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Energy generator

royston02

This idea was in me for a long time. I know that when stepper motors are rotated, they generate electricity. However they are big and bulky. Which is the smallest thing that generates electricity in oscillatory motion(like stepper motors)?

Minimum amperage - 100-125ma.  Minimum voltage - 5V or high(AC/DC).

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  • in reply to D_Hersey

    A DC motor will generate DC voltage when driven. If rotated in reverse it will generate negative voltage.

    Although DC generators technically generate AC, it is converted to DC by the commutating action of the brushes, so only DC appears at the brushes.

    An alternator or AC generator will generate AC voltage.

    Vehicles use alternators and rectify the AC output to produce DC. (alternators are more rugged and last longer because the brushes only need to carry small field currents)

  • in reply to dougw

    One team built it with stepper motors. But, I don't want to use them because they are bulky.

    And by human energy, I meant that while walking, your legs move in pendulum motion, to and fro, so when it moves, attach something that could use oscillatory motion and generate electricity. The medium which generates electricity is at the knee joint. Two things will be attached one to the thigh and one below knee. So while walking, the thigh portion remains stagnant and the below knee portion will move turning the medium and generating electricity.

  • in reply to royston02

    Replace the stepper motors with good quality permanent magnet servo motors. Ones with brushes are the easiest to deal with (no rectifier losses). Brushless motors will work (but you need ones with no embedded electronics) but the circuits to rectify the output are much more complicated.

    In either case you need gearing to get the rotors spinning at  a decent speed and you will need some kind of complex clutch system so that the rotor turns in the same direction all the time  - otherwise you waste a lot of energy stopping the rotor and reversing it each time your knee bends.

     

    MK