Electrical Power Generation Systems, Including Human Ones

A Technical Research Paper

Noah Vawter * MIT Media Lab * 11/2008-12/2008

Outline

I. Industries and Professions Who Studied Human Power in the Past

A. Introduction

B. How others wrote about it.

II. A Focus on Current Energy Production Systems.

A. Efficiencies currently offered by wind/wave/tide and other mechanical systems
B. What is the efficiency of these systems in comparison to current systems?
C. Why are they so far?

Appendix: A Chart of Existing Hand-Powered Machines

Introduction

As the product literature of one generator company points out: "Although power output and
generation efficiency are very low, useful power often may be obtained where a source of heat is
available." This statement is intriguing because it packs many ideas together and suggests a
space where electricity is desirable, yet the conventional power grid is insufficient. The first half
of this paper examines this statement through the history of human electrical power development

It also poses questions of quantitative nature – how low is “very low” ? - and questions of a more
subjective nature – when does power become useful and who makes such determinations? In
order to answer these questions, it is useful to pay attention to who is paying attention.

For example, it is well known that the military explores human capabilities. One interesting result
has been the publication of a paper called “Human-Powered Helicopter: A Program for Design and
Construction” by Scott A. Bruce. He concludes in his design that it would require about 1.3 hp in
order to hover at a height of 3m using ground effect. The entire paper can be read at
http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA246821.

Sports Medicine is another industry with a vested interest in understanding the power output of
the human body. In the International Journal of Sports Medicine, the article “Human power
output and muscle fatigue” by AJ Sargeant [ 1: Int J Sports Med. 1994 Apr;15(3):116-21.] has
references “to studies using an isokinetic cycle ergometer by which the global power/velocity
relationship for the leg extensor muscles can be determined.”

One of the often-referenced studies is by MIT Professor David Gordon Wilson entitled Bicycle
Science. In addition to a history of bicycle designs, the book gives estimates for human pedaling
at around 100W to 1500W ranging from unconditioned to marathon-class athletes. It also
estimates the power contribution from the arms at between 10W and 20W each. These numbers
will be useful in preparing models of electromagnetic generators.

Of particular interest to musical instrument designers is the following paper: “Human Power
Output” - C. T. M. DAVIES & R. RENNIE - Nature 217, 770 - 771 (24 February 1968); doi:
10.1038/217770a0. It presents, for the first time, “measurements of the power output of the
body during a single movement lasting one-tenth of a second or less.”

Beyond the wide horizon of technical innovations, others are studying human experiences of
electricity. For example, Bernard C. Beaudreau has published “The impact of electric power on
productivity : A study of US manufacturing 1950–1984.” The rise of electric power is the decline
of human power.

Further suggesting a type of borderland experience in the landscape, writer John Stilgoe colorfully
describes the transition from hand-powered farm equipment to steam generation plants in early
20th century America in Borderland (Yale University Press, 1990). In Stilgoe's writings,
borderlands and suburbs take on a fertile character as he writes about riding electric streetcars
through patches of weeds in the spring.
Origins of Electrical Power Plants
This portion of the paper focuses on the origins of electrical power plants from a number of
sources. It is an attempt to contrast the activities of power generation, power plant design and
transportation with the facility of electrical consumption. It is intended as a reference in the
larger picture of interrogating the benefits and assumptions of contemporary electrical power
availability.

Perhaps it is a sign of a fait accomplit in its design. Plugging appliances into wall outlets presents
electricity as an unlimited resource: silent and intangible. There are interruptions to the service
which may be considered Brechtian in nature. During brownouts, many people get to experience
eating dinner by candlelight. These experiences remind us that we can survive without electricity.
Batteries should also be mentioned as part of the end user's experience of electricity, yet as non-
moving commodities, they share many characteristics of AC power outlets. Still, batteries have a
lifespan, one which is indetectable to the naked eye.

As described in the introduction, access to electricity is not universal at this time. It has followed
a rather simple trajectory.

