As Train Runs On The Track, Ample Power Does Its Throbbing Pack!

Stony Brook University scientists were nationally awarded previously this month at Energy Harvesting and Storage USA 2012 conference for their Mechanical Motion Rectifier (MMR)-based Railroad Energy Harvester: a device that yields 200 Watts of electricity from the railroad track vibrations, and which shall substantially hash out railroad energy investments and do away with most of the carbon emissions.
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With US boasting the longest rail network in the world, and quite a lot of these lie in remote areas with irregular power supply to signals, cross gates and railway switches. With the Railroad Energy Harvester, the non-uniform vibrations will be converted to uniform unidirectional motion by employing two one-way clutches, which would be then yielded as electricity. The process resembles the working of an electric voltage rectifier that converts AC to DC. This breakthrough saves $10mn in New York power costs alone, while carbon dioxide emissions will reduce by a substantial 3k tons per annum.