Wind Helmet concept would recharge batteries while riding on 2 wheels
Click above for a gallery of the Wind Helmet
We've seen lots of interesting ideas to generate electricity in our quest to locate story material for our blogging duties, but, as far as we can remember, this is the first helmet we've ever seen that's designed to recharge batteries. The theoretical headgear would feature a small propeller that would catch the flow of wind over the motorcyclist's helmet, acting as a turbine connected to a small generator that can recharge a set of batteries. From that point, the stored electricity could be used by any number of electronic devices, like cell phones or iPods.
There's no doubt that some thought went into this design, but we're not so sure it'd be a good idea in practice. A small generator connected to one of the bike's wheels would certainly be more efficient; alternatively, a small array of solar panels could gather as much energy without putting a drag on the bike's engine.
Gallery: Wind Helmet concept
[Source: Core 77 via Motorcycle.com]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
tbone8ty@gmail.com 8:06PM (3/05/2009)
haha...umm how about the wheels?
silly you... no one is gonna wear a helmet.
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jharlan 8:30PM (3/05/2009)
Is this another one of those perpetual motion machines? I thought we figured that one out in the 9th grade. At least they are trying!
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Nick 8:46PM (3/05/2009)
Doesn't make sense, the drag caused by the system will outweight the power it generates.
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Keith Wakeham 9:07PM (3/05/2009)
Don't worry, It's just some designer thinking he/she is clever. Can you say Rube Goldberg machine?
On a bicycle a dyno/gen/alternator strapped to the wheel or drive will be more efficient. Turbines are 67% max for bladed, then the other losses. 1 Watt may cost 3. Wheel dyno, 1 watt may cost 1.1 in user expelled energy. Keep.It.Simple.Stupid!
Motorcycle. Perfectly good regulated voltage there I think. Duh :P
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Reggio 1:22AM (3/06/2009)
hmm.. this is blatantly useless in the motorbike scenario.
Any motorbike would have this little alternator installed in the crankcase to charge its battery.
This energy stored in the bike's battery then can be used to charge phones.
Some models in my country do actually have this kind of feature already.
There is no need to add any more air drag.
CMIIW
steve 9:13PM (3/05/2009)
I have to dispute your assumption that "There's no doubt that some thought went into this design".
If any thought had gone into the design it wouldnt have made it past an initial sketch, and basic analysis of the amounts of energy involved.
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jharlan 9:41PM (3/05/2009)
Maybe standing still in a 20 MPH wind.................... Naw, too much trouble.
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Scorch 10:07PM (3/05/2009)
This is a great idea! Why don't we attach wind turbines to our cars?
I'm sorry but the laws of thermodynamics still apply.
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Rain 10:45PM (3/05/2009)
LOL!
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Joe 10:45PM (3/05/2009)
This isn't a perpetual motion machine at all. Its just transferring energy from your legs to your cell phone. That doesn't mean its not stupid; a generator would be much more efficient as previously mentioned. But the idea that it wont work because it breaks the laws of thermodynamics is not at all accurate.
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Jase 11:41PM (3/05/2009)
Ahhhh nice idea but....
A friend of mine gave me a propeller hat for my birthday once. I picked a nice sunny day and went out snowboarding with it. Just snowboarding with this hat made the propeller spin rapidly, so the energy is there, but the amount of vibration and drag on the top of my head (at speeds below 25mph) was truely annoying.
Nice idea, but I can't imagine tolerating the extra drag on the neck muscles on a long motorbike ride.
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jharlan 12:05AM (3/06/2009)
It looks to me like everybody gets it. It's like using dollars to buy penneys. You can never get back the power you expend to make more power. It's like putting a fan on your sailboat. You would be better off with oars.
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Randy 12:33AM (3/06/2009)
All I can say is that if your batteries are not lasting long enough on your bike riding excursions... then your must be riding way to far....
Or the volume is to high.
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Luke 1:23AM (3/06/2009)
For bike riders this would make sense, if they want a green way of recharging batteries and don't mind added drag. Of course, they could carry one of those backpacks that has a solar panel, too, but it would have more mass.
Also, it just might be one of those inventions, like ethanol, that makes no sense but makes a fortune for those who produce it.
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paulwesterberg 11:31AM (3/06/2009)
There are hub generators that are much less lossy that product much more power and probably cost less.
jpm 1:31AM (3/06/2009)
Lame industrial design/art Grad student who didn't pay attention in physics project?
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Yikes 8:32AM (3/06/2009)
I love bullet item 1.
Wind get into....
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Bob Uppendown 12:10PM (3/06/2009)
Run a control wire from the brake lever on the bike, to the
helmet - which opens the airway ony when the brake is applied - and
which closes the airway when the brake lever is released. So the
propellor is only exposed to air when surplus energy is being
dissipated. Call it regenerative braking.
But if yer gonna do that, might as well mount the entire contraption
on the bike rather than on the head!
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Bob Uppendown 12:15PM (3/06/2009)
These ideas do of course appeal very strongly to the OBEM community.
(One Born Every Minute)
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Glen Aldridge 3:10PM (3/06/2009)
Gives new meaning to the term - AIRHEAD
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