Should we use Treadmills to Generate Electricity? (Experiment)
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Good video by the way!
Date: 2022-05-22
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Comments and reviews: 9
Byron
Instead of accommodating the charger, I would optimize the workout. Let the motor/generator charge a capacitor and drain the capacitor at constant (programmable) current through a buck converter to another capacitor. If this intermediate capacitor voltage exceeds a trip point, turn on the charger. If the intermediate voltage dips too low to be useful/reliable, turn off the charger until the capacitor is charged again. The generator's torque is proportional to the programmed current and can be used to tune the workout. Also, a flywheel on the shaft will greatly smooth the belt speed to make jogging possible. A rechargeable LiIon or supercap could maintain setup between workouts.
Modifying an existing treadmill is NOT the optimum approach. Build an energy producer INSTEAD of an energy consumer in the first place. There certainly will be a difference in cost; however, the correct question is whether the energy produced PLUS the energy that is not consumed in the treadmill's lifetime offsets the difference in cost. (Yes, I do understand that this is a prototype so that modification is the best first step; however, when evaluating feasibility all impacts must be considered)
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Instead of accommodating the charger, I would optimize the workout. Let the motor/generator charge a capacitor and drain the capacitor at constant (programmable) current through a buck converter to another capacitor. If this intermediate capacitor voltage exceeds a trip point, turn on the charger. If the intermediate voltage dips too low to be useful/reliable, turn off the charger until the capacitor is charged again. The generator's torque is proportional to the programmed current and can be used to tune the workout. Also, a flywheel on the shaft will greatly smooth the belt speed to make jogging possible. A rechargeable LiIon or supercap could maintain setup between workouts.
Modifying an existing treadmill is NOT the optimum approach. Build an energy producer INSTEAD of an energy consumer in the first place. There certainly will be a difference in cost; however, the correct question is whether the energy produced PLUS the energy that is not consumed in the treadmill's lifetime offsets the difference in cost. (Yes, I do understand that this is a prototype so that modification is the best first step; however, when evaluating feasibility all impacts must be considered)
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Paul
My treadmil has a flywheel on the motor which then has a shaft on it. The shaft and Belt Pulley are connected with a belt. In the end it has a similar coupling like your treadmil but just an added Flywheel on the Motor Shaft.
When I was repairing it, I tried running with only motor without control board and load, It took a bit effort to get it spinning but one it was at a certain speed, it was easier to push further.
So I added a Multimeter and measured close to 95VDC and decided to connect a 12V 21W lightbulb.
I actually told my sister to connect and disconenct the bulb which I thought can simulate like the power spikes that you told about(which I learnt about while building phone chargers)
But while running, the speed did differed, but very slightly and was almost non-noticible.
I guess the Flywheel acted as a buffer.
What do you think?
And nice video as always. finally can show my dad that my experiment was worth-it
reply
My treadmil has a flywheel on the motor which then has a shaft on it. The shaft and Belt Pulley are connected with a belt. In the end it has a similar coupling like your treadmil but just an added Flywheel on the Motor Shaft.
When I was repairing it, I tried running with only motor without control board and load, It took a bit effort to get it spinning but one it was at a certain speed, it was easier to push further.
So I added a Multimeter and measured close to 95VDC and decided to connect a 12V 21W lightbulb.
I actually told my sister to connect and disconenct the bulb which I thought can simulate like the power spikes that you told about(which I learnt about while building phone chargers)
But while running, the speed did differed, but very slightly and was almost non-noticible.
I guess the Flywheel acted as a buffer.
What do you think?
And nice video as always. finally can show my dad that my experiment was worth-it
reply
gigaherz
I would imagine that this would benefit from having a circuit that adjusts the current consumption in order to target a constant voltage, while adjusting the target voltage over time to account for your actual running speed.
I'm a software engineer, not an electronics engineer so my knowledge of electronics is not quite professional level, so this could be wrong but I could see this working by having a transistor (or whatever you'd use as an efficient variable resistor) in parallel with the load, such that you can create a partial bypass to reduce the amount of current going to the load, and then have a PID controller adjust the bypass to maintain the reference voltage.
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I would imagine that this would benefit from having a circuit that adjusts the current consumption in order to target a constant voltage, while adjusting the target voltage over time to account for your actual running speed.
