as i can
do it mate and let me know how it works out for you
@@ThinkingandTinkering how much are inductors?
It's a very interesting concept Rob, some years ago I suggested to some people that a similar method could be used to generate power by installing induction magnets and coils under a road surface as cars drive over it it would produce a lot of power using gravity thrust as the cars weight went over such a structure it might have fallen on deaf ears at the time but just a thought. Also can use a similar system under a carpeted floor where many people are walking over it.
interesting ideas there - cheers
That's so cool, that's what I like about you, You think outside the box, no idea is to silly, well done, something els for me o try lol
lol cheers mate and go for it
Really good Mr. Murray-Smith!
Thank you.
Going to have to give that a try. Then I can tell the kids its time to take a shower the roofs humming!
lol - nice one mate
Go for it Richard :)
Waiting for this man to take it to the next level by making a larger one and seeing how much power it can make.
I’m using a 1000 watt low frequency speaker as a linear alternator on my Thermoacoustic engine I’ve designed works great check it out. 👍
Outstanding! I'm new to the channel and have found mecca! For the speaker, the coil is moving in a gap with little tolerance so the cone shape helps to keep it evenly located as it moves. a reed might have the coil rub especially in heavier winds which might be an issue long term but dang! I like it. The little blind/inductor thingy would be interesting toadapt as some sort of clothing that captures your energy as you walk. Great stuff.
welcome - and glad you like it - cheers
I'm taking the blinds down in my RV trailer as we speak.
hahaha
Omg
That came from left field! I'm sure you have started a thousand minds ticking with this one Robert. You certainly got me thinking. Well done again!!
Just thinking about this some more. When you extract energy from the vibrating structure, you essentially dampen the vibration. That means there is a fine balance between extracting energy and sustaining the vibration of the reed.
cheers mate
No moving parts? Surely vibration is movement? Nevertheless an interesting concept.
cheers mate
No moving parts, clickbait. 2:50 Obviously the coil then moves...
As someone who was thwarted by planning regs over putting a small (3 Kw) wind turbine on the house this may be a way forward and will keep an eye on it as it may get traction due to no moving parts and could be scalable like PV cells.
That aside, what was the low profile squirrel cage fan on you bench when the video started. Hopefully a turbine?
previous video mate - vertical wind generator
Offers some really interesting possibilities for fitting these on domestic rooftops. The pvc pipe guides makes it effective no matter which way the wind comes in from and could be used to, effectively, auto furl if the wind gets too high (would require them to be motorised) making the turbine very aerodynamic! How large do you think the squirrel cage fan would need to be to turn something that generates a useful amount of power e.g. 2Kw? Will you be continuing the development or are there other videos to watch?