Champion Power Equipment 100307 4375/3500-Watt Dual Fuel RV Ready Portable Generator
- Your purchase includes One Champion 3500-Watt Dual Fuel RV Ready Portable Generator and One LPG Hose with Regulator
- Portable Generator dimensions – 23.2” L x 19.1" W x 20" H | Product weight – 104.9 lbs. | Hose length – 3.3’
- Specifications: Noise level – 68 dBA. Fuel tank capacity (GASOLINE) – 3.4 gallons | Engine Size 224cc
- Operate your 3500-watt portable generator right out of the box on either gasoline or propane, plus the unit holds 0.6-quarts of oil and has a low oil shut-off sensor
- Keep track of voltage, hertz and run-time hours to easily monitor power output and track maintenance intervals with Intelligauge
- Outlets – One 120V 30A RV outlet (TT-30R), one 120V 30A locking outlet (L5-30R) and two 120V 20A household outlets (5-20R)
Kinetic energy: creating electricity with our movement
Beyond wristwatches, there are a few devices that use only kinetic energy to operate. Storing kinetic energy is not the most efficient way to generate electricity, but it is the most appropriate way to take advantage of all the energy we generate to recharge the devices we use daily: mobile phone, laptop, desktop computer, electronic equipment, household appliances, etc. .
Ever since I read an article a few years ago on experimental devices powered by energy that is generated with movement, I have believed that kinetic energy is wasted by the technology industry, which has strived in recent years to increase the life and reliability of batteries conventional, whose latest lithium ion models equip computing and electronic devices, and even electric cars.
Why the kinetic energy I generate dissipates as heat
I live near the Barcelona seafront and I take advantage of every morning to go jogging for half an hour, along an urban route of just over 5 kilometers. I don't ride the bike as much as I'd like to, but Kirsten does it more consistently, at least until our second daughter was born.
Living in a very dense urban area where pedestrian areas and local establishments predominate, we rarely use public transport to get around, but we move on foot. All these movements produce energy, which is dissipated, especially in the form of heat . No system is used to transform it, store it and use it at another time.
Our youngest daughter, Ximena, who is six months old, usually enjoys going for walks and errands inside a baby carrier , looking out to satisfy her curiosity.
Baby carriers are usually comfortable and reinforce the bond between a child and his parents, by resembling in a way not only the bales traditionally used in many parts of the world, but also, in nature, the pouch used by kangaroos and the remaining marsupials to protect their young while they nurse them during their first stage of development. Both the baby carrier and its carrier generate energy with their movement, but it dissipates without being used. Another opportunity to create wasted useful energy.
Agnes , our oldest daughter, turns 3 in February and alternates walking with the cart. In the coming months, Ximena will go by car, to the relief of her parents' lower back, and Inés is now ready to stand on the wheeled platform that attaches to the back of any car. All the energy created by the movement of the car is also wasted. Again, a missed opportunity to convert all this energy into electricity.
Why does the kinetic energy that I generate dissipate as heat? Perhaps the computer and electronics industries are to blame, which have so far failed to successfully market devices that are recharged (or that are always recharged and do not even require conventional batteries) thanks to the conversion of our movement or movement generated by our shares in electricity.
Our movement is energy ... untapped
As I was running the other day, I was thinking about wearing energy-storing trainers with every step, plus a T-shirt and leggings capable of doing the same. This energy could be used to recharge the music player I carry while I run, or it could even be stored in an equally compact device that is light enough to be effortlessly carried in a bracelet or pocket.
Set to dream, this same device could then extend the autonomy of my mobile or laptop, for example. Unfortunately, this everyday application of stored kinetic energy converted to electricity is a vision for the future.
There are several forms of energy, such as chemical, generated by heat, electromagnetic radiation, nuclear energy, gravitational energy, electrical energy, elastic energy, etc. All these forms can be grouped around two groups, potential energy (the ability of some bodies to generate work) and kinetic energy (from the Greek "kinesis", movement), which appears with movement. When potential and kinetic energy are joined in a moving body, mechanical energy is born, which we can store and reuse.