I'm a software engineer, not an electronics engineer so my knowledge of electronics is not quite professional level, so this could be wrong but I could see this working by having a transistor (or whatever you'd use as an efficient variable resistor) in parallel with the load, such that you can create a partial bypass to reduce the amount of current going to the load, and then have a PID controller adjust the bypass to maintain the reference voltage.
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Doc
Imagine if the United States government hadn t murdered Nikola Tesla and then stole all his free energy ideas to protect the greedy oil industry 100 years ago. The first cars were electric, imagine where we d be 100 years later if greed and money wasn t the focus but rather the lives of all humans on earth. I can only imagine what our governments are sitting on as far as energy advances. It s all about money and greed as well as power. Look how hard the world is fighting the electric car! We started this 100 years ago! Lost 90 years of good research. Most likely the government has all the secrets and we are stuck with wasteful earth killing power production.
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Imagine if the United States government hadn t murdered Nikola Tesla and then stole all his free energy ideas to protect the greedy oil industry 100 years ago. The first cars were electric, imagine where we d be 100 years later if greed and money wasn t the focus but rather the lives of all humans on earth. I can only imagine what our governments are sitting on as far as energy advances. It s all about money and greed as well as power. Look how hard the world is fighting the electric car! We started this 100 years ago! Lost 90 years of good research. Most likely the government has all the secrets and we are stuck with wasteful earth killing power production.
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Mr.
The way to do this is two Huskies in a harness on each treadmill. Wearing a VR setup to make them think they are running in the snow chasing something. These dogs will run for miles as easy as you nap. An auto car wash like mechanism to comb and vacuum the hair would also be needed. A large battery bank to store the power. I'll bet a dozen dogs trained to use these and hop in whenever they want to run you could power a house.
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The way to do this is two Huskies in a harness on each treadmill. Wearing a VR setup to make them think they are running in the snow chasing something. These dogs will run for miles as easy as you nap. An auto car wash like mechanism to comb and vacuum the hair would also be needed. A large battery bank to store the power. I'll bet a dozen dogs trained to use these and hop in whenever they want to run you could power a house.
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VeRrUeCkTeR_IWAN
Without watching the video I already know it will be doomed to fail
And after watching it the conclusion was expected.
but another Idea:
In germany you can get a solar panel with up to 600W to connect to your outlet as a so called Balkonkraftwerk
Would it be possible to have a generator with a bicycle and a alternator to create electricity yourself in a similar way?
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Without watching the video I already know it will be doomed to fail
And after watching it the conclusion was expected.
but another Idea:
In germany you can get a solar panel with up to 600W to connect to your outlet as a so called Balkonkraftwerk
Would it be possible to have a generator with a bicycle and a alternator to create electricity yourself in a similar way?
reply
FreeHomeBrew
We should all exercise far less since excessive breathing is bad for climate change. We convert chemical energy into mechanical energy and heat and we're terribly inefficient at it. We'd be better off making a high efficiency device that converts the chemicals into electrical energy. I mean, all in the perspective of generating energy through exercise.
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We should all exercise far less since excessive breathing is bad for climate change. We convert chemical energy into mechanical energy and heat and we're terribly inefficient at it. We'd be better off making a high efficiency device that converts the chemicals into electrical energy. I mean, all in the perspective of generating energy through exercise.
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Davide
If you want to do a followup of this video I think you could improve efficiency by plotting the power produced at different loads and see where it should operate (similarly to what is done for solar panels, then you could also change the motor or the gear ratio between the motor and the carpet so that you can walk at a more comfortable speed
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If you want to do a followup of this video I think you could improve efficiency by plotting the power produced at different loads and see where it should operate (similarly to what is done for solar panels, then you could also change the motor or the gear ratio between the motor and the carpet so that you can walk at a more comfortable speed
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TiagoTiago
What about using capacitors to stabilize the energy draw, or something a little more advanced like a circuit that would distribute the load between charging a battery and the device itself, and also switch between charging and discharging the battery as needed in order to keep the energy being drawn from the generator constant?
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What about using capacitors to stabilize the energy draw, or something a little more advanced like a circuit that would distribute the load between charging a battery and the device itself, and also switch between charging and discharging the battery as needed in order to keep the energy being drawn from the generator constant?
reply
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