Solar powered portable chargers are arguably the most popular portable phone chargers where there is plenty of sunlight. But what to do in places where there is not much sunlight during the day, for example, in northern latitudes, but there are enough turbulent water flows.
Estream not the first portable hydro turbine charger offered by Enomad. The previously known HydroBee and Blue Freedom also offer similar functionality and portability, but Estream is more convenient and practical, and also has a larger battery capacity.
The turbine is mainly made of ABS and polycarbonate. When folded, the charge has dimensions of 24.5 x 6.5 cm, and as soon as the turbine blades unfold outward, the diameter increases to 21 cm.The total mass of the device is about 800 g.
To generate electricity, the user must remove Estream cover decomposed blade and fix them. Anchor in flowing water turbine where it will be driven flow. The device is capable of operating in shallow streams at low speeds and can also be towed by a kayak or boat.
The portable charging - a turbine capable of delivering from 2.5 W to 5 W of power. The stored energy is stored in a 6400 mAh lithium-ion battery. In Enomad argue that fully charge the battery using takes about 4.5 hours of running water. In addition, the battery can also be charged via the micro USB input. A full battery is enough to charge an iPhone 6 three times. The design of Estream is shown in the following photo.
For greater ease of use, the portable charger can be disassembled into a turbine module and a battery module. Estream has three USB sockets, so you can charge up to three phones at the same time, while the 7.5W output allows you to charge your mobile devices in half the time.
Estream can also be used as a flashlight with four modes of operation - dim light, bright light, SOS and strobe. The lantern is waterproofed to an IPX8 level, which means it can be used as an underwater light source.
The video below reveals the features of the device.
Modern cinema cannot be imagined without the use of special effects, especially when creating epic scenes on a grand scale. Visual effects company Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) showcased work on creating global battles in the latest film in the epic Star Wars ... Read moreMaintaining the charge level of mobile electronic devices can become a non-trivial task for the modern tourist and traveler. Getting electricity from Mother Nature in the form of wind and solar power is the simplest and preferred option for many - there are many portable solar and wind generators on the market that can satisfy the need for charging gadgets. The latest development is the Windpax device - a foldable portable wind power system that is convenient because it does not take up too much space in a backpack or luggage.
According to Windpax, the beauty of the system lies not only in its portability, but in the fact that it is foldable, lightweight, flexible and, importantly, inexpensive. Currently, the creators of the system are trying to raise $ 50,000 through Kickstarter crowdfunding system. Windpax can generate electricity when solar charging stations are powerless, such as at night or on cloudy days. True Windpax is also useless when there is no wind.
The Windpax system has a vertical turbine, which, with the help of vertical bowls, makes the turbine rotate, which, in turn, generates electricity using a generator located in the housing. Gadgets like mobile phones or any other USB charging device can be charged directly from the turbine or from a removable battery.
According to the creators, their system can be installed in a working state in less than two minutes and has the ability to be placed, for example, on a tree or be hung upside down, being attached to any object, and can also be attached to a table or vertical surface, thanks to removable clamps. with a swivel ball mechanism. This gives the system a variety of interesting placement options.
For safety reasons, Windpax has developed a flexible plastic blade system to reduce injury in the event of an accidental collision of a person or object with the turbine blades. And in case of strong wind, the blades flying off the main part of the turbine become flat, which does not allow them to fly far away.
The Windpax wind turbine can be assembled in less than two minutes and is able to attach to a variety of surfaces
This device is designed to fit easily into a backpack. It weighs 4 pounds (1.8 kg) and when folded is 14 inches (355 mm) long and 3 inches (76 mm) in circumference. Once assembled, the turbine is expanded to 24 inches (610 mm) in length and one foot (304 mm) in diameter. The total height of the structure including the support is 6 feet (1.83 m).
The device is capable of producing 25 watts at average wind speeds, and the company claims the design can provide enough power to charge six mobile phones at the same time. The battery that the system is equipped with also has a built-in LED, allowing it to be used as a flashlight or external light, and can charge three mobile phones at the same time when fully charged.
The older brother, called Breeze, is more for long-term excursions or camping. Weighing 9 lb (4 kg), the camouflaged turbines when assembled have a vertical height of 10 feet (3 m), of which 24 inches (610 mm) are wind-gripping elements. According to Windpax, the Breeze wind turbine can generate 100 watts of power in average winds and comes with a 12-volt adapter in addition to the stock USB connectors.
