Topic: Miniature jet engines could power cellphones

[Nemesis]

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Miniature jet engines could power cellphones

Engineers have moved a step closer to batch producing miniaturised, jet engine-based generators from a single stack of bonded silicon wafers. These chip-based ?microengines? could one day power mobile electronic devices.

By spinning a tiny magnet above a mesh of interleaved coils etched into a wafer, David Arnold and Mark Allen of the Georgia Institute of Technology, US, have built the first silicon-compatible device capable of converting mechanical energy - produced by a rotating microturbine - into usable amounts of electrical energy.

The key advantage of microengines is that they pack in at least 10 times more energy per volume of fuel than conventional lithium batteries, take up less space and work more smoothly than much-touted fuel cells.

[J. Carney]

It would be nice to go out on patrol and NOT worry about the battery in that bloody SINGARs radio loosing the fill and you not being able to talk to a soul!

ANd even better for your NVG's not to go out when the shooting stops and your night vision is ruined.

[S'Raek]

Interesting.  I recently read an article in Popular Science about how it is now mainly battery life that limits all the gadgets and electronic what-nots we use in our day-to-day lives and how traditional battery technology has pretty much reached its limit.  If this works out it could be a big boon to a lot of people. 

[Nemesis]

Robots that don't need to spend hours charging, merely pump in more fuel.

How big a box of these to power your house?

How noisey are these?

Hybrid cars.

[Don Karnage]

just pointless, your cell phone don't need that much power, if your battery are low on your cell phone then you should talk less on it and use the phone at home.

[Sochin]

know think about it, all this is is minature wind turbines, good idea I think

[Nemesis]

just pointless, your cell phone don't need that much power, if your battery are low on your cell phone then you should talk less on it and use the phone at home.

Cell phones don't need 1.1 watts of power?  Thats what this generates, now.

[J. Carney]

just pointless, your cell phone don't need that much power, if your battery are low on your cell phone then you should talk less on it and use the phone at home.

Some of us can't AFFORD 2 phones, DonKarnage. All I have is a cell, and believe you me, I could use a little more juice than even the battery on a Motorola puts out.

And if it puts out too much power for a cell, don't complain that it's TOO STRONG- imagine what else you could use it for.

[FPF-DieHard]

And if it puts out too much power for a cell, don't complain that it's TOO STRONG- imagine what else you could use it for.

The day they release the gas-powered vibrator means we're doomed   

[J. Carney]

And if it puts out too much power for a cell, don't complain that it's TOO STRONG- imagine what else you could use it for.

The day they release the gas-powered vibrator means we're doomed   

Not doomed, we will still be needed for perpetuation of the species... our lives will just be far less exciting.

[Holocat]

just pointless, your cell phone don't need that much power, if your battery are low on your cell phone then you should talk less on it and use the phone at home.

Some of us can't AFFORD 2 phones, DonKarnage. All I have is a cell, and believe you me, I could use a little more juice than even the battery on a Motorola puts out.

And if it puts out too much power for a cell, don't complain that it's TOO STRONG- imagine what else you could use it for.

Just to throw a wrench in this teeny machine, I wonder how they will deal with monoxide, particularly since these engines are likely to see use in tightly confined spaces.

As much as an advantage it would be to inevitably poison someone that uses their cell too often, they might be driving, which would jeapordize innocents as well.

On the more serious side, efficiency is the key, particularly with clean burning.  Without it, serious problems will result in their overuse, and any device that becomes popular will be overused.

[J. Carney]

just pointless, your cell phone don't need that much power, if your battery are low on your cell phone then you should talk less on it and use the phone at home.

Some of us can't AFFORD 2 phones, DonKarnage. All I have is a cell, and believe you me, I could use a little more juice than even the battery on a Motorola puts out.

And if it puts out too much power for a cell, don't complain that it's TOO STRONG- imagine what else you could use it for.

Just to throw a wrench in this teeny machine, I wonder how they will deal with monoxide, particularly since these engines are likely to see use in tightly confined spaces.

I don't know... perhaps use something a little more clean burning, with only CO₂ and H₂O as byproducts. There are simple hydrocarbons out there that would fit the bill.