ShakEnergy: A New Kind Of Recharable Battery

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This past weekend while I was at the Syracuse Nationals auto show, my digital camera chewed through my extended-life rechargeable batteries. More than once I found myself without enough energy to get that last, important shot. The recharger I used took 3 hours to recharge them as well, so if I hadn’t have had eight of the batteries I would have been poop outta luck.

But a new idea for rechargable batteries might change all that. Need some power? Just shake your battery and it recharges itself! Or at least that is the concept behind the ShakEnergy from Mintpass.

Alright so here is the skinny on this ShakEnergy battery. It uses a spring-loaded coil-magnet to produce energy when shaken vigorously, and comes in AA flavor That is all there really is to it. The battery has about half the charge of a normal nickel metal hydrate battery, and can be recharged in a normal charger.

But say you’re out taking pictures on a long hike and your camera dies? No extra batteries? No problem. Take it out and shake vigorously. For how long, they don’t say, but I imagine a full charge would take a few minutes at least. You can also pat yourself on the back for not sucking up any energy from an outlet as well.

The picture really explains it all. Good idea, although when it hits shelves they don’t say. At the very least it makes sense to me. Might this lead to further battery developments for electric cars and other devices? Maaaaybe….

Source: mintpass via envirogadget

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Tags: AA, battery, hydrate, metal, mint, ni-mh, nickel, rechargable, shakenergy

About the Author

Christopher DeMorro A writer and gearhead who loves all things automotive, from hybrids to HEMIs, Chris can be found wrenching or writing- or esle, he's running, because he's one of those crazy people who gets enjoyment from running insane distances.

Dave Eaton

Interesting. Someone reading this should be able to estimate the amount of energy you could get from shaking this. I plan to try, but I’m a chemist, and would like to see how an expert does the numbers . I suspect it won’t be all that much, but could be wrong. It might work for that “last shot” you need.

And a lot of fuel goes into the food you eat, and that was produced using all sorts of non-renewable energy. I wonder how good an accounting could be done. It is a neat idea. I would love to know the details.
Dave Eaton

Interesting. Someone reading this should be able to estimate the amount of energy you could get from shaking this. I plan to try, but I’m a chemist, and would like to see how an expert does the numbers . I suspect it won’t be all that much, but could be wrong. It might work for that “last shot” you need.

And a lot of fuel goes into the food you eat, and that was produced using all sorts of non-renewable energy. I wonder how good an accounting could be done. It is a neat idea. I would love to know the details.
http://thewaronbullshit.com Kavan Wolfe

Very cool concept, but I don’t know if it will come to market any time soon. Portable solar arrays are probably the best bet in the meantime.
http://thewaronbullshit.com Kavan Wolfe

Very cool concept, but I don’t know if it will come to market any time soon. Portable solar arrays are probably the best bet in the meantime.
mcclanahoochie

This would be very useful in mobile electronics, such as say, an mp3 player while running, or maybe even a car…
mcclanahoochie

This would be very useful in mobile electronics, such as say, an mp3 player while running, or maybe even a car…
mcclanahoochie

This would be very useful in mobile electronics, such as say, an mp3 player while running, or maybe even a car…
http://techno-arra.blogspot.com/ New Techno

cool post. very interesting. this will help!
http://techno-arra.blogspot.com/ New Techno

cool post. very interesting. this will help!
Choralsinger

I have a “shake” flashlight powered by the sliding magnet generator. It puts out very little power for a dim LED
Choralsinger

I have a “shake” flashlight powered by the sliding magnet generator. It puts out very little power for a dim LED
Edd

It would be cool if someone made an anklet/bracelet that held these batteries so you could charge them while walking/hiking/running. Then you could save yourself the arm ache from all the vigorous shaking.
Edd

It would be cool if someone made an anklet/bracelet that held these batteries so you could charge them while walking/hiking/running. Then you could save yourself the arm ache from all the vigorous shaking.
Edd

It would be cool if someone made an anklet/bracelet that held these batteries so you could charge them while walking/hiking/running. Then you could save yourself the arm ache from all the vigorous shaking.
http://www.technologyslice.com.au Technology Slice

It’s a good idea. Like the handheld wind-up torches. It’s perfect for powering small, portable electronics.
http://www.technologyslice.com.au Technology Slice

It’s a good idea. Like the handheld wind-up torches. It’s perfect for powering small, portable electronics.
http://thewaronbullshit.com Kavan Wolfe

Very cool concept, but I don’t know if it will come to market any time soon. Portable solar arrays are probably the best bet in the meantime.
ChuckL

Choralsinger beat me to that post. you have to shake a long time for a little power.

