Dynamic cell phone charger

[silverscorpion]

Hi all,
Cell phone batteries can be a curse at times. Just when you need to use your cell phone most, your battery will definitely die. Stranded in the middle of the desert with an empty tank of gas or a flat tire is no one's idea of a wonderful situation.
I've been the victim of this situation so many times. I've been thinking of a solution to this. I can't find an ideal solution. But still, I managed get a link about the same in the net. it is...

http://crave.cnet.com/8301-1_105-9681394-1.html


While this is not the ideal solution, it's indeed a good one. But i want something that's more solid...
Can you design a mechanism by which cell phones keep charging themselves while on the go and when not in use ? ie, I'm not looking for a portable charger. It should be capable of dyamically delivering power to the phone whan required...

[The_Big_K]

Originally Posted by silverscorpion

Hi all,
Cell phone batteries can be a curse at times. Just when you need to use your cell phone most, your battery will definitely die. Stranded in the middle of the desert with an empty tank of gas or a flat tire is no one's idea of a wonderful situation.
I've been the victim of this situation so many times. I've been thinking of a solution to this. I can't find an ideal solution. But still, I managed get a link about the same in the net. it is...

http://crave.cnet.com/8301-1_105-9681394-1.html


While this is not the ideal solution, it's indeed a good one. But i want something that's more solid...
Can you design a mechanism by which cell phones keep charging themselves while on the go and when not in use ? ie, I'm not looking for a portable charger. It should be capable of dyamically delivering power to the phone whan required...

Silver, I did not get the "Dynamically Power Delivery" part. Could you please talk a bit more about it?

Probably, a solar powered Cell Phone can be a solution to this. But I think it would be bigger in size & little bulkier ( true? ).

-The Big K-

[silverscorpion]

hi biggie,
of course a solar powered cell phone would solve all the problems, but that would require restructuring the whole cell phone industry with new technologies. What would happen to the existing phones? But solar power can be used in a fruitful way too...

Silver, I did not get the "Dynamically Power Delivery" part. Could you please talk a bit more about it?

What i meant was, when the phone goes low on power, we plug the charger in and charge it. But i want a mechanism by which, when the phone is in need of power, it will charge by itself, ie, it'll take the power required from some source. We've to design a source such that it must be capable of delivering power as and when required...

One such model which a was able to think about goes like this... We all use purses or holders for mobile phones, these can be plugged to our belts or pants, or can be worn. We can attach solar cells to these holders and provide contacts for the phone to charge. So, the solar cells charge up and when the phone inside needs power, they can readily supply. What say?

Can you think of any other good solution that can be implemented more easily?? storm your brains...

[thomasz]

all you guys are thinking way to much over such a simple solution. just bring an extra battery with you. so simple. no company is going to invest in solar powered cell phones because the market is just not there. you can't just simply create something and then go find a problem. You have to find a problem first then solve.

[crook]

Originally Posted by thomasz

all you guys are thinking way to much over such a simple solution. just bring an extra battery with you. so simple. no company is going to invest in solar powered cell phones because the market is just not there. you can't just simply create something and then go find a problem. You have to find a problem first then solve.

Solar powered cell phones would be a good solution. I think there will be lots of buyers since you won't have to carry the charger around and the cell phone will charge itself.

[silverscorpion]

Hey thomas,

all you guys are thinking way to much over such a simple solution. just bring an extra battery with you. so simple. no company is going to invest in solar powered cell phones because the market is just not there. you can't just simply create something and then go find a problem. You have to find a problem first then solve.

I'm not talking about solar powered cell phones and it's not a very great idea to carry an extra battery with you too. I'm talking about automating the cell phone charging system, so that it can charge itself when needed. Hope i'm clear now.

I've suggested the use of solar cells in cell phone holdrers and purses. I don't suggest solar powered cell phones thereby entirely changing the technology used in the manufacture.

[shyamcn10]

u know seeing the enthusiasm of u guys has also set me thinkin. my idea is to use the network in itself.
u see we wont be in need of using the phoine where there is no coverage right? so why not design a s/m in which the strength of the signal actually contributes the power of ur battery.
a very crude model would be like this.dunno at all whether it is feasible coz i'm typin as soon as i'm thinkin!

we know that a piezoelectric material can produce a potential difference when subjected to pressure points on 2 opposite surfaces.so suppose that the material is such that it is responsive to microwave radiation in the range of that used by the mobile operator.adjust the length of the piezo material so that its naturalk frequency coincides with the b/w by means of a variable length attenuator.the p.d. b/w opposite faces can be used to charge a small low capacity rechargeable battery or directly fed to the battery being used.

a potential problem to this is generating a substantial p.d. in a material that is responsive as well as accomodative inside a set or is easily attached to the chassis of the handset. also the problem of overcharging or constant charging is also there.over charging might be prevented by a control that detects the present level of charge in the battery and switches on or off sort of like an AGC.

i think this method would eliminate the bulkiness associated with the solar charger though that is also 1 of the 1st solutions that came to my mind.
anyways i'll keep thinkin of other possible solutions.

please correct if any glaring mistakes are evident and feasibility of proposed solution. always open to comments..

please read my plea for help in the seminars section!!!

keep bringing up such good topics please!!

cheers!

[shyamcn10]

let me also mention that transmission of DC power through microwaves is also possible and not without any proof. a satellite tXn s/m was proposed for tXn of solar energy from solar cells on board satellites to earth.

[xheavenlyx]

@shyamcn10: You are right about the DC transmission from satellites however, the rate at which it would charge the phone would be too little for the effect to be noticeable.

we know that a piezoelectric material can produce a potential difference when subjected to pressure points on 2 opposite surfaces.so suppose that the material is such that it is responsive to microwave radiation in the range of that used by the mobile operator.adjust the length of the piezo material so that its naturalk frequency coincides with the b/w by means of a variable length attenuator.the p.d. b/w opposite faces can be used to charge a small low capacity rechargeable battery or directly fed to the battery being used.

Dont you think the amount it would charge will be very less? compared to the drainage? Some of my mates in college were talking about this. Creating energy through sound, like a mic, but these systems have been tested, and they provide little power, maybe enough for a PIC microcontroller, but not a mobile phone.

@silverscorpion The only thing at present that at most interests me is a portable 4 AA batery USB charger by Lady Ada. It's a small project/DIY device:

Minty Boost! - USB charger for your gadgets

Very handy at difficult times and the life of this is pretty long for emergency use. Maybe about 1.5 years too. (NOTE that 9V batteries provide same amount of power but for lesser duration then that of 1.5Vx4 (6V) AA batteries.)