The collective fundraising campaign on the Kickstarter service will run until June 17, 2014. The minimum participation cost is $ 120 for the simplest version of the wind turbine. The more powerful version of Breeze, requires a minimum deposit of $ 245. If all goes according to plan, the wind turbines should arrive to first customers this September.
Windpax wind turbine in action
The compact oven is easy to assemble. The design is designed in such a way that you do not need a lot of firewood or coal for combustion - there are enough cones, branches and other small combustible materials, which are enough in any forest. The stove provides stable power and at the same time fulfills its intended purpose: it heats kettles, pots and pots - a liter of water, for example, boils in 7 minutes, the gadget will also start charging by this time.
"Today there are so many gadgets that need recharging. We go on hikes for 3-4 days, during which time the batteries run out, and gadgets become useless. It's a shame to carry a camera or other equipment on you, which, as a result, is of no use, ”Aydar Khairullin explains his motivation. Four years ago, he figured out how to cope with the problem of a dead battery on a hike, but he did not immediately come to an original solution to this problem. At first, he tried to use existing technologies - he bought a cheap Chinese external battery with a solar panel, but quickly became disillusioned with it: the device was highly dependent on the weather and charged the phone by only 5% for the whole day.
Tengu
More expensive batteries with a large solar panel turned out to be more efficient, but they also worked only in clear weather, required constant adjustment of the angle of inclination in relation to the sun, and the process of fully charging was still very long. In addition, these panels were too bulky and fragile to take on a hike.
In search of a way to efficiently charge gadgets in the field, Khairullin rummaged through the Internet and came across information about a radioisotope thermoelectric generator. This is installed on the Curiosity rover. This generator uses thermal energy that is released as a result of the decay of radioactive isotopes and converts it into electrical energy. Aydar decided that convert heat into electricity is possible and on earth and start the test.
As a source of energy, he decided to use not radioactive isotopes, but the more familiar fire of a fire. So the idea came to create a small folding camp stove equipped with a thermoelectric generator. Having ordered the necessary parts, the engineer assembled the first prototype in August 2014. The homemade product did not look very good, but, nevertheless, it was quite suitable for the first field tests. “No one believed that this thing could charge a phone, and even from a fire,” recalls the reaction of Khairullin's comrades. “But it worked. Everyone liked the stove and friends asked to do it for them too. "
Tengu
A couple of months later, the development of the engineer became interested in one of the largest tourist communities on VKontakte, with 400 thousand subscribers. Khairullin was asked to write a review of the invention, he agreed. The article topped the TOP-10 of the best materials that were published in the group during the year, and scored 10 thousand likes, which finally pushed the inventor to make a commercial version.
In practice, things turned out to be more complicated than expected. It's one thing to surprise your friends, it's another to create a working version of a product for sale. The first prototype, for example, produced only 0.5 watts of power, which made it possible to charge the phone by about 10% in an hour. Through experiments, the power was increased, and the best alloy of materials - titanium and stainless steel - was found for the case - it turned out to be optimal in terms of strength-to-weight ratio. In addition, it does not rust, does not burn out, and is difficult to bend. On the video presentation Khayrullin stands on the stove legs - it can easily withstand the weight.
Tengu
Finally, in May 2016, the first industrial version of the generator stove was created, which was named Tengu. For its release Khayrullin decided to collect money crowdfunding. The community liked the development and the necessary 700,000 rubles were collected at the Boomstarter. Everyone who donated received their copies of the unusual stove, the reviews were positive.
Mass testing, however, revealed some operational problems of the gadget: the controller did not always charge some iPhones, and the power was walking, dropping from peak to minimum with prolonged heating. A year has been spent looking for solutions. This is how the heat sink was completely redesigned. The furnace was eventually water-cooled. The fact is that the generation of electricity depends on the temperature difference between the different surfaces of the semiconductor layer in the thermal power generator. There were two ways out to increase this difference. But when the temperature rises, the controllers began to burn, so it was decided to cool the outer part. Water makes cooling much more efficient than air, so we settled on it.
