self-charging AA battery design

[xbahacn]

the japs already done it, but instead of the antenna, they have internal generator that triggers on motion, which gives more watts...

have you calculated how many watts can this antenna get from radiation?

i really had a similar idea before, but i gave up because i thought the watts gathered from radios are extremely low...

thanks

[JoeTheBiochemist]

This actually wouldn't work, because you have no means of rectification. Electromagnetic radiation produces an AC signal. Which is great if you want your battery to rapidly charge and discharge by infinitesimal amounts, but if you want to capture a charge that can be used, you'll need a diode. Diode efficiency is far too low for this device to be practical, because individual photons cannot forward bias a diode. Perhaps "electrotransmissive gate" is your solution, but that's not a real thing.

[neotoy]

@JoeTheBiochemist Thanks for the thoughtful response. As you surmised the ET gate is my solution to the diode problem, and is in fact a type of diode mesh. Keep in mind the solar array is multispectral therefore it can absorb a wide swath of radiation, not just photons! All this energy is aggregated in the mesh and then passes through the gate when it reaches the ideal capacity. Does such a thing exist? Maybe, if not it is easy to imagine and doubtless just as easy to create.

[noisyneil]

skip to 2:00

[olzzn]

Stop rotating.....

[cyberscann54]

ever since the invention of the radio there millions of radio waves going through everything given the current state of technology that we are at it is completely possible to build a battery like device that can recharge via EMF waves in the air. concept is sound justs needs to be built. EMF waves are everywhere we go we even produce them from our bodies the sun makes them any and all electronics make them. To all those who think this is not possible build a crystal radio and see for your self

[derrickrosette]

i want 1

[garagecrap]

Ok so why don't you make one? Theory means nothing till you got real hardware..

[rudeplatypus]

@garagecrap you HONESTLY think he has the materials available?

[qdceps]

i think it is possible but maybe the AA batteries are not the best aplication you can try. Maybe you should try a design for a simpler and smaller battery like the used in a watch and combine the watch design with the battery charging device to prove it. Remember de Casio solar powered watches?

Keep trying, I think that all that electromagnetic energy flowing across the air can be used in small aplications like that. Cellular phones, iPods, mp3 players, watches, cameras, you name it!!!

[neotoy]

@qdceps Like most of my designs this is more of a "proof of concept" than anything else. That being said, it's very hard to create a new market for anything, and that goes double for establishing new standards. Clearly the AA form-factor is sub-par, as are almost all battery designs, but designing a new form-factor for batteries means that all applications that use preexisting battery designs need to be re-manufactured.

[andrzej1983]

This guy is an idiot !

[neotoy]

@andrzej1983 you really shouldn't talk about yourself in the third person!

[madnessdexter]

i dont think you have enough radiation to charge the battery fast enough to use for any regular devices.

A cheaper way would be to charge a rechargeable battery with solar panels(which to me is the same principle as your batt.)

[Tcampez1386]

what a waste energy in = energy out great intentions but this will not work. I have made this project myself and I never got 100% efficiency out of it. Maybe you will find the billion dollar answer to the question even Tesla didn't have an answer for. Good luck in all of your endeavors. TC

[ewokfodder]

whoa, long comments, there's a 5.11 flashlight that uses an ultra capacitor, how come more companies don't use them? why haven't oled tvs come to amerca yet?

[2ndKnight]

As I said, if you have antennas (nano or otherwise) one can transmit power to them with coherent radiation from a transmitter (radio, magnetron, laser, etc.) although it would be very inefficient. But show me any antenna system that converts non-coherent black body radiation (sunlight, thermal, etc.) to useful energy? They don't exist and never will.

[neotoy]

Nanoantenna are nothing more than a more advanced and efficient photovoltaic mechanism. Not only do they exist, Idaho National Laboratory and Microcontinuum won two Nano50 awards in 2007 for pioneering the technology. There are even photos and video available if you had actually bothered to look. Now please, I'm loosing patience, there is no excuse for this kind of ignorance in the 21st century. lrn2google..

[2ndKnight]

The INL "flexible nanoantennas" is a farce. In their literature and in their YouTube video they admit that they do not work. They attribute this to the lack of high speed diodes but it fact they are up against the 2nd Law. How they got funding for it is beyond me unless it is a cover for some sort of stealth technology.

