Urine Powered Battery Developed 286
Saeed al-Sahaf writes "Research investment into developing smaller and cheaper chips to process information in disposable health tests has been significant, but they were still reliant on an external power source. The researchers at Singapore's Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology think they have overcome this problem with their latest urine powered battery. From the article "The battery is composed of paper, soaked in copper chloride, sandwiched between layers of magnesium and copper. The whole thing, once laminated in plastic, is just a millimeter thick, and 6cm by 3cm in size." The breakthrough promises a cheap and disposable power source for home health tests."
Is it powered by urine? (Score:3, Interesting)
Prior art (Score:5, Interesting)
It's all just for our convenience... (Score:2, Interesting)
End of sentence missing (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Why don't we have hand cranks? (Score:3, Interesting)
Actually I always thought hand cranks were very convenient. Never had a Model T, mostly tractors or stationary engines. You are correct that they can be dangerous, but that has very little to do with convenience. There are many things that are convenient, but not safe.
Regardless, seems to me it wouldn't be hard to engineer a hand crank that is a little safer than the one on the old Model Ts. Something with a one-way clutch that can't pop back and hurt you. Maybe with a gear reduction so it's easier to turn. Many of the engines in modern cars are smaller than the old Model T engines and probably turn easier, so a crank could be a viable option.
I'll wait ... (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Is it powered by urine? (Score:1, Interesting)
It can be done. (Score:2, Interesting)
That's with NO special tools. If there was a crank system designed into the car, efficiency would increase so much (you also wouldn't have to remount the alternator) that you could get the car started with 10-15 minutes of cranking (and one hell of a tired arm).
The biggest problem with the ad-hoc system is that modern alternators require a starting voltage across their inner coil in order to BEGIN charging (again I won't explain here), and without a special system, you would be relying on residual battery voltage for the alternator start-up. If it was planned for, the crank would start by juicing the inner coil, then transition to spinning the alternator once the coil is charged and feeding back into the car's battery.
With all due respect, not knowing the solution does not mean there is no solution.
Re:Perfect for PeeDAs? (Score:3, Interesting)
Hmmm, dunno about the chemistry on that one, but I do know a bit about urine. pH is around 5 but varies greatly. It contains:
Water (obviously)
urea (not an electrolyte - (NH2)2-C=O )
electrolytes including potassium, bicarbonate, chloride, ammonium, calcium, a bit of sodium (if your kidney is working right, otherwise a lot of sodium), and traces of everything else.
I wonder how the battery actually works. Any chemist figured this one out?