Power generation from gym
Power generation from gym
(OP)
What are the possible methods of generating electrical power from stationary bike and elliptical trainers?
INTELLIGENT WORK FORUMS
FOR ENGINEERING PROFESSIONALS Come Join Us!Are you an
Engineering professional? Join Eng-Tips Forums!
*Eng-Tips's functionality depends on members receiving e-mail. By joining you are opting in to receive e-mail. Posting GuidelinesJobs |
Power generation from gym
|
Power generation from gymPower generation from gym(OP)
What are the possible methods of generating electrical power from stationary bike and elliptical trainers?
Red Flag SubmittedThank you for helping keep Eng-Tips Forums free from inappropriate posts. Reply To This ThreadPosting in the Eng-Tips forums is a member-only feature.Click Here to join Eng-Tips and talk with other members! |
ResourcesThe world has changed considerably since the 1980s, when CAD first started displacing drafting tables. Download Now
Prototyping has always been a critical part of product development. Download Now
As the cloud is increasingly adopted for product development, questions remain as to just how cloud software tools compare to on-premise solutions. Download Now
Engineering-centric businesses face a number of challenges today, but unmanageable design and change processes don’t need to be counted among them. Download Now
|
RE: Power generation from gym
Since the operating speed and power will not be consistent or repeatable, doing anything useful with that power will be a challenge. You can use an inverter to convert DC to line voltage and frequency AC. I can assure you without doing any calculations whatsoever that it will not be cost-effective.
You've asked similar questions before, and I have a question in return. WHY are you asking these questions? A forum on the internet is not capable of making something out of nothing.
RE: Power generation from gym
TTFN
I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert!
FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies forum1529: Translation Assistance for Engineers
RE: Power generation from gym
RE: Power generation from gym
RE: Power generation from gym
Another big fluid tank as low down as you can get it (i.e. the basement if possible).
Each exercise device is connected to a pump that pulls fluid from the lower tank and pumps it up to the higher tank. (For steppers a linear pump, for bikes a rotary pump...)
The Upper tank in turn drains down to a generator that outlets into the lower tank.
You now have a built in accumulator which will smooth variations in power and also if large enough allow you to store energy to be used when needed.
Or, you just use the water pumped to the roof tank to ensure a nice high pressure shower after all that exercise - heck maybe leave some devices generating electricity and use that for an immersion heater on the tank.
What is Engineering anyway: FAQ1088-1484: In layman terms, what is "engineering"?
RE: Power generation from gym
If you don't generate enough joules in a given day then you get put on a gruel regime or similar.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treadmill#Treadmills...
What is Engineering anyway: FAQ1088-1484: In layman terms, what is "engineering"?
RE: Power generation from gym
It is better to have enough ideas for some of them to be wrong, than to be always right by having no ideas at all.
RE: Power generation from gym
I was a judge at a STEM event for school children. One of the kids proposed a mat that would generate power as someone walked across it. I could design a cinderblock that someone could lift up and down while standing on the mat. You could arrange a bunch of these mats into a circle, and ride a bicycle around the circle, again, generating power.
--
JHG
RE: Power generation from gym
At such a small scale, a Lithium battery + inverters would be much more cost effective. Or forget the battery and push the energy straight into the grid as already suggested.
je suis charlie
RE: Power generation from gym
They didn't ask for the most appropriate methods, most cost effective methods or any other evaluation of the 'goodness' of the suggestion.
Since an arguably silly question was asked, I proposed a moderately silly answer.
What is Engineering anyway: FAQ1088-1484: In layman terms, what is "engineering"?
RE: Power generation from gym
RE: Power generation from gym
It is a capital mistake to theorise before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts. (Sherlock Holmes - A Scandal in Bohemia.)
RE: Power generation from gym
RE: Power generation from gym
Pumped water is exactly what is used at full size power plants for load leveling/peak demand handling. No reason it is inappropriate here. In the larger scale it is how hydroelectric power is gotten using dams and turbines. It only seems odd to some because, really, people are such poor sources of power.
People are such poor sources of power that it does make the question bizarre. Might also ask how hard is it to stir water with a teaspoon in a teacup to boil the water. Followup - since reducing pressure makes liquids boil more readily, will it be easier to heat the water at higher altitude.
I would point out that stationary bikes and elliptical trainers are expensive, so putting them on Craig's list and taking the money to buy batteries or an extension cord would be more reliable.
RE: Power generation from gym
What is Engineering anyway: FAQ1088-1484: In layman terms, what is "engineering"?
RE: Power generation from gym
je suis charlie
RE: Power generation from gym
Are we talking about a home gym in a western civilization, a corporate chain like Anytime Fitness with 100s of locations, or is this a very remote location with little to no infrastructure, but can cobble together some simple machines... that last case would throw out a lot of complaints about being impractical.
I'm curious if the OP is trying to make a 'green gym' in San Francisco, or trying to keep the lights on in the Outback.
RE: Power generation from gym
RE: Power generation from gym
gbangs
TC 8.3.3
NX 8.5.3.3 MP11
RE: Power generation from gym
And 10 years later the lone survivor is RIPPED.
As around 2:30 in one of my most fondly remembered movie scenes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5KYZ74OAak
RE: Power generation from gym
Replace mass incarceration with community service on a treadmill, and fight the obesity epidemic at the same time...
What is Engineering anyway: FAQ1088-1484: In layman terms, what is "engineering"?
RE: Power generation from gym
RE: Power generation from gym
- Pumps and turbines are high efficiency machines in large sizes. Power output of a gym doesn't suggest large pumps/turbines.
- High efficiency is obtained in a defined operating range. Gym output probably varies constantly between zero and 100%
- High efficiency pumps and turbines are normally high head machines. Gym in multi-story building might qualify.
- If high head is not available, the mass of the stored water will be significant.
The best storage system for such a small energy source is the grid.
Next best would be battery storage. Buy a Tesla Power Wall.
je suis charlie
RE: Power generation from gym
What is Engineering anyway: FAQ1088-1484: In layman terms, what is "engineering"?
RE: Power generation from gym
je suis charlie
RE: Power generation from gym
--
JHG
RE: Power generation from gym
"Schiefgehen wird, was schiefgehen kann" - das Murphygesetz
RE: Power generation from gym
RE: Power generation from gym
RE: Power generation from gym
Do gyms pay for everyone's food?
You generate energy. Someone else pays for the fuel.
--
JHG
RE: Power generation from gym
RE: Power generation from gym
Why wouldn't it be cost-effective? The total output wouldn't be much, but you could probably do it for less $/w than solar cells, as long as the storage is provided by the gym members in their cars.
When electric cars become common place their use as temporary storage devices for excess power from solar and wind will also become common place. Because they spend a large part of the day in a parking space, and the cost of connecting parking to the grid is negligible, compared with other options such as pumped storage the marginal cost is negligible. It's just a matter of time.
Doug Jenkins
Interactive Design Services
http://newtonexcelbach.wordpress.com/
RE: Power generation from gym
Storage of water would also be an good idea, though would it be cost efficient to connect a machine a piece to a pump??
Plus, what I want is to combine several bikes, mechanically; will a power split device, a back drive differential work, of is it possible to use something like an automatic derailleur set, what I mean by that is, a chain sprocket mechanism, one end connected to the bike and the other to a common shaft that connects at least 2 bikes in series, which automatically shifts gears in order to maintain uniform speed. I'm not sure u'll get the latter part though... ! Just imagine something like a tandem bike or a sociable
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tandem_bicycle
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sociable
I'm just referring to their mechanisms.