Although health studies in recent years show an increase in sedentary lifestyle , especially among the youngest, we continue to make daily efforts that we do not pay attention to.
One kinetic battery per child?
One way to take advantage of all the energy generated during any activity, most of which is dissipated as heat and is never used, would be to use kinetic energy chargers, or devices that function as perpetual-running clocks, using our physical activity as a method of recharging.
But this vision still has significant pitfalls to resolve. One Laptop Per Child ( OLPC ), responsible for the development and commercialization of the computer for children in poor countries, the XO-1, is one of the organizations that has shown the most interest in developing a battery powered by children's kinetic energy.
According to OLPC , although kinetic technology is well known, a battery of this type would not be small enough to be integrated into future models of the computer they develop.
Another challenge would be to convert an inconsistent and changing motion into electricity. A child playing or going to school can walk, stand, run, jump, crawl; different intensities of kinetic energy.
The OLPC wiki mentions the intensive research carried out by DARPA , a technology agency under the US Department of Defense, in the field of small devices that create electricity from simple movement, such as that generated by a hand or by walking.
According to OLPC, the charging device used for Faraday mechanical lanterns produces electricity through a simple wiggle, and is technologically as simple as it is cheap. It could be modified to generate electricity with any noticeable movement, especially walking.
Mechanical flashlights were already used in World War II, when the recharging of handheld equipment was intermittent and unreliable, if not unfeasible.
Already then, different methods were developed to generate the necessary power to maintain constant lighting: squeezing a handle, moving a crank or shaking the device. Despite the knowledge of these techniques for decades, their commercial application has always been a minority.
Generate energy while walking
In the same category of devices, there are small backpacks that capture the vertical movement generated while walking or running and convert it into electricity. IBM published abundant documentation on this family of devices a decade ago , in which it is concluded that the movement generated by the legs is the most suitable for capturing energy. These studies have attracted little commercial interest thus far.
TIME magazine included in its article on the best inventions of 2008 , in position 33, a " harvester of biomechanical energy ", an invention of Max Donelan , a specialist in kinetics at Simon Fraser University. The device ties around the knee and “recovers” up to 5 watts with the sheer power of leg braking while walking.
Shake Before Use: Personal Power Generator
At the January 2009 edition of the CES computer and electronics fair, the startup Tremont Electric presented a device that stores kinetic energy generated while a person walks or shakes the device. The nPower PEG (“Personal Power Generator”) transfers energy, converted into electricity , to the battery of the connected portable electronic device.
The nPower PEG, which has the appearance of a small cylindrical bar that houses another slightly longer bar inside and has been designed for easy portability, can recharge 80% of the battery of a mobile or a netbook in 1 hour, according to Tremont Electric. The recharging process can be done with body movement or by shaking the nPower PEG vertically.
The inventor of the device and driver for Tremont Electric, Aaron LeMiex, came up with the idea of developing the device for recharging devices with kinetic energy while walking, 10 years ago now, some 2,500 kilometers of rural routes in the Appalachians, United States. Aaron LeMieux then often found himself in the dilemma of having to deviate his path and move to urban centers in order to recharge his electronic devices.
The 22.8 (9-inch) by 3.8-centimeter (1.5-inch) nPower Personal Electric Generator weighs 255 grams (9 ounces) and is made from recycled materials. However, this small generator does not include a battery, so that users cannot store the generated kinetic energy for later use, but instead the transaction must be done instantly, limiting its potential use in any situation.
The device, which includes a USB 2.0 port, is compatible with 90% of portable electronic devices, such as multimedia players, GPS, cameras, mobile phones, portable game consoles, camcorders and small computers, or netbooks.
It is not necessary to continuously shake the nPower PEG to guarantee its operability, since it has been designed to transmit electricity inside a backpack or suitcase. Likewise, it also works while the user is sitting on the subway, train, or bus, or while riding a bicycle.
Devices like the nPower PEG serve as pioneers in the field of electric generators starting from our movement.
Kinetic mobile phones
It is not surprising that companies and research centers work on dozens of experimental prototypes of everyday devices that never reach the market; however, many of them are used as a previous model for later commercial versions.
