Submissions that have been rejected by the Creativity Pool. - The Docks aren't necessarily the final destination, if a broken idea gets fixed it may travel to a more appropriate category.
By krishan arora
#15738
I am appending below an extract, pertaining to a traffic generated system, taken from a paper i had submitted for an energy conference about 3 years back. I believe that my idea is not only technically and economically feasible but is of even greater significance but, unfortunately, I do not have the resources to try this out in actual conditions. I am hoping however that some of those who read this post would be better placed to try out this idea and commercialize it.

Extract from the article submitted in Dec �06:

[Quote]

TRAFFIC GENERATED POWER SYSTEMS

Only a small proportion of the fuel energy used in road traffic is actually utilized for locomotion while the larger part is actually wasted in overcoming air resistance and ground friction. The magnitude of this wastage can be readily gauged from the tremendous traffic that is already ever on the move on our roads today, and the rate at which this traffic is increasing every year. A significant portion of this waste energy can however be constructively harnessed by some innovative modifications to some of our already existing technologies.

Some attempts, mostly in the form of ground levers with ratchet & pinion and gear assemblies coupled to electric generators, have been made to generate power from the movement of vehicles across the roads. These have however not been very successful due to various reasons. A more promising approach would be to provide a number of curved humps, laid along the width of the road, and connected to pistons in air chambers embedded widthwise across and below the road. When a vehicle�s wheels pass over these humps they would be pushed down and would compress the air inside the air chambers. The compressed air, after reaching a preset pressure would be allowed to exit, through one-way pressure release valves located at the bottom of the chambers, into lateral air pipes connecting together all the widthwise humps at any location. Air intake into the chambers below would be through one-way air valves located at the upper ends of the chambers. Springs located at the upper end of the air chambers would then return the humped tops back to their original position on the road once the wheels have crossed over, and this action would be repeated endlessly as long as there is traffic movement over the roads. Power generation would then be achieved through wind turbines, at select locations, driven by the release of air under high pressure coming in collectively from a number of interconnected lateral air pipes. Such a system would then be akin to a huge spring loaded bicycle air pump which forces air out under pressure when the handle is forced down, and returns the handle back to its original position when the force on it is released.

This system would not only be flexible enough to work in all traffic conditions, but would also work irrespective of the direction of the traffic. Further, the power generation capacities too could be readily tailored to the traffic conditions, as desired, by suitably varying the number of such �air pumps� connected together and their air release pressures. The forced air exhausts could be used for other applications too besides power generation, such as pumping up of water, driving pneumatic machines and the like.

These systems could also be used in lieu of the conventional speed breakers provided on roads and could therefore be best located wherever there is a need to slow down vehicles, such as before traffic lights or zebra crossings, before turnings on roads, or on those portions of the road that have steep downward slopes, and so on. The power generated can then be ideally used for powering the traffic lights and warning signals ahead, and even for road lighting at select locations, or for other uses as necessary.

[Unquote]

Krishan

Reward: This is for public good so no reward is needed, though it will be appreciated if those using this idea can attribute it suitably and also give me a feedback of the results achieved. Queries/clarifications/feed back are welcome!
By krishan arora
#19020
[quote="Steve"]Already exists in the database! ;D[/quote]

Thanks for this information Steve. However I could not find the article you are referring to while searching in the "Traffic and Transport' section. Could you please let me know how exactly to locate that article as I am curious to know what that article says.
By krishan arora
#19207
[quote="Steve"]http://www.creativitypool.com/viewtopic.php?t=2359[/quote]

Thanks for the link Steve. The article you have mentioned deals basically with the possibility of using piezoelectric strips on the roads to help generate power when vehicles pass over them, with some suggestions thrown in for adding aero-generators etc to the vehicles for generating some power for their own use.

I had already mentioned in my original article and in my post of the 10th May that several attempts have already been made earlier to generate power from passing traffic and these include not only the piezoelectric strips mentioned in the link referred to you but also mechanical gear arrangements embedded in the roads which rotate, and generate power, when the vehicles wheels pass over them. None of these proposals however seem to have passed the trials stage because of various limitations inherent in them.

What I have proposed is one more new method, to generate power from the passing traffic, which I believe is both technically and economically viable and overcomes most of the limitations of the other methods.

Any transfer of energy from the moving vehicles to the generators on the road below automatically involves some loss of energy (kinetic energy in this case) in the vehicles. I have also suggested therefore that my proposed system be normally used only where speed breakers would otherwise be required to slow down the vehicles by braking, or at those places where roadside lighting/ warning signs etc are required for which grid power (or power form any other sources) is not available and some loss of kinetic energy in individual vehicles may be acceptable for the greater public good of road safety.
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