Alt-BEAM Archive
Message #01447
To: "Ed Jones Jr." sargon@gte.net
From: Steven Bolt sbolt@xs4all.nl
Date: Thu, 11 Mar 1999 11:04:34 +0100 (CET)
Subject: [alt-beam] Re: Seiko Thermic Watch
On Thu, 11 Mar 1999, Ed Jones Jr. wrote:
> Popular Science ,April 99 , Pg.# 17, shows a watch that runs off a persons
> body heat . Extra power is diverted to a storage cell that keeps the watch
> ticking for up to 10 months even while it's off your wrist . ( price= a
> whopping $ 2,600 !! ) Is there anyway we could not only use a solar cell to
> collect energy but to somehow use the sun's heat to power our beam bots as
> well ? Any thoughts ??
I have no idea how the 10 degrees or so that might be available to
a wrist watch can be converted into a useable amount of electrical
power. All heat conversion devices that I'm aware of require a much
larger temperature difference.
Note, however, that a watch needs very little power to work. My
very light weight (12 grams) `Son of Photovore' requires about
0.1 milliwatts to move about with reasonable speed. The power
consumption of the two lady's watches it uses as motors has been
increased by a factor of about 55 to make that possible.
The solar heat converter you'd like would presumably use the
temperature difference between the top (sun) and bottom (shade)
sides of the bot. Judging by that Seiko such a device might be
possible, but I would expect a simple solar panel of similar size
to provide about a thousand times more electrical power...
Best,
Steve
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# sbolt@xs4all.nl # Steven Bolt # popular science monthly KIJK #
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