Backpack Generates Its Own Electricity

This invention, known as the suspended-load backpack, generates it’s own power from the motion of the person carrying it. It’s development is being led by Lawrence Rome, a biologist at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and the idea for it came from a request of the U.S. Office of Naval Research to look at ways of generating electricity from body movements.

The pack’s design is based on an external-frame, similar to the type used by trekkers in years gone by. With a load of between 44 and 84 pounds (20-38kg), it’s capable of generating more than seven watts of electricity from the up-down motion of the cargo compartment. That’s enough juice to power a handful of electronic gadgets simultaneously, including a cell phone, MP3 player, PDA, night-vision goggles, and a water purifier.

The frame of the pack sits on the carrier’s back as usual, but the load compartment is suspended from the frame by vertical springs. The up-down movement of the load as the carrier walks turns a gear connected to a generator at the top of the pack and this gear rotates coils of wire within a magnetic field inside the generator, thus creating electricity.

National Geograghic News has a lengthy article here and then this piece at MSNBC also features a video of the electric backpack in action.

[via Treehugger]