Developing Access to Electricity

The International Energy Agency (IEA), founded during the oil crisis of 1973-74, is an
intergovernmental organisation comprised of mainly European countries in addition to the United
States, Korea, and Japan. Their organization estimates that as of 2005, approximately three-
quarters of the Earth's population (4.8 billion of 6.4 billion people) has access to electricity:

"Some 1.6 billion people, about one quarter of the world's population,
have no access to electricity today. Eighty percent of these people
live in rural areas of the developing world, mainly in South Asia and
sub-Saharan Africa where rapid urban migration and population
growth
will occur over the next
several decades."
Source: IEA, "The Developing World and the Electricity Challenge,"
Jan. 2005,
http://www.iea.org/Textbase/work/2005/poverty/blurb.pdf
.

Similarly, the Greenpeace organization estimates about 4.4 billion have access to electricity:

Source: Greenpeace, "Solar Generation: electricity for over 1 billion

people and 2 million jobs by 2020,"
http://www.greenpeace.org/~climate/climatecountdown/solargeneration/solargenbac
k.pdf.

However, sources of electricity are often physically located far from where it is consumed. Electric
power lines are able to transport power cross-continentally. This enables a large degree of
abstraction when designing electrical systems. Since the adoption of the 60 Hz, 120 VAC standard
after World War II, [ Thomas P. Hughes, Networks of Power: Electrification in Western Society
1880-1930, The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore 1983 ISBN 0-8018-2873-2 pgs.
282-283] engineers can simply specify and design electrical appliances with little or no regard for
their relation to the source of their power during operation. With the proper design, an electric
home clothes washing machine will work just as well plugged into an outlet with power originating
from 150 startled cats scrabbling on a treadmill as it more commonly does attached to an
international modular grid bearing energy contributions from a variety of sources including
renewable and non-renewable energy.

Other Experiences of the Development of Electricity

Numbers may serve as inferior reflections of magnitude, but in order to provide the consistent
illusion of standardized electricity, "there are more than 500,000 miles of high–voltage
transmission lines in the U.S. and many hundreds of thousands more miles of distribution lines
that carry electricity to our
homes." [http://www.centralhudson.com/kids/electric/html/teachers2.html#q5] The distribution
lines (known commonly as telephone poles) in residential areas have been a recurring source of
controversy in regards to their visual appearance. References to protesting artworks include Poles,
by Frank Breuer, or Complete Crumb Comics, from which the picture below is reproduced:
Invention of Early Electrical Generators
Several key milestones in the development of electrical power are outlined here. A nicely detailed
sketch of the history of electrical science is available at
[ http://history.hyperjeff.net/electromagnetism ]. This section gives key highlights in the history
of the development of electrical generators.

Otto von Guericke is credited with building the first electrical machine in 1660, a rotating frictional
generator, [ Lindberg, David C, (ed.) Science in the Middle Ages, 1978 ]. This invention, pictured
below, was an electrostatic generator. This form of electricity precedes electromagnetic energy,
which dominates today.

The landscape for today's electricity usage practices bloomed from 1831 to 1846 with theoretical
and experimental work from Faraday, Weber and Gauss in the relationship of current, magnetic
fields and force. These theories enabled the design modern motors and generators. From 1880 to
1900, there was a period of rapid development in electrical machines.

Another key development point was the development of a 5KW steam generator in 1903. The
steam turbine generator invented by Charles G. Curtis and developed into a practical steam
turbine by William Le Roy Emmet is a significant advance in the capacity of steam turbines.
Requiring one-tenth the space and weighing one-eighth as much as reciprocating engines of
comparable output, it generates 5,000 kilowatts and is the most powerful plant in the world.
[ National Academy of Engineering http://www.greatachievements.org/?id=2992 ]

The Curtis and Emmet steam turbine generator is the first in a series of milestones in the
deployment of electrical generators. Further milestones in the devlopment are summarized in
[ http://www.greatachievements.org/?id=2971 ]. By 1920, Edgar Station, a steam power plant
owned by the Boston Edison company, and located in Weymouth, Massachusetts was in reliable
operation, and technical innovations continued, to the point where efficiency and power output
began to become quantiative values:

At a time when the common rate of power generation by

steam pressure was 1 kilowatt hour per 5 to 10 pounds of coal,
the Edgar Station—operating a boiler and turbine unit at 1,200
pounds of steam pressure-generated electricity at the rate of 1
kilowatt-hour per 1 pound of coal. [ National Academy of
Engineering http://www.greatachievements.org/?id=2971 ].
II. Focusing on Current Energy Production Systems

