Guiding 200,000 Amps Safely to Ground

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Excerpt: A main lightning discharge is characterized by rapidly rising current that peaks at about 200,000 Amps and averages  about 30,000 Amps over its duration. Even though the event is over in milliseconds, there is great potential for harm  to personnel and damage to equipment. Personnel working around …

Turning vibration into useful dc voltage

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Excerpt: The Joule-Thief energy harvesting modules and demonstration kits are first-of-its-kind random vibration dc power supplies. The design, from AdaptivEnergy, Hampton Roads, Virginia, scavenges and converts ambient mechanical energy, such as vibration and impact events, into a standard dc voltage. Other …

Mouser Electronics now stocks tiny TI temperature sensor

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Excerpt: Mouser Electronics Inc. is now stocking the Texas Instruments TMP112 digital temperature sensor with SMBus and two-wire serial interface. It requires no external components and is capable of reading temperatures to a resolution of 0.0625°C. The TI TMP112 digital temperature sensor allows up …

Personal power plant charges 5V devices

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Excerpt: The HYmini is a handheld, hybrid universal charger that captures wind and solar power along with conventional wall plug power. The energy captured in the internal battery can then be released to charge most 5V digital gadgets such as cell phones, mp3 players, iPods, and digital cameras. Users ac …

Lightning protection and tests for ground connections

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Excerpt: A range of grounding, surge, and lightning-protection products for the wind-energy industry come from Erico, Solon, Ohio. Company engineers provide design assistance for grounding and lightning protection for facilities worldwide. The company says it can design lightning protection that compl …

Novel design puts two turbines on one axis

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Excerpt: A small wind generator uses a long shaft with two different turbines on either side of a generator to produce more power than a single turbine. The developer, Shanghai-based Forevoo, says the design starts generating power in only 1.5 m/s wind speed and it works in a wider range of wind speeds than …

Storage for Excess Windpower

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Excerpt: One nagging problem with electrical power is that excess quantities of it generated during low demand periods can’t be stored without huge and costly batteries. But electricity can be stored indirectly through pumped hydro storage and compressed air. The Ireland based engineering firm Gaele …