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| ZL Wang with Nano generator |
Today
power sector is expanding leaps and bounds to meet the demand due to the
modernized lifestyle and also improvement in the living conditions of people
around the world. We are so much dependent on electricity that the improvement
of living conditions of people can be correlated to their percapita energy
consumption. A country’s development can also be judged by the power
infrastructure prevailing there. To achieve this, a lot of dedicated research
is being carried out to investigate different modes of generating power and
also to raise the efficiency of equipment already in operation. Let us forget
for a moment about the breakthroughs in the large scale methods of generating
power and focus on the portable and easy to adopt technologies that generate
power on a lower scale but have a huge impact when it is seen in a global view.
Lot of research in the world’s reputed labs are inclined towards giving the
power generating capability for every individual so that they can generate part
of the power they need by themselves and to some extent become independent of
the conventional power that we obtain through transmission lines. To be
realistic, we cannot completely rule out the bulk power generating stations from
the picture but instead we can reduce our dependency on them. This approach
reduces the power consumption from the grid systems and can indirectly reduce
the emissions to a smaller extent at the generating station.
Nano Generator – The Future
We all consume electricity for our better living
but this crazy innovation is going to transform our life as the basis for
generating electricity. It means as long as you are alive, you can generate
your own power and utilize it for your better living. This Nano Generator may
not give you sufficient juice to power your AC but don’t just under estimate
the potential of this innovation by solely looking at the quantity of power
that it can generate. To emphasize its importance let us take the case of a
mobile phone which has become an integral part of our lives. If your mobile is
equipped with a Nano generator which can charge its battery by taking the mechanical stresses when you move your phone here and there and also
by your grip over the phone’s body, it can generate enough power to charge your
mobile phone without any need for further charging through the power socket.
Imagine if all the mobile phones in the world are equipped with a similar
system, we can just make all the phones in this world independent of
power that we are getting from generating stations. Now you can just estimate
the quantity of power that can be saved over the entire life time of the mobile
phones. Though the technology is confined to
generate a lesser quantity of power, due to its portability it has potential to
reach every individual and thereby reducing the power demand to a considerable
extent globally. Nano generator is one of the best and portable processes of
generating power which has literally no emissions and is purely
eco-friendly.
How it works?
Till now we tried to appreciate the potential of
Nano Generator but now let us try to get deep into its working. Nano Generator
makes use of Piezo-electric property to generate electricity. Though we all are
pretty much aware of piezoelectricity let’s take a glance of this magical
property that makes this dream project come true. 
Initiated about a decade ago in Georgia tech
University under the leadership of researcher ZL Wang, the team achieved a lot
of progress to inch closer in developing a market ready model of Nano
generator. The prototype used by this team opted for ZnO as the piezoelectric
material of choice because of its sensitivity to slightest stresses and also
the ease and flexibility in fabricating ZnO strands at the Nano scale. This
Nano generator consists of miniature ZnO strands about the length equal to the
combined width of two human hair grown on a substrate with the help of complex
fabrication techniques. The diameter of each strand is so small that 500 of
these strands can fit into the diameter of single human hair. Millions of such
miniature strands are stacked together inside a Nano generator. The strands are
held on one side by a substrate (Base) and with a silicon electrode on the
other side which takes up the charge of ZnO strands. Bundling up all these
parts and depositing these Nano wires onto a flexible chip, the Nano generator
looks like an electronic chip about a quarter size of a postage stamp and with a thickness less than
that of paper. When any physical stress (Air blow, pinch of finger, heart beat
etc.) is acted on the Nano generator, these ZnO strands are stressed leading to
a potential difference across its edges and when the circuit is closed allows a
current through it. The current is taken up by the silicon electrode from the
ZnO strands and is then transferred to a Nano generator circuit (Might be your
mobile phone battery, pace maker etc.).
Even we can store the charge for future use by charging a capacitor with
the current from Nano generator. The individual Nano generators can be cascaded
to form a bigger Nano generator with a better power rating. Recently Wang’s
team demonstrated a bigger Nano generator formed from piling 5 individual Nano
generators together producing about 1 Micro Ampere output current at 3Volts -
about the same voltage generated by two regular AA batteries that power a TV
remote. Wang’s team predicts that it takes 3-5 years for a Nano
generator to transform into a commercial product. Their aim and focus is to
increase the power rating of a Nano generator to the demands of house hold
applications and also to reduce the cost of production to take it to the hands
of people.
Future Scope:
The applications of Nano generators
are numerous. It is quite difficult to decide the range of applications where
this can be used because now-a-days electronics has become an integral part of
every system and electronics deals with low currents and voltages which can
exactly be obtained from a Nano generator. It is going to show its dominance in
the medical realm where the biggest problem is to power the implanted devices
inside the body like pacemakers etc. With this technology at our disposal, the
required power for the pacemaker can be obtained from the Nano generator which
can then use the heart beat to develop voltage across its edges. Who knows, one
day we may wear clothes made of Nano generator fabric
which can store sufficient energy by your activity throughout the day and can power your mobile devices when once you are back
home. A bed with a Nano generator material can generate enough power to feed an
alarm clock when your kid jumps over it. The more the kid jumps, the more energy
you get and the happier you become. Some innovations will change the way we
live and this Nano Generator is certainly one among those.
Source : www.howstuffworks.com
who invented rocket and when,place
ReplyDeleteemail:samanthud15@gmail.com
Hi Anonymous,
DeleteRocket is not a invention because it is not an individual thing but it is a scientific package which utilizes several other branches of science to perfection. We cannot say that a rocket was invented rather we can say a rocket was evolved over centuries. You will be surprised to know that first rockets were fired even before the invention of the core principle behind the rocket science i.e Newton's third law. Newton proposed his laws in 17th century but history says that the first rocket was fired in 9th century after the invention of gun powder by the Chinese in their wars against Mongols. Rocket is a generalized term used to refer launch vehicles which inject satellites into orbits but missiles used in wars also come under this category and these are the basis for modern day rockets. Modern day rockets are an evolved versions of olden rockets used in the ancient warfare. Tippu Sultan (Kingdom of Mysore) was considered a pioneer in the usage of rockets in his warfare. History says that the rockets belonging to Tippu Sultan were taken by the British after defeating him and reverse engineered those rockets to investigate several secrets of rocketry. The conclusion here is that it is not possible to pick a name as an inventor of rockets because ROCKETRY is a science. Rockets are not invented but they are evolved from past experiences and failures. If anyone asks you for the inventor of physics what will be your answer? Physics is a branch of science formed by the great work of thousands of scientists and countless number of experiments and failures; same is the case with rockets also. We can name some pioneers who contributed a great deal to the rocket science like Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, Robert Goddard etc. but still there are many scientists in the history of rocket science whose contributions transformed rocketry to a sophisticated level that we are witnessing today. Hope this Helpful, please feel free to ask for further clarification.
What is H signal indicator in mobile internet connectivity?
ReplyDeleteHii Anonymous,
DeleteH signal indicator that you get in a phone that is powered by android actually denotes that you are using internet data by using HSPA protocol and the arrows indicate the data flow in and out of your gadget.
To study more about HSPA and other mobile based internet protocols please refer this wikipedia link : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Speed_Packet_Access
Hope this is helpful
And what is H +[plus] signal?
ReplyDeleteHi Anonymous,
DeleteH+ plus signal indicates that you are using data on an advanced protocol to HSPA which is called HSPA+ (or evolved HSPA) which enables higher data speeds there by reducing the handling cost per bit. All these protocols are evolved over a period of time to make data speeds robust and to reduce data handling cost. Hope this is helpful and please feel free to ask for further elaboration. Thank You.