Efficiencies currently offered by wind/wave/tide and other

mechanical systems
This section surveys a variety of current energy production systems. It seeks to document
briefly how the technologies work and what their efficiencies are. The results are summarized in
the following table:

Technology Efficiency
Thermoelectric Generator 2.97%
Coal/Oil 30% (system eff. 1.3%)
Tidal 80%
Solar 40.8%
Wind Power 40%
Steam Turbine 20%-90%
Electrostatic (Joule Thief) 70%
Tesla Turbine 41%-70%

1. Wind Power - Electric

If the machine is an Induction generator, then it will be brought to

near synch speed by its prime mover before being connected to the
grid. Then it will be driven past its synch speed to generate. If the
rotor is connected to the grid, then this is an induction motor with a
wound rotor. The rotor circuit is connected to the grid thru an ac- dc-
ac inverter so that the frequency of the rotor voltage can be matched
to the grid frequency. When the motor is initially connected to the grid,
it will draw stator power from the grid if it is below synch speed. the
rotor will only be connected after initial energization of the stator.
[http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?
qid=20080301190303AATGZz5 ]

A control strategy that provides a doubly-fed induction generator

(DFIG)-based wind farm with the capability to provide short-term
frequency regulation is investigated. The controller manipulates
dynamically the position of the DFIG rotor flux vector to slow down the
generator allowing for a temporary surge in the power output, which
helps to reduce the frequency drop following the transient period after
the loss of network generation. A generic network that combines
synchronous and wind-farm generation has been modelled and used
for control system design and dynamic assessment. Studies are
conducted for the DFIG operating at different speed and power output
 conditions. Simulation results are described which illustrate the
contributions to frequency support of DFIG-based wind farms
controlled with the proposed strategy. Machine data and control
parameters are provided.[
http://scitation.aip.org/getabs/servlet/GetabsServlet?
prog=normal&id=IGTDE2000153000002000164000001&idtype=cvips
&gifs=yes ]

http://cleantechnica.com/2008/11/07/laser-sensor-boosts-wind-
turbine-efficiency/

Steam Turbine

An ideal steam turbine is considered to be an isentropic process, or constant entropy process, in

which the entropy of the steam entering the turbine is equal to the entropy of the steam leaving
the turbine. No steam turbine is truly “isentropic”, however, with typical isentropic efficiencies
ranging from 20%-90% based on the application of the turbine. A steam turbine is only efficient
when operating in the thousands of RPM range.
[ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_turbine ]

Electromagnetic - Wound Rotor Induction Generators (WRIG)

2.5MW design: "neglecting mechanical losses, electrical efficiency nu_e is: 0.9616"

Design Factors are as follows:

-Stator (core) design
-Rotor (core) design
-Stator windings design
-Rotor windings design
-Magnetization current computation
-Equivalent circuit parameters computation
-Loss and efficiency computation
[Boldea, I., 2006. Variable Speed Generators. Taylor and Francis Group. 3-2 - 3-21]

0. b. Claw-Pole-Rotor (Lundell) Generator Systems (DC excitation coils)

5kW, 18000RPM

three-phase generator with full diode rectification.

"Its main demerit is the rather large losses (low efficiency), around 50% at full power and high
speed." [ Boldea, 6-16 ]

"Currently, Lundell generators are designed for low volume and costs at the penalty of down to
50%
efficiency at full power. Bold steps in design are required to keep the existing power/volume
while
increasing the efficiency at moderate cost increases."

see [2,3] for mechanical and thermal losses:

2: E. Levi, Poliphase Motors - A Direct Approach to Their Design, Wiley Interscience, New York,
1985
3: K. Vogt, Electrical Machines: Design of Rotary Machines, 4th Ed. VEB Verlag, Berlin 1988

Permanent-Magnet-Assisted Reluctance Synchronous

Starter/Alternators
"The permanent-magnet-assisted reluctance synchronous machine (PM-RSM), also called the
interior permanent magnet (IPM) synchronous machine, with high magnetic saliency was proven
to be competitive, price-wise and superior in terms of total losses for starter/alternator
automobile applications where a large constant power speed range w_max/w_b > 3 to 4 is
required."

