Comments on: Power generating backpack

By: Dave

Dave — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 03:56:56 +0000

Id like to rig one of these up to my restless dog instead of a backpack to charge some batteries… what does he care, all i gotta do is throw the damn ball and hes happy. and im happy for the free-ish energy.. about time that mut supports his weight around here…

By: Solar Paneled TShirt

Solar Paneled TShirt — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 13:30:30 +0000

I guess solar panels will be powerful enough in a few years so that lithium batteries can be completely replaced, and then instead of such backpacks we can have solar panelled tshirts :P Lol

By: albo

albo — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 16:11:03 +0000

@Nate – perhaps that would be the most convenient for them, given battlefield craziness. The best way, of course, would just be to plug their packs into the car’s electricity system rather than relying on pack movement.

By: Nate

Nate — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 15:50:41 +0000

I have no first hand experience with this but is seems like when they are in a vechile, their packs are hung on the outside. Would be a good way to get charged before deploying especially where the roads are crap.

By: James

James — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 21:03:38 +0000

The company my mom works for was working on something similar to this, but it involved a (almost) frictionless magnetic fluid metal moving around in a container, and its efficiency was probably much greater.

By: GTMoogle

GTMoogle — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 14:16:27 +0000

In response to all the nattering nabobs of negativity, the original concept for this first came up years ago.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/09/0908_050908_backpack.html (from 2005)

“Rome said “it’s actually more comfortable than a normal backpack.”"

“In addition, Rome and colleagues found the backpack altered the gait of test wearers, causing their up-and-down hip movement to become smaller.”

“The researchers also learned that the self-powering backpack weighs only slightly more than a conventional pack—equivalent to carrying around an extra candy bar.”

By: Aphex13

Aphex13 — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 13:40:51 +0000

@KingofDerby
yes

By: KingofDerby

KingofDerby — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 13:02:02 +0000

My question is, assuming the weight is less then the weight of the batteries you can get rid of, does the extra food needed to fuel any extra effort weigh less?

By: calebkraft

calebkraft — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 12:52:09 +0000

@jack,
navigate by the muzzle flash… just don’t stop firing!

By: strider_mt2k

strider_mt2k — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 12:47:53 +0000

“I’ll take 5 pounds of ammo over 5 pounds of batteries anyday.”

I thought knowing was half the battle?

Gastro-Intestinal Joe!

By: Jack

Jack — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 08:06:22 +0000

@pawnman – 5lbs of ammo does you no good at all when you can’t see in the dark, and you’ve no idea where you’re going ;)

By: uldics

uldics — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 07:03:11 +0000

One more vote for the point that this is useless. This takes all of its energy from your own muscles. The perceived effect is like running in sand. I would prefer running on hard surface than running on sand even with a pack of batteries.

If you like this idea so much, I have some other ideas. For example attaching a wind turbine on top of your car. Great power!!! And freee, muhahahaaaa!!! Or the russian business model – steal a box of vodka, flush the vodka down the toilet, go recycle the bottles and for the gained money, go buy yourself a bottle of vodka and drink it. Thats a nice and profittable model.

By: pawnman

pawnman — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 06:48:38 +0000

I’ll take 5 pounds of ammo over 5 pounds of batteries anyday.

That said, even if this does make carrying the backpack a little more difficult, I think that is far outweighed by the advantage of not just not carrying the batteries, but not burning through all your batteries and having no replacements. Portable power on demand in locations like the mountains of Afghanistan? Yes, please.

By: jaded

jaded — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 05:37:21 +0000

@albo,

Nothing is free. With an ordinary pack, a step will raise the pack with a certain amount of force, followed by the down motion of the pack where the force is lower, giving the wearer a slight respite from the pack’s weight. The pack’s momentum gives you periodic rests.

The generator robs the pack of its momentum to charge the batteries, forcing you to carry the full weight the entire time you’re walking.

To compare it to a feeling you might have experienced, have you ever shouldered a heavy book bag with a “heave-ho” to boost it up high onto your back? That’s you using the momentum of a rigid pack. With a power generator attached that heave-ho will be replaced by a slow, sagging feeling, and you’ll just be dead-lifting a heavy weight until the generator bottoms out.

I expect it would feel extremely unnatural and uncomfortable to an experienced backpacker. Soldiers, on the other hand, are used to taking whatever kind of crap they’re handed, so it probably won’t matter as much to them.

Of course the stated idea is that the pack will be lighter due to the removal of the extra batteries, so the loss of momentum shouldn’t be as bad. Instead, I expect the military to say “that’s a 65 pound pack, and with the re-charger we took out 5 pounds of batteries. Now you can carry 5 more pounds of ammo.”

By: Muzz

Muzz — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 03:16:46 +0000

Despite the physical aspect required to charge the battery it could be quite useful.

On the other hand it would also need an external charing method.

Power cable/requirement standardization may also help with adoption. (IE: Do away with 2x AA for 3v and/org 6x AA for 9v. Standardize on ‘military power’ That’d help acceptance and make it truly useful.