And, if several companies experiment with mobile phones that incorporate batteries that hardly need to be recharged, others go further and directly dispense with any need for external recharging, employing the same kinetic principle used in the watch industry for decades.
It is precisely a watchmaker, the Swiss Ulysse Nardin, who claims to have created the first mechanical mobile phone with the help of the firm SCI Innovations. The mobile uses kinetic energy for its operation, although it has additional energy from a battery if necessary.
Kyocera also intends to commercialize mechanical telephones in the future, which would only operate on accumulated energy from the user's daily movement. This Japanese company has created a flexible mobile phone prototype that uses tiny piezoelectric generators to capture and convert even the tiniest movement or vibration into energy.
The head of the concept mobile, Susan McKinney, has created a flexible device that folds up to make calls and essential functions, while it can be unfolded to take advantage of its high resolution screen with content that requires it. The device feeds on the energy that we provide when we interact with it, not only from movement or slight vibrations, so that its energy reserve would increase with more intensive use.
Both Ulysse Nardin's Swiss mobile and Susan McKineey's model are, for the moment, mere conceptual objects, but they respond to the desire to create electronic and computing devices capable of sustaining all their activity without the need for conventional electrical power, a relief from the growing impact of these devices on the environment.
A floor that converts our steps into energy
In addition to personal electric generators that, like Tremont Electric's nPower, recharge any powered device with simple movement, it is also possible to install a kinetic mechanism on a busy surface and thus convert the footsteps of people (or livestock) walking on your surface in electrical energy.
Already in 2006, a group of British engineers decided to collect the vibrations of the street with a prototype that was installed at the same level as the surface. The mechanism devised is capable of converting the vibrations generated by people's footsteps into electricity , which is later used to supply the nearest street lighting. The initiative was dubbed the Pacesetters Project and promoted by the British firm The Facility Architects, which continues to work on what it calls " energy harvesting ".
Now, the also British Pavegen has achieved a certain impact with the installation of a slab in East London that collects kinetic energy from pedestrians . Pavegen ensures that each small station can generate up to 2.1 watts per hour with the clueless and random of the anonymous pedestrian.
By installing 5 units of these kinetic energy collector slabs on a busy street, the startup Pavegen ensures that enough energy is generated to illuminate a bus stop for an entire night.
Take advantage of the pavement in car parks to generate energy
A Sainsbury's supermarket in Gloucester, also in the United Kingdom, has proposed that part of the energy required by the establishment and the lighting be generated by the buyers' cars , which actuate piezoelectric lights installed at the entrance to the car park, capable of converting kinetic energy into electricity.
According to the Daily Mail, the more than 30 kW generated by the speed bump installed on the parking lot is enough for all the cash registers to work . A small change in the parking lot that visitors do not even perceive that, however, supplies a substantial part of the establishment's electricity consumption. In the future, similar mechanisms could cope with the energy needs of particularly crowded places.
The idea put into practice by Sainsbury's seems to have been liked on the other side of the Atlantic: an establishment belonging to a fast food chain located in Hillside, New Jersey, intends to install a similar speed bump in the car ordering area. The device for capturing and transforming kinetic energy into electricity has been developed by the American company New Energy Technologies.
We, a wasted energy source
The kinetic energy generated by any moving body could be collected and converted into electricity using known techniques. Until now, research centers around the world have focused more on improving increasingly smaller and longer-lasting batteries, to the detriment of technologies that would avoid the dependence of the devices themselves on an external power source.
However, a greater awareness of users and the improvement of equipment related to adventure sports lead an increasingly noticeable change in which kinetic devices and chargers stand out, in addition to solar ones. Meanwhile, I still have a dream: to turn every one of my actions, no matter how small, into electricity.
I'd be comforted to know that a morning run is enough to keep the laptop I use for work next to work for hours.
