Yarn

Hmm.. when it's tensioned it also generates electricity?
Can i place this in series/parallel with some of my muscles and regenerate energy?

I've always been annoyed with walking down hill. It's wasted energy!
 
Earlier version was less efficient, but details in old article help fill some of the blanks.

https://news.utdallas.edu/science-technology/no-batteries-required-energy-harvesting-yarns-gene/

“In a normal capacitor, you use energy — like from a battery — to add charges to the capacitor. But in our case, when you insert the carbon nanotube yarn into an electrolyte bath, the yarns are charged by the electrolyte itself. No external battery, or voltage, is needed.” When a harvester yarn is twisted or stretched, the volume of the carbon nanotube yarn decreases, bringing the electric charges on the yarn closer together and increasing their energy, Haines said. This increases the voltage associated with the charge stored in the yarn, enabling the harvesting of electricity. Stretching the coiled twistron yarns 30 times a second generated 250 watts per kilogram of peak electrical power when normalized to the harvester’s weight.

"To show that twistrons can harvest waste thermal energy from the environment, Li connected a twistron yarn to a polymer artificial muscle that contracts and expands when heated and cooled. The twistron harvester converted the mechanical energy generated by the polymer muscle to electrical energy."
 
Last edited:
serpretetsky said:
I've always been annoyed with walking down hill. It's wasted energy!
Click to expand...
I got you covered my efficiency-minded friend.

Before walking down hill, attach a slightly elastic cord to a tree or something sturdy on that top.
Walk down as if you would normally.
You now have your "wasted" energy trapped in an ominously tense piece of material.
Wanna go back up? Hold on to your rope! Whee!
 
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