Has anyone ever patented?

Question

I was just listening to music when i thought

why cant they make a machine that uses vibrations for power since it would be good for city's and stuff since there a lot of noise

And i was just wondering if anyone's made or patented a machine like this

Answer 1

Asymmetric air-spaced cantilevers for vibration energy harvesting

Qinglong Zheng et al 2008 Smart Mater. Struct. 17 055009 (6pp)   doi: 10.1088/0964-1726/17/5/055009  Help





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Qinglong Zheng and Yong Xu

Electrical and Computer Engineering, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI 48202, USA

Abstract. This paper reports the study of asymmetric air-spaced cantilevers for vibration energy harvesting. Such novel structures increase the amplitude of the AC voltage generated, leading to a larger AC to DC energy conversion efficiency. The overall energy conversion efficiency is further increased by allowing the majority of the mechanical energy to be used for electricity generation. An analytical model for the bending of asymmetric air-spaced cantilevers is established by decomposing the cantilever deformation into pure bending and S-shape bending. This model is further verified by a discrete component model and finite element simulations. A criterion to determine the dominant bending mode is presented. Design optimization from an energy perspective has also been discussed. Finally, a prototype energy harvesting device based on asymmetric air-spaced cantilevers is constructed and tested. The results from these experiments show good agreement with the analytical model.

Print publication: Issue 5 (October 2008)

Received 2 May 2008, in final form 3 July 2008

Published 5 August 2008

Answer 2

Sorry, it wouldn't work. The energy is too disorganized to make useful.

There's actually a huge amount of noise energy all around us. Heat energy is essentially a form of noise -- molecules bang into each other randomly and create the static you see when you tune a TV or radio between stations.

But this energy is too diffuse. You would need some kind of gigantic collector to trap it. At that point, you'd do much better using the same effort to collect the much more highly-organized energy that comes from the Sun.