[2ndKnight]

For example, start with two blocks of metal both at the same temperature and both in the same insulated box then use their hypothetical apparatus to take the heat radiating from one to make electricity to add heat the other. This cannot happen in our universe. For any process the entropy of the universe must increase.

[neotoy]

You are failing to comprehend the most basic and self evident reality: Scale! We are not at the top of the energy food chain. In your example replace one of the metal blocks with the sun. It's unlikely that human beings will survive the inevitable energy death of the universe; meanwhile there is nothing preventing us from parasitically leeching off of comparatively unlimited sources of energy.

[2ndKnight]

Consider photovoltaic cells: They absorb low entropy visible light, capture a bit of free energy, and give off high entropy heat or infrared radiation thus satisfying the 2nd Law. INL's proposed nano-antennas supposedly coverts high entropy infrared to usable energy. Where is the increase in entropy? Therefore they cannot work. One does not have to worry about which part of the mechanism is the problem (the diodes?). Any scientist should dismiss it out of hand based upon thermodynamics.

[neotoy]

The only mention of diodes that I've seen in the literature is in regard to an even more advanced model that converts the high-frequency AC to DC (a relatively extraneous step). The current model is composed of small gold spirals set in specially treated form of polyethylene, no diodes are involved.

[2ndKnight]

If the nanoantennas were to be linked together the induced currents would all be in different phases and cancel out. They are awaiting the development of little nano-diodes that they can put in series with each and every nanoantenna. Such diodes don't exist and never will and if they did one would not need the antennas because they would defy the 2nd law themselves. Other would-be inventors propose simply linking a bunch of diodes in series to capture thermal energy. It simply can not work.

[neotoy]

We'll resume this conversation in 5 years. Since nanoantennas are already being used supplementally with conventional silicon PV tech, I expect exclusively nano solar to be commercially available by then. If not, I'll retract all my comments.

[getmeoutofiraq05]

@2ndKnight i dont know much about this but i dont think you can say that those diodes wont ever exist.....im sure that 30 years ago if you told someone that cars could be powered by the sun they would think that that was not possible. there have been so many new technologies created lately that you would appear ignorant if you insist on say that they will never exist. maybe not in your life time or mine, but maybe one day.u could say however that its may not be likely.

[2ndKnight]

If they succeed in getting this system to work think how strange things would be. Everything at temperatures over absolute zero emits some black body infrared radiation. In the winter just put some of these magic antennas outside in the snow and use the power to run an electric space heater in the house. It would usher in a new world with new physical laws. You would be able to use the same energy over an over, heat to electricity and back to heat after turning a motor or lighting a lamp.

[neotoy]

Conservation still applies. Your scenario is actually plausible given we are able to increase conversion efficiency at a consistent rate. Following the current trending curve we'll be close to 100% efficiency in less than 200 years.

[2ndKnight]

What trending curve? Nanoantennas have never generated a nanowatt of power. Perpetual motion is not possible in our universe.

[neotoy]

You know there is such a thing as being too focused, or in your case myopic.

The general trending curve of conversion efficiency in electrical energy generation technology, on which nanoantennas are nothing more than a single plotted point.

No one aside from you is talking about perpetual motion.

[2ndKnight]

If the possibility of using the same energy over and over in a cycle from heat to electrical power is not perpetual motion what is? There must be an entropy gradient for work to be done, There is none in the nanoantenna system. Do you really think heat will flow on its own from a snow bank to a warm house? Heat pumps require energy and they increase entropy. Look up "perpetual motion of the second kind."

[2ndKnight]

If you can get diodes with such low forward voltage why bother with the antennas? The thermal motion of the electrons would be sufficient to drive them through these magic one way valves. Maxwell's demons cannot function and never will.

[neotoy]

1st, it's not exceptionally low voltage. 2nd, no magic is involved, only advanced technology. Please do not continued to post misinformation. I suggest you research the subject further before making any more reactionary and ill informed statements.

[2ndKnight]

Look up the definition of "forward voltage" of diodes. Remember, each and every nanoantenna must have a functioning diode connected to it. Visible and infrared photons can only produce a tiny voltage, much less than the forward voltage of any known rectifier. In any case if you had such rectifiers they would act as Maxwell demons and you would not even need the antennas.

