Most laptops are limited as to how long they can keep charge. This makes them pretty much useless on planes, train or long bus rides or in areas with no electricity. Some tech companies such as Samsung have gone forward to harness solar. Unfortunately this is limited only to netbooks and they can't run all night long.
Having seen people using bicycle dynamos to charge phones, I have always wondered whether the same concept can be applied to laptops. The idea is this: All laptops have at least one fan for cooling the CPU. If this fan is used to turn a dynamo of sorts it can result in generation of a current. Given the fan moves a very high speed compared to a bicycle wheel, we assume that a reasonable current will be generated.
The generated current can then be channeled to recharge the battery. This will mean that the laptop battery will start charging as soon as the fan starts rotating which is immediately the power button is pressed. The assumption is that the amount generated somehow surpasses or equals the amount being drained from the battery to run the laptop.
If the above is possible this could mean walking around without chargers since there is no need for charging and consequently lower or no power bills due to laptop usage. Extending this model to other machines with fans such as desktops which have as many as four or more fans could mean having desktops that have a battery and that don't need external power to run. What about server machines with more fans and consume tons of power. Maybe even the UPS could be part of this setup.
The only time one would need charging is if the dynamo circuit becomes damaged or the battery itself deteriorates badly. Another downside is how the dynamo will fit in such a constrained space especially for laptops. Or maybe I just like dreaming..
Having seen people using bicycle dynamos to charge phones, I have always wondered whether the same concept can be applied to laptops. The idea is this: All laptops have at least one fan for cooling the CPU. If this fan is used to turn a dynamo of sorts it can result in generation of a current. Given the fan moves a very high speed compared to a bicycle wheel, we assume that a reasonable current will be generated.
The generated current can then be channeled to recharge the battery. This will mean that the laptop battery will start charging as soon as the fan starts rotating which is immediately the power button is pressed. The assumption is that the amount generated somehow surpasses or equals the amount being drained from the battery to run the laptop.
If the above is possible this could mean walking around without chargers since there is no need for charging and consequently lower or no power bills due to laptop usage. Extending this model to other machines with fans such as desktops which have as many as four or more fans could mean having desktops that have a battery and that don't need external power to run. What about server machines with more fans and consume tons of power. Maybe even the UPS could be part of this setup.
The only time one would need charging is if the dynamo circuit becomes damaged or the battery itself deteriorates badly. Another downside is how the dynamo will fit in such a constrained space especially for laptops. Or maybe I just like dreaming..