[ ... ]

"It was also demonstrated that PM-RSM is capable of a notably larger constant power speed
range than the surface PM syncrhonous, or the induction, or the switched reluctance machine of
the same volume."

"The larger w_max/w_b is, the smaller the PM contribution to torque."

peak power at 2250 RPM.

[ Boldea 8-1 - 8-2 ]

System efficiency at full load and 1500 RPM: 75% [ Boldea 8-27 ]
Tidal Power

For tidal energy to be possible there needs to be about a 7-meter differential between low tides
and high tides to produce a sufficient amount of flow to produce energy when using the barrage
process.

Main type is barrage. There are only three of them in existence today.

Therefore more energy can be produced from the same amount of inputs (Brown, 1997).
Brown, Phillip. ÒTidal Energy.Ó University of Wisconsin. 1997. viewed 05/14/04.
http://www.geology.wisc.edu/~pbrown/g410/tidal/tidal.html.

http://jrscience.wcp.muohio.edu/fieldcourses04/PapersMarineEcologyArticles/FinalPaperonTheProc
essofM.html

Wave Power
There are many mechanisms for extracting power from waves. A good survey is at
[ http://apps1.eere.energy.gov/consumer/renewable_energy/ocean/index.cfm/mytopic=50009 ]
, however it does not list efficiencies for each of the devices. Instead, statistics relating to
available power are supplied:

Wave power devices extract energy directly from surface waves or from pressure
fluctuations below the surface. Renewable energy analysts believe there is enough
energy in the ocean waves to provide up to 2 terawatts of electricity. (A terawatt is
equal to a trillion watts.)Wave power can't be harnessed everywhere. Wave-power rich
areas of the world include the western coasts of Scotland, northern Canada, southern
Africa, Australia, and the northeastern and northwestern coasts of the United States. In
the Pacific Northwest alone, it's feasible that wave energy could produce 40–70
kilowatts (kW) per meter (3.3 feet) of western coastline. The West Coast of the United
States is more than a 1,000 miles long.
[ http://apps1.eere.energy.gov/consumer/renewable_energy/ocean/index.cfm/mytopi
c=50009
Nanotechnology - Breast-Powered

A June 2008 Salon.com article [ http://www.slate.com/id/2193827/ ] describes the development

of a nanowire fabric which can generate electricity from the movement of the wearer's bra. The
developer claims that “A square meter of fiber produces about 80 milliwatts of power.”
Other Types of Power Generation

Solar Power
Solar Cell Sets World Efficiency Record At 40.8 Percent ScienceDaily (Sep. 30, 2008)
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080929220900.htm

Thermoelectric

Thermoelectric generators operate on principals observed independently by Seebeck, Peltier

and Thomson in the early 19th century. The following paragraph, from a manufacturer of
commodity thermoelectric devices, illustrates how they work and how they're used:
Thermoelectric modules can be used to convert heat energy to electricity. Using a
principle known as "the Seebeck Effect" a temperature differential between the two sides
of a thermoelectric module, electricity can be generated. Because this type of system
depends upon a consistent temperature differential to provide electricity, the modules
are often combined with a known heat source such as natural gas or propoane for
remote power generation or waste heat recovery. They are often used in remote
locations where power is required but solar energy is unreliable or insufficient, such as
offshore engineering, oil pipelines, remote telemetry and data collection.
[ http://www.ferrotec.com/products/thermal/powerGen/ ]

The same website offers some valuable information in the form of diagrams and
example calculations on the physics of thermoelectric generators. It states the
efficiency of the devices at 2.9%, using bismuth-telluride semiconductor junction
technology.

This diagram depicts how an electrical charge develops perpendicular to a temperature differential in selected materials.
II. Efficiency of Exertion Instruments

Introduction

Prior to this investigation of electrical power systems, some experimental work designing a
generator toolkit for portable electronic instruments was done in the Media Lab in the years
2007-2008. This section briefly introduces that work and analyzes its electrical efficiency using
scientific models for generator design.