[neotoy]

Try to think a little bigger. Theoretically you get 80% efficiency from nanoantennas, on average there is 10 Watts of solar energy per square foot.

People brought up the exact same arguments when LEDs were being pioneered. Now we have LEDs capable of converting 1 electron into 1 photon.

[2ndKnight]

They measured 80% absorbtion by the sheets of "nanoantennas." I could do the same or better with black paint.

[neotoy]

Yes, but black paint doesn't output AC electricity!

[2ndKnight]

Neither do their nanoantennas. They have not yet produced one nanowatt of power, AC or DC.

Such nanoantennas may someday find a role as detectors of coherent radiation or in absorbing radar on the skin of stealth aircraft but not for converting black body radiation to useful energy. Like water, energy does not run uphill.

[neotoy]

Directly from the INL press release: "infrared rays create an alternating current in the nanoantenna, the frequency of the current switches back and forth ten thousand billion times a second."

[2ndKnight]

It is true that alternating currents are set up in each antenna but the antennas are not in phase so there is no net output without functional diodes. Any absorbed energy is dissipated as heat the same as if it were black paint.

[2ndKnight]

And just where does one find multispectral nanoantennas that work? Granted, one could have antennas tuned to the frequencies of nearby transmitters but any attempt to capture black body radiation defies the 2nd law of thermodynamics.

[neotoy]

What part of ambient radiation don't you understand? It's not science-fiction, furthermore this technology already exists and has been proven to work. There are even big name companies already listing patents for very similar implementations. You can say whatever you want, but that doesn't change reality.

[edstar83]

navic209 loves chicks with a little penis.

[navic209]

You are not gay - just lifeless because you design star trek shit in second life.

[neotoy]

This isn't star trek shit, it just seems that way since the future isn't evenly distributed yet.

lifeless.. heh. I wish, I'm so busy I don't have time for a life.

[OrmEmber]

When do you submit your patent for this?

[neotoy]

I'm fundimentally opposed to the concept of intellectual property and the ownership of ideas.

I'm not interested in personal profit, only progress.

[jas03000]

Tell that do Bill Gates.

[neotoy]

Bill Gates is my bitch.

[jas03000]

What???

Well, patent your idea, then Bill could use your battery in all the computers that use his software, dummy. :)

[OrmEmber]

I admire your selflessness. I wish all engineers and scientists would dedicate six years or more of their lives to new medicines and inventions and give it to the world, without compensation (or having to worry about keeping their company afloat or paying rent.)

By the way, why do you suppose the energy or battery industries haven't hopped on your idea and made millions of these self-recharging batteries?

[neotoy]

Yeah that would be nice. People have to have faith in the future, not just the present!

I think several corporations are already developing variations of this design. The truth is it's very advanced technology, and even though it already exists to the point of mass production, it can still take years or even decades for products to come to market.

And that is an idealized scenario. I've done my part, the rest is up to them.

[bcoulal]

I like this design.

Fact: It doesn't take 6 billion dollars to make this design practical

Fact: Money isn't real, it's an idea just like this battery.

Fact: Money is a form of "World-Wide" slavery.

Fact: Without the monetary system, we'd all be driving flying cars by now.

Fact: Utilizing Radiant energy (spectral energy) for electricity production - Look up: NIKOLA TESLA.

Fact: There is no such thing as perpetual motion, only perpetual debt. Proof: America's declining economy.

:)

[starcraftguy15]

due to the comments... not many people seem to understand this... lol... and i cant say that i DO understand it either...

[neotoy]

You could always educate yourself. There are links in the sidebar detailing each of the technologies cited in the project.

Also you are wrong. The author of the second comment clearly understood the design and even provided some valuable feedback.

[EnigmaNZ1]

I have motion sickness, sheese, enough of the constant movement. Interesting idea though. The enviroment is flooded with magnetic radiation, man made like radio and TV transmissions, natural from the Sun etc. Intercept and use to trickle charge battery, it could be wrapped around a AAA sized li-ion battery as well.

[crazycatfguy]

Wow. Impressive!