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Acoustic Power

harvest power from noise
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Noise collectors (i.e. microphones) at noisy places (e.g. airports, busy streets) transduce noise into power for off-grid use. Similar to idea for solar devices (like signboards) but could charge and be useful at more times of the day.
Brasgan, Feb 07 2009

Sound Power table http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_power
How many Watts? [csea, Feb 07 2009]

Models for power from noise http://www.buffalo.edu/news/12733
Mathematical framework in place [Brasgan, Jul 20 2011]

Energy Harvesting http://en.wikipedia...i/Energy_harvesting
Note: mechanical vibration rather than atmospheric noise [csea, Jul 20 2011]

[link]






       It would be extremely difficult to harvest any useful amount of power from non-hearing-damage-inducing ambient sound levels (e.g. below 100dbSPL). See [link] for table.   

       Note that table entries are _source_ powers, and do not represent what power could be collected without completely surrounding the source with "microphones" (which are aptly named.)   

       You could get an estimate of the power generated by noise by measuring air temperature rise, but it will generally be too tiny to measure.   

       A non-starter. - But welcome, keep trying!
csea, Feb 07 2009
  

       maybe it would work near a large waterfall? perhaps well enough to allow a remote controlled mute to be added so that the tour guide can be heard when necessary.
TIB, Feb 09 2009
  

       EV ( Electrical vihicle) manufacturers are working on suspension vibration energy absorption power recovery systems. It's not a lot of power, but it helps.
sirau, Jun 02 2011
  

       //maybe it would work near a large waterfall?//   

       Maybe a watermill would work better under those conditions.
Loris, Jun 02 2011
  

       The world is working on this: Mathematical models for coherent energy from noise
Brasgan, Jul 20 2011
  

       Well, now that's different. Harvesting mechanical vibration directly is much more feasible, as the impedances are much lower. This is a developing field, so only partly baked. [link]
csea, Jul 20 2011
  
      
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