Archive for the ‘electricity’ Category

Not a Tiny Airplane – On the Ground

Let me explain first the title: a single-engine Cessna is a type of small airplane, while this project is called “VESNA”, and is an auto that stays flat on the ground. But it’s fantastic! The Vesna is a single-seat electric car. The body of this car is made entirely of a single piece of natural resin with built-in wiring. How wild is that?

The wheels in the front go round and round. They also take the form of a reinforced, perforated rubber belt affixed to the electric motor. They also have an offset center of rotation. And they work with MAGNETS!

The motor is non-synchronous and runs on direct current with high-powered permanent magnets. The motor works with a geared cylinder with teeth matching apertures in the belt tire. Regenerative breaking x mechanical breaking. Steering via “edistribution of torque and braking on the leading wheels, depending on how the steering wheel is turned.”

The rear wheel is even more wild. Even more. The rear wheel? It’s a reinforced-rubber sphere. Fastened to a suspension clip that’s got four pedals, each of which contains a roller for free rotation of the sphere. Breaks and assisted steering work on this as well, as each clip is also connected to the main electrical system.

Refueling of this amazing machine happens via the network of wires that, when the vehicle is parked on it’s special “electro-floor”, connect to a working electric channel which connects to sockets that you can plug in using your regular electric plugs.

So simpo!

Designer: Kristina Magnitskaya

US government lays out cash for wall-based, in-home ’smart meters’

Google has its PowerMeter, Microsoft has its Hohm and Obama has his “smart meters.” Got it? Good. Around two years after UK taxpayers began footing the bill for in-home energy monitors, it seems as if America’s current administration is looking to follow suit. While visiting the now-open solar facility in Arcadia, Florida today, the Pres announced that $3.4 billion in cash that the US doesn’t actually have has just been set aside for a number of things, namely an intelligent power grid and a whole bundle of smart power meters. Aside from boring apparatuses like new digital transformers and grid sensors (both of which are designed to modernize the nation’s “dilapidated” electric network), 18 million smart meters and 1 million “other in-home devices” will be installed in select abodes. The idea here is to give individuals a better way to monitor their electricity usage, with the eventual goal set at 40 million installed meters over the next few years. Great idea, guys — or you know, you could just advise people to turn stuff off when they aren’t using it, or not use energy they can’t afford. Just sayin’.

Filed under: Household

US government lays out cash for wall-based, in-home ’smart meters’ originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 27 Oct 2009 16:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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America’s (newest) largest solar plant set to go live in Florida

If all goes well, this 25-megawatt solar plant in Florida won’t be America’s largest for long, but it’s not like we’d pass up the opportunity to let this $150 million facility bask in its own glory (and the sun, if we’re being thorough) while it can. The Desoto facility is just one of three solar projects that Florida Power & Light is spearheading, and judging by the proximity of this one (in Arcadia) to the 75-megawatt facility planned for nearby Charlotte County, we’d surmise that the two are linked in some form or fashion. President Obama is expected to show up rocking a set of Kanye glasses underneath a welder’s mask when the plant is fired up this Tuesday, and while it’ll only provide power to “a fraction” of FP&L’s customer base, it’ll still generate around twice as much energy as the second-largest photovoltaic facility in the US of A.

[Thanks, Yossi]

America’s (newest) largest solar plant set to go live in Florida originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 25 Oct 2009 08:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Technocel PowerPak pulls double duty as portable battery and home charger

Wouldn’t it be nice if your home phone charger could double as a charging device itself when taken on the road? Yes, yes it would. Technocel undoubtedly agrees, as its PowerPak does just that. When plugged into a standard wall outlet, it can simultaneously charge whatever USB device is plugged into it (amongst others, considering the bundle of tips that are included) and juice up its internal cell; once unplugged, the integrated battery can provide enough power to a dead mobile to let you yap for around three hours, or just enough to make it through whatever sobfest your ill-willed SO has planned for you next week. It’s expected to go on sale in around a fortnight at various retail locations and Sprint stores.

Continue reading Technocel PowerPak pulls double duty as portable battery and home charger

Filed under: Peripherals

Technocel PowerPak pulls double duty as portable battery and home charger originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 15 Oct 2009 14:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mizzou’s nuclear battery to power things smaller than your brain can imagine

Oh yeah, everyone loves the extended battery, but are we really kosher with the added bulge? A team of boffins at the University of Missouri certainly aren’t, as they’ve spent the last good while of their lives researching and developing a new nuclear battery that could be used to power devices much smaller than, well, most anything. The radioisotope cell, as it’s called, can reportedly “provide power density that is six orders of magnitude higher than chemical batteries,” and while some may question the safety of this potentially volatile device, the liquid semiconductor (used instead of a solid semiconductor) should help ease concerns. The current iteration of the device is about the size of a penny, and it’s intended to power a variety of MEMS systems. Now, if only these guys could find a way to make a standard AA last longer than a week in our Wiimote, we’d be pleased as punch.

[Via BBC, thanks Jim]

Filed under: Peripherals

Mizzou’s nuclear battery to power things smaller than your brain can imagine originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 10 Oct 2009 11:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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