A new device invented by Taiwanese scientists has the potential to completely transform the energy grid.
Developed by researchers at National Taiwan University, the so-called "piezoelectric energy harvester" is designed to pick up on vibrations from the surrounding world and translate them into actionable energy. In the best-case scenario, this could result in even greater power output across a neighborhood, or perhaps an entire city.
Professor Wei-Jiun Su, one of the key researchers on this project, said, "By allowing the harvester to adapt to its surroundings, the door is opened to more efficient energy harvesting for self-powered devices."
A typical energy harvester device looks most like a bendable thin beam, but covered with a special material that generates electricity when it senses energy. It's a cool design, but flawed. For instance, as constructed, these devices are only able to harness energy at certain frequencies.
Design flaws like that have been addressed in this latest version, though. These researchers have developed a new material that covers the energy harvester and equally distributes the energy it receives throughout the device, enabling more efficient and complete reactions. In addition, it is also now self-tuning thanks to a newly developed sliding mass — when the surroundings vibrate more, the mass slides outward, lowering the harvester's preferred frequency. When the shaking eases, gravity pulls it back, and the frequency is raised. In tests, this little adjustment led this update of the harvester to produce nearly twice as much power as its predecessors, and it was successful across almost double the frequency range.
The practical uses for this device as it pertains to civilians remain unknown at the moment, but nevertheless, this is a remarkable development in a world that is constantly looking for new and unorthodox ways to use the energy that is constantly coursing throughout this planet. Scientists all over the world are frequently making breakthroughs and finding new angles on how to create and use clean energy, and they are all welcome.
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No matter its form, clean energy is cheaper and (as its name suggests) much more environmentally friendly than its coal and gas counterparts, and the market has adjusted accordingly in recent years. It doesn't matter how we get to a majority-clean energy world; it just matters that we do, and judging by these breakthroughs, we're closer than ever to achieving that goal.
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