Model

The prototypical Electric Exertion Instrument (EEI) is assembled from five key modules. Each
one can be varied independently of the others:

1. Prime Mover - The human power input to the system is applied here. This is
the mass which must be moved in order to create a fluctuating electrical
field. It includes the mass of any user interface such as a crank or gears as
well as a generator's rotor or armature.
2. Generator - This is the part of the instrument which converts torque into
electrical current. It may be as simple as a stepper or DC motor.
3. Synthesizer - This part of the instrument converts fluctuating currents from
the generator into the desired signals to listen to. For example, it may be an
analog oscillator, a microcontroller, a turntable or a sampler, etc.
4. Amplifer - This part of the circuit amplifies the small signal current from
synthesizer into a higher power signal for driving a speaker.
5. Speaker/Enclosure/Body - Although the signal from the amplifier may be
deterministic, the speaker, its enclosure, and body of the instrument can
have a considerable effect on the quality and volume of the audible sound.
Schematic of Practical Electronic Exertion Instrument

Measurements
The output at the speaker was measured with a sound level meter in C weight at a distance of
1m. The sound's volume varied with the signal synthesized. Maximum values were observed in
the 90-96 dB range.
Optimizing the EEI model

Prime Mover

It was surprising in initial trials how extremely important the weight of the prime mover is. For
maximum efficiency, its acceleration with respect to force (e.g. moment or angular momentum)
must be tuned to the movement of the human. Additionally, the physical path through which it
travels must reflect the capabilities of the human muscles driving it.

Additionally, the use of a stepper motor with ceramic magnets instead of neodymium accounts for
a good deal of loss early in the chain of power delivery.

Generator

As with standard electrical generator designs, the rate of movement, such as angular
velocity or speed of the prime mover is a key design parameter. Electrical windmill technology
provides many mathematical and architectural techniques for working with generators of variable
speed. For a reference, please see Boldea, Ion, Variable Speed Generators. Another
consideration is that in general, coils in electromagnetic generators function as inductances.

Synthesizer

A noticeable problem with the perception of the sound emitted by the current instrument is its
lack of dynamic range. This is mainly due to the minimum velocity required of the prime mover
before the synthesizer microcontroller is activated. It would sound much smoother and feel more
responsive if the circuit described on the next page were used as a replacement voltage regulator.
The circuit, originally designed for use with low-powered single photovoltaic cells, will enable the
microcontroller to generate signals when the RPMs of the prime mover are approximately 1/6th as
low as they currently are. This would potentially increase the dynamic range from about 12dB to
about 34dB.
Audio Amplifier

Currently, the most efficient amplifiers available for purchase are of class D and class T
technology. Both are based on circuits which utilize microcircuits to multiplex complex power
signals, such as PWM and other modulation schemes, into the speaker element in order to operate
their circuit elements as close to their most efficient ranges as possible. Classes G and H, in
which the power supplies are modulated are more complex to design, but are theoretically more
efficient.

The present circuit is optimized for the minimum number of components. An optimal design
would use hybrid regeneration techniques borrowed from the transportation industry, but this has
not been invented yet.

Loudspeaker

Woofer - The most efficient loudspeakers available today employ nickel-coated sintered
neodymium magnets in place of the previous generation's ceramic magnets.

Tweeter - Carbon nanotube speakers may be more efficient than neodymium speakers at
higher frequencies. They are not yet generally available, but a recent paper from a research
group at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China gives useful technical measurements :
[ http://www.physorg.com/news144939492.html ]

Cabinet

Traditional acoustic instruments are only useful within a limited musical range. This is due to their
physical construction, including resonances and size. Some instruments, such as whistles and
flutes, have exceptionally narrow resonances, allowing them to sound very loud. Instead of
attemping to reproduce all audible frequencies at even power levels, an optimal cabinet would
resonate over a 3-4 octave range, in order to achieve maximum volume. Additionally, ported
speaker enclosures are more efficient than non-vented ones.
Appendix - A Multidimensional Sortable Chart of
Hand-Powered Electrical Machines
This section casts a wide net to create a taxonomy of electrical and mechanical generators, tools,
toys, appliances, etc. An interactive version allows machines to be compared to each other. It
can be found online at:

http://handpowered.dabbledb.com/publish/handpowered

Alternatively, a static version may be found at:

http://web.media.mit.edu/~nvawter/projects/ExertionInstruments/technicalPaper/handpoweredD
atabase.pdf