Generate electrical energy
There is no natural source of electricity that is practical to use, so it is necessary to resort to other energy sources that allow it to be generated. Various systems have been designed to convert other types of energy into electricity.Electric generators and thermal machines
When any type of energy, be it mechanical, thermal or other, is converted into electricity, we speak of electricity generation. The most common process is to convert the initial energy into mechanical energy and then this into electricity by a machine called an electric generator. The initial energy can come from different natural sources such as water and wind, which are capable of producing movement to generate electricity.
Electric generators convert the mechanical energy of a rotating shaft into electrical energy. If a conductor, for example a copper wire, is in a variable magnetic field, a potential difference (voltage) is generated; This is also called electromagnetic induction. The variable magnetic field is produced by the rotation of the central part of the generator, called the rotor; the fixed part is called the stator.
The voltage or electrical potential indicates an energy level; electrons always move from a point with high potential to one with low potential.
It is also common to convert the original source of energy into heat (thermal energy) and then this into mechanical energy, a process that is carried out by a heat engine. This is the case, for example, of chemical energy from fuels and nuclear. There are also other more direct processes, such as photovoltaic cells, which convert solar energy into electricity, and fuel cells, which convert chemical energy into electricity.
The steam engine is the first heat engine, and probably the most successful. They became commercial thanks to Thomas Newcomen, an inventor who around 1712 began using them in the coal mines of England. However, today the steam engine has been almost completely displaced by others much more efficient and economical.
Thermal machines convert heat into mechanical energy, and the latter into electricity using a generator. Various systems are used for this operation:
- Steam turbine, also called Rankine cycle. This turbine is only part of a more complex system, so it is preferable to call it a generation plant or cycle. It is made up of a large number of blades (blades) attached to a shaft. The steam enters at high speed, collides with the blades and makes them rotate. The turbine shaft drives a generator that produces electrical energy. The steam that comes out goes to the condenser, where it is transformed into liquid water.
- Gas turbine or Brayton cycle, it is similar to the steam turbine because both have blades attached to the shaft. However, the gas one has an additional component, the compressor, also made up of blades that are attached to the same turbine shaft; in this the ambient air is sucked and compressed. It is then heated in the combustion chamber by burning a fuel, to finally pass through the turbine itself. The hot gases drive the turbine, which turns the compressor and the electric generator.
- Diesel engine. This type of engine is widely used in land transportation, not only in older vehicles but also in automobiles. It is widely used in medium power thermoelectric plants.
- Diesel engines use a four-stroke system: intake, compression, injection and ignition and exhaust. In the first time, the air enters, then it is compressed with the push of the piston plunger upwards, which raises the temperature of the air. In the third stage the fuel is injected, which with the high temperature and pressure of the air produces the combustion; The fuel mixed with the air burns rapidly, whereupon the gas expands and pushes the piston downward, causing movement. Finally, the gases escape and a new cycle begins.
Combined cycle electric generator. It consists of a gas turbine linked to a steam turbine. Natural gas ignites as it enters and turns the blades of the gas turbine, generating great energy. The hot gases leaving the gas turbine pass through a recovery boiler, where high pressure steam is generated, which expands in the steam turbine. Both turbines generate electricity. The steam turbine has a condenser such as in the Rankine cycle. The efficiency of this cycle is higher than that of each separate cycle.
Fuel cells
They directly convert the chemical energy of a fuel into electricity. Its first applications were in space programs. Currently the most common type of cell uses hydrogen as fuel, generating electrical energy with efficiencies of the order of 50%, without producing any pollutant; the only product they discharge is pure water. Many scientists and technicians think that the fuel of the future is hydrogen and that the best way to use it is in this type of cell.
Hydrogen can be obtained from water, abundant and cheap, using electricity generated by non-polluting renewable sources, such as hydropower, wind or solar energy; the great drawback of fuel cells is that their cost is still high.
Steam machine
It was key in the development of rail transport. Although they were very inefficient, they were until the 19th century the only ones that could move the heavy train carriages.
In Chile, the first steam engine that was used on the railroad between Copiapó and Caldera is still preserved as a historical memory, thanks to the boom of the Chañarcillo silver mines. It was inaugurated in 1851; It was the first railway in Chile and one of the first in America.
