"According to Nature, the world's pre-eminent scientific magazine, Assistant Professor Shashank Priya of the Materials Science and Engineering Program at the University of Texas at Arlington is successfully using pocket-sized mini windmills to power wireless network of sensors in remote locations," reports IndoLink.
"Essentially, Priya's challenge was to develop a windmill with a diameter of just 10cm which works by flexing piezoelectric crystals as it rotates, causing them to generate a current. A 'gentle breeze' of 16km/h is enough to generate the 7.5mW necessary to power a small electronic sensor. Such windmills are designed to solve the problem of powering Wi-Fi kit in remote locations. Geologists, for instance, can monitor seismic activity using wireless-enabled sensors located across large geographical areas.
"Priya and other Materials Science & Engineering researchers have created two versions of inexpensive generators utilizing wind power. As wind turns a propeller, a cam on the propeller shaft causes flexing in a series of bimorphs that are arranged in circular or stacked patterns. The researchers have created output power of 5 -- 50 mW using wind flow of 5 - 10 mph from their crude but inexpensive -- less than $20 -- prototypes."
