2023-12-07 カーネギーメロン大学
A team in the Morphing Matter Lab developed devices powered by wind, water flow, sunlight and fluctuations in temperature or humidity. This harvested energy, stored as compressed air, can fuel various systems, including one that automatically inflates an insulating collar around plants during windy, cold weather.
◆環境の変動を利用して風、水流、日光、温度や湿度の変動で駆動されるバルブやポンプを開発し、収集されたエネルギーを電気ではなく圧縮空気として蓄積。電子機器を使用せず、エネルギーを収穫するだけでなく、環境の変化を感知し、その変化を利用してシステムを制御する非電子式のアプローチを提案している。
◆小型のデバイスは風車や水車のような大型のエネルギーシステムとは異なり、庭の中で見えないように配置できるため、既存の技術の補完として有望とされている。
＜関連情報＞
- https://www.cs.cmu.edu/news/2023/harvesting-ambient-energy
- https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3586183.3606721
持続可能： 空気圧モーフィング・インターフェースのための環境エネルギーの収集、蓄積、利用 Sustainflatable: Harvesting, Storing and Utilizing Ambient Energy for Pneumatic Morphing Interfaces
Qiuyu Lu,Tianyu Yu,Semina Yi,Yuran Ding,Haipeng Mi,Lining Yao
UIST ’23: Proceedings of the 36th Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology Published:29 October 2023
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1145/3586183.3606721
ABSTRACT
While the majority of pneumatic interfaces are powered and controlled by traditional electric pumps and valves, alternative sustainable energy-harnessing technology has been attracting attention. This paper presents a novel solution to this challenge with the development of the Sustainflatable system, a self-sustaining pneumatic system that can harvest renewable energy sources such as wind, water flow, moisture, and sunlight, convert the energy into compressed air, and store it for later use in a programmable and intelligent way. The system is completely electronic-free, incorporating customized energy harvesting pumps, storage units with variable volume-pressure characteristics, and tailored valves that operate autonomously. Additionally, the paper provides a design tool to guide the development of the system and includes several environmental applications to showcase its capabilities.
