Spotlight on North Texas UT Arlington Micro-windmills
MicroPower
The solution to the dying
cellphone battery may be
blowing in the wind. A UT
Arlington research associate
and electrical engineering
professor have designed an
innovative solution to
charging cellphone batteries
using a micro-windmill that
generates wind energy.
Using origami concepts,
Smitha Rao and J.C. Chiao
designed and built the device
that is about 1.8 millimeters
at its widest point – so small
that a single grain of rice
could hold about 10 of these
miniscule windmills.
Hundreds of these windmills
could be embedded in a
cellphone sleeve, generating
electricity to power the
device by simply holding it
up to an open window or
waving it in the air. The
applications for these tiny
windmills don’t stop at
cellphones. The designers
envision them making their
way to flat panels mounted
on the walls of homes to
harvest energy for lighting
and security along with many
other applications.
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