On Thu, Jun 9, 2016 at 12:14 AM, Tim <xxxxxx@little-possums.net> wrote:
On Wed, Jun 08, 2016 at 11:07:17PM -0400, Richard Aiken wrote:
> Speaking of reducing loads and all those batteries to carry
> . . . why don't they give everyone one of those modern hand-crank
> generators that are about the size of a smart phone?

They are pretty pathetic.  A good one will generate about 10 watts,
while seriously tiring your arms.

Well, there is also:  http://www.wired.com/2008/02/knee-brace-harv/#seealsocad0110d22d6d5401371dbc7005ce855

A 3.5 lb knee brace that generates 5 watts from ordinary walking, without imposing extra effort on the wearer. Down toward the end of the article the inventor says the military has shown interest . . .

Google also supplied me with: http://cap.ee.ic.ac.uk/~pdm97/powermems/2009/pdfs/papers/062_0124.pdf

This seems to be a formal report on a very tiny motion-capture generator (2 cubic centimeters), that generates 117uW (not sure what the "u" means) at "high accelleration squared to frequency (ASTF)" body locations (which I assume means either side of each major joint involved in walking). If you put one on every high ASTF location, how much power is that?

--
Richard Aiken

"Never insult anyone by accident."  Robert A. Heinlein
"I studied the Koran a great deal. I came away from that study with the conviction there have been few religions in the world as deadly to men as Muhammed." Alexis de Tocqueville (1843)
"We know a little about a lot of things; just enough to make us dangerous." Dean Winchester
"It has been my experience that a gun doesn't care who pulls its trigger." Newton Knight (as portrayed by Matthew McConaughey), to a scoffing Confederate tax collector facing the weapons held by Knight's young children and wife.