Could this be what the next energy farm looks like? Researchers are testing if mechanical energy produced by the wind shaking artificial trees can generate renewable energy. This new study is created due to new research that shows promising vibrations and frequencies that are created by trees swaying in the wind, which could be converted to strong mechanical energy. (via Karen Bleier/AFP/Getty Images)
The search for new, sustainable energy sources continues to find the most surprising candidates. The latest candidate for renewable energy are trees-or at least something that would look a bit like a tree. Mechanical energy has long been a method of creating electric energy, such as utilizing the peddling of a bicycle wheel to power a small electric motor. However, a new study published in the Journal of Sound and Vibration finds that trees could be a viable candidate for converting vibrations into strong electrical currents.
The research finds that tree like structures could provide a new energy source, but that implementing the idea to scale presents many practical issues. However, researchers from the University of Michigan are planning to continue this research. During this initial stage of research, their trees were mechanical structures mimicking a trunk with a few leafless tree limbs. Vibrations created from swaying in the wind, the footsteps of near passerby, and even seismic activity were reliably translated into electrical currents.
While a farm of mechanical trees is off in the distance, proposed immediate applications are focusing on powering sensors that monitor the structural soundness of bridges and buildings. Their hope is to use the vibrations of the structures themselves (which the sensors monitor) to power the sensors. In this way, their proposed renewable technology would not only take the form of mechanical trees, but would try to utilize the vibrations of any structure and convert the mechanical energy into electrical energy.
For instance, bridges are constantly vibrating due to car traffic, foot traffic, and strong winds. If successful, this technology would be able to utilize mechanical energy that would otherwise be lost to power important sensor-data – and possibly more. This same idea can be translated to the mechanical energy produced by the slight swaying of skyscrapers in the wind.
Within the tests, their mechanical trees were created by two small beams with a strip of polyvinylindene fluoride (PVDF) to convert the mechanical vibrations into electrical energy. They found that their treelike structure could create reliable energy by exploiting a phenomenon called internal resonance: how energy dissipates within a mechanical system. This allowed the researchers to prove that their mechanical tree would be able to sustain constant energy (even if very low voltage) from random stimulus.
Hence, their proof of concept could create waves of new research into how to create small-scale energy sources from the vibrations of mechanical trees, structures, and potentially anything.
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