Tengu
The inventor completely reworked the design of the stove. The 2017 version is made of titanium and stainless steel and weighs 1.2 kg. The height of the structure is 16 cm, the width is 12 cm, and the wall thickness is 1 mm. Length together with the radiator -. 18.5 cm Now with her supplied carrying case. The power of the charging stove is stable 5 W, the USB output is 5V / 1A. The length of the non-combustible metal-braided cable, which, according to Khairullin, "does not break or melt", is 30 cm. At the end of the wire is a USB port with an indicator - it will turn green when there is enough electricity in the generator start charging your phone. Testing the new version captured on video.
Tengu components are manufactured at eight factories in Russia and one in the United States. It was not difficult to agree on cooperation, says the engineer. In one plant, an alloy is created, in the second, parts are cut out of the finished alloy using a laser. The third plant supplies cans of aluminum, the fourth (OJSC "Ufimkabel") - makes wires. Only one plant in the country, whose name Khairullin chose not to name, agreed to make thermoelectric generators. “The technology is very complex, initially it was used only for space purposes,” explains Khairullin.
Tengu
The only foreign supplier - a company from Silicon Valley - makes controllers for the Khairullin oven. Russian and Chinese counterparts had low efficiency and overheated at high currents. With the new controllers, the power of the stove has reached a stable 5 W, and the device is now guaranteed to support all models of gadgets.
Aydar Khairullin claims that there are simply no devices similar to Tengu with the same level of efficiency in the world. There are similar ones, but these are just toys. They, unlike our generator, use a Peltier element. Another well-known generator has a built-in power bank, which actually charges gadgets, and generating electricity only slightly adds power.
Aidar's team can assemble about 100 Tengu stoves per month, since this is the number of thermoelectric generators that the supplier can produce. The final assembly of the Tengu is done in Ufa.
We asked Aydar a short blitz of the most typical questions that are most often of interest to potential customers of his development.
- How long is Tengu's service life?
- Most of the elements are made of non-corrosive steel. The most fragile is electronics, its manufacturer claims an average lifespan of 50 years.
- How much firewood does it take to charge the phone?
- On average, 600 grams of chips are consumed per hour.
- How quickly does the water in the tank boil?
- The water used for cooling boils in about an hour. But the generator continues to charge with little loss of power. To maximize power, simply add cold water.
- How reliable is your device?
- The generator is almost completely made of steel, it will withstand falls and even the weight of a person if you stand on it. The design is made to work in any weather, it is not afraid of rain, wind and freezing temperatures.
- Why aren't you using Peltier modules?
- It's simple - these modules do not withstand high temperatures and have low power. We use our own generator modules, their power is 12 watts. They are designed to operate at high temperatures and are specialized for power generation. At the moment, they are manufactured to order at a plant in Russia. With the help of BommStarter, we want to establish our own production.
Developers from the United States have created the Estream hand-held water turbine, which is capable of recharging a smartphone on a hike. It is compact and weighs less than 1 kg.
The turbine was developed by engineers from the startup company Enomad. Estream is a portable generator that can be charged by running water - a river or stream. The energy of the current can charge the device at any time of the day or night and in any weather. Running water provides 24/7 uninterrupted power supply, unlike air currents, solar panels or portable wind turbines. Therefore, the developers chose flowing water as a source of energy.
Estream manual turbine device
Estream consists of two parts: at the top there is a generator, which is connected by a gear train to the turbine. At the bottom is a 6400 mAh lithium-ion battery.
Even a weak flow of water is enough to rotate the mini-turbine of the mobile generator. Estream can also be used while traveling on any boat. The device is capable of generating 2.5 to 5 watts of energy.
The battery can charge any electronic device via the USB connector. The lower part of the Estream has a built-in flashlight that works even under water.
The total weight of the mini-turbine 800 g, and for full battery requires about 4.5 hours.
According to the authors of the project, one charge of Estream is enough to recharge 3 smartphones or even a tablet PC. But it all depends on the capacity of their battery: Estream is enough for 4 full charges of iPhone 5s or for one full charge of Philips Xenium V387.
The Estream miniature water turbine is suitable for travel use and where there is no central power grid.
Included with the device itself is a blade guard, a cord with a carabiner to keep the turbine in flow, and a pair of USB cables for charging the device. To purchase Estream, you need to donate at least $ 180 to the project.
Recharge the gadget even from a flower pot or directly on the bike.
