Possible invention...whatcha think?

I don't think it would give off much heat after about 10 hours of not running. Otherwise might be a could idea.

Getting warm in a cold truck has many options. Alot of the trucks have webasto heaters. Drivers can get the battery operated blankets. Warmer sleeping bags.

But dealing with the heat creates more problems. It is harder to get cooler. The body can only take so much heat.

 

Heres the idea- do with it what you will or can. The country has all these wheels turning day and night 365 day a year. Trucks, Trains, 4 wheelers, ect. they have all expended energy for various reasons, and the energy is only used to get from point A to point B. why not put that movement to good use by generating electricity and feeding it into the grid. I can think of several ways this could happen. the extra energy electricity could be used so many different ways and possibly be the answer to america's energy problem that is looming in the very near future. I'm not talking about generators on each vehicle I'm talking about the movement over roads and rails that would create the electricity.

 

Levi, you're falling into the perpetual motion trap, it takes energy to make energy.

If we found a way to create a magnetic field on the underside of vehicle, with no weight increase or power need, it would still take additional power to move the vehicle across the coils to generate electricity. This is because as you move your magnetic field across the coils and generate a current in them, that current creates its own magnetic field which resists the movement of your field. This is why a DC motor will only spin to a certain rpm; the back emf balances the power the motor creates. (It's also why electric motors have their torque peak at 0 rpm.) Watch this: Eddy currents.

Since power plants are far more efficient at converting heat to electricity than internal combustion engines, it makes little sense to pursue this path on a broad scale. There are, however, places where vehicle motion is converted to electricity quite effectively. The more advanced hybrid cars switch their electric motors to generators, and uses them for braking force as much as possible, while the generated current recharges their batteries. The latest electric locomotives do the same, feeding the power back into the catenary. Diesel-electric locomotives feed the current into a heating grid, and dump the energy as heat, but efforts are underway to store this energy in a hybrid-type system. But notice all these systems merely recapture braking energy that would otherwise be shed as heat, and aren't used for 'free' power generation.

 

Too complicated, plus, having to connect and disconnect everytime, an APU works much better, after the initial cost of one, they don't cost much to operate.

 

Not exactly what the OP was thinking of, but still an idle-reduction solution using reefers--Reefer Link:
http://idlefreesystems.com/no-idle-elimination-solutions-for-reefers-and-refrigerated-trailers.html

And as for regaining some of the lost energy of vehicle operation, Formula One has been using a Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) for a couple of seasons. I think this is something that could have commercial application down the road. KERS explanation:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinetic_Energy_Recovery_Systems

 

Thanks Hammer, but Your talking about one vehicle creating alot of power and I was thinking alot of vehicles creating a small amount of power! [ not perpetual motion ] the magnetic plates could be placed in our highway system and rail system and many vehicles could cross over them, each only creating a very small electrical charge [ many small = one large ] whereby the individual vehicle would not even be aware that it happened. also it could be done in several different ways with the outcome the same. I first learned about eddy current while in the Navy, interesting little buggers! I will watch the link you suggested.

 

I can't even begin to imagine the cost to implement such an idea.

 

Well, if you think you have an actual invention here, try to get it past the US Patent and Trademark Office - they will let you know if it is an actual novel invention. I used to work for the Patent Office and one of their big No-Nos is that an invention cannot be a perpetual motion machine which I think this might fall under. Go to the following link for more information: http://www.uspto.gov/

I am not sure if Patent applications can still be done pro se (meaning without a lawyer's assistance) but if that is not possible I do know the name of a Patent law firm that caters to the "Small Entity" inventor (meaning an individual inventor, a small business concern or a nonprofit organization) - the fees charged by the Patent office are reduced for a Small Entity.

 

Good idea...but what happens when Gramdma and Grandpa drive cross country with their pacemakers.

I love the thought...may be 30 years in the making though.

 

THINK LARGE!! But then again, think about how we got to where we are, and the cost so far!