Edd’s idea is a great one though and just might be easily done by putting the batteries in a holder available form numerous sources and just dropping them in your pocket. Or you culd use a velcro strap to fasten them to your leg.
ChuckL

Choralsinger beat me to that post. you have to shake a long time for a little power.

Edd’s idea is a great one though and just might be easily done by putting the batteries in a holder available form numerous sources and just dropping them in your pocket. Or you culd use a velcro strap to fasten them to your leg.
ChuckL

Choralsinger beat me to that post. you have to shake a long time for a little power.

Edd’s idea is a great one though and just might be easily done by putting the batteries in a holder available form numerous sources and just dropping them in your pocket. Or you culd use a velcro strap to fasten them to your leg.
russ

Think of the energy required for a wind up radio – that is a lot of shaking!
russ

Think of the energy required for a wind up radio – that is a lot of shaking!
russ

Think of the energy required for a wind up radio – that is a lot of shaking!
John

It’s a really neat idea, but I think it would take a lot of shaking to charge the battery.

The first problem is that shaking requires moving the whole mass of the battery, your hand and arm, which has to be accelerated and decelerated each cycle. That means moving perhaps a kilogram of mass just to move a magnet weighing a few grams in and out of the coil. It’s a back-and-forth free movement so there’s not much energy recovery. Not very efficient, and likely to make your arm ache.

Some attempt to recover the kinetic energy from the magnet has been made with the rubber shock absorbers, and these would tend to set the ‘natural frequency’ for shaking, determining a comfortable shaking speed. The rubber stops cannot recover kinetic energy from the external masses.

The number of cycles is also low – no more than a few per second I’d guess.

The field lines of the magnet have to intersect the coil windings. The generator is linear, which is likely to be less efficient that a rotary dynamo, where the field is completely reversed each cycle.

I have a pocket-sized wind up LED torch, which works very well. It has (3) tiny NiMH batteries that are charged by a rotary dynamo. The handle turns a train of several gears, so one turn of my hand makes many turns of the dynamo, which therefore spins quite fast. The dynamo is relatively efficient and the losses in the drive system are low.

A few minutes winding charges the torch for more than 10 minutes of LED operation. The single white LED draws very little power, but a battery might be required to deliver much more.

I’ve tried ‘shake’ torches, and they seem to struggle to light the LED almost as soon as you stop shaking!

So, maybe the ShakEnergy battery would make a useful emergency battery, but you would probably be better off having a conventional rechargeable cell with double the capacity. (Or change to lithium and get even more). You wouldn’t often want to charge the battery by shaking, so for routine use you’d need to keep to hand a more efficient conventional charger (mains, PV, wind-up, fuel cell, etc.), or carry spare cells.

As to devices like this for vehicles – no. Simply no. Just think about it, purlease.
John

It’s a really neat idea, but I think it would take a lot of shaking to charge the battery.

The first problem is that shaking requires moving the whole mass of the battery, your hand and arm, which has to be accelerated and decelerated each cycle. That means moving perhaps a kilogram of mass just to move a magnet weighing a few grams in and out of the coil. It’s a back-and-forth free movement so there’s not much energy recovery. Not very efficient, and likely to make your arm ache.

Some attempt to recover the kinetic energy from the magnet has been made with the rubber shock absorbers, and these would tend to set the ‘natural frequency’ for shaking, determining a comfortable shaking speed. The rubber stops cannot recover kinetic energy from the external masses.

The number of cycles is also low – no more than a few per second I’d guess.

The field lines of the magnet have to intersect the coil windings. The generator is linear, which is likely to be less efficient that a rotary dynamo, where the field is completely reversed each cycle.

I have a pocket-sized wind up LED torch, which works very well. It has (3) tiny NiMH batteries that are charged by a rotary dynamo. The handle turns a train of several gears, so one turn of my hand makes many turns of the dynamo, which therefore spins quite fast. The dynamo is relatively efficient and the losses in the drive system are low.

A few minutes winding charges the torch for more than 10 minutes of LED operation. The single white LED draws very little power, but a battery might be required to deliver much more.

I’ve tried ‘shake’ torches, and they seem to struggle to light the LED almost as soon as you stop shaking!

So, maybe the ShakEnergy battery would make a useful emergency battery, but you would probably be better off having a conventional rechargeable cell with double the capacity. (Or change to lithium and get even more). You wouldn’t often want to charge the battery by shaking, so for routine use you’d need to keep to hand a more efficient conventional charger (mains, PV, wind-up, fuel cell, etc.), or carry spare cells.

As to devices like this for vehicles – no. Simply no. Just think about it, purlease.
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