Can we convert sound energy into electrical energy?

viky23
Member • Jan 3, 2011

Can we convert sound energy into electrical energy?

hello everyone
ths is my first thread...i have read some posts on this topic and have seen that the sound energy cannot be converted with efficiency into electrical energy....but what if the intensity of the sound is high and if they are continuosly provided??...if thats possible ll i get some gain in this type of conversion.. say in theatres or in stadiums???i really need some answers for this as my projest rests on this,,,

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Kaustubh Katdare

Administrator • Jan 3, 2011

viky23
hello everyone
ths is my first thread...i have read some posts on this topic and have seen that the sound energy cannot be converted with efficiency into electrical energy....but what if the intensity of the sound is high and if they are continuosly provided??...if thats possible ll i get some gain in this type of conversion.. say in theatres or in stadiums???i really need some answers for this as my projest rests on this,,,
Microphone does that already. Right? It's an acoustic-to-electric transducer.

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makru921

Member • Jan 3, 2011

As Biggie has pointed out, the microphone basically is made of a transducer to convert sound into electricity. However, to produce electricity in a large scale using sound alone would not be possible, I believe so, because the electrical energy produced would be very small.

I had read somewhere that somewhere they were able to create oscillations in liquid sodium in a tube closed at both ends using high levels of sound, and then in the presence of a magnetic field in the middle of the tube, electrical currents could be produced. But this could not be used in a large scale.

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viky23

Member • Jan 3, 2011

@makru921....what if the sound is provided constantly and can be saved in a battery...then would the electricity be enough say to light a bulb????

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viky23

Member • Jan 3, 2011

The_Big_K
Microphone does that already. Right? It's an acoustic-to-electric transducer.
A microphone converts sound energy into electrical energy alrite...but what i need to know the can the converted energy be stored in a battery and then can it be used for some other purpose??and sound which we are going to use is above the threshold of hearing about 130-150 db...Like in Airports and in industries where the sound is constant and is prolonged....When the intensity is high and is constant for a long tym means that more electricity can be created...Am i right??

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shreyasm89

Member • Jan 4, 2011

@viky- You are absolutely right when you say that sound energy can be converted into electrical energy, but I am not sure that the intensity of the sound can be maintained constant.

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star rated aku

Member • Aug 2, 2011

it can be possible to convert sound energy into electrical energy bt. this energy will be very low suppose if yu transfers 100 db sound through a device which can absorbs energy and covert it and form 10 db sound plz. give some suggestions also becaz. i am also working on this project

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PraveenKumar Purushothaman

Member • Aug 2, 2011

One best thing is that, in our places there are a lot of noise pollution caused by those political people. So, I guess there we can implement something like keeping a mic in all the loudspeakers and generate awesome power using crystals! 😀

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Maitham.k

Member • Sep 6, 2011

I think converting sound to electric energy have never thought to be used to generate electric power rather that used for specific purposes like: microphone and voice recognition systems, as examples.

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Ramani Aswath

Member • Sep 6, 2011

viky23
A microphone converts sound energy into electrical energy alrite...but what i need to know the can the converted energy be stored in a battery and then can it be used for some other purpose??and sound which we are going to use is above the threshold of hearing about 130-150 db...Like in Airports and in industries where the sound is constant and is prolonged....When the intensity is high and is constant for a long tym means that more electricity can be created...Am i right??
Many decades back a report was published in a science journal that the total sound energy output of a full time professor in a year was about 10 cents worth of electrical energy at 100% conversion.

Not very encouraging.

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Alienator

Member • Sep 7, 2011

the main thing that people look into while generating power is EFFICIENCY... 😀 i cant totally disprove your point.......but all i can say is till now there are no efficient methods adopted in this case..... if u are so much interested in this field try it out... 😀

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Rupam Das

Member • Sep 7, 2011

viky23
hello everyone
ths is my first thread...i have read some posts on this topic and have seen that the sound energy cannot be converted with efficiency into electrical energy....but what if the intensity of the sound is high and if they are continuosly provided??...if thats possible ll i get some gain in this type of conversion.. say in theatres or in stadiums???i really need some answers for this as my projest rests on this,,,
It is possible only in one place: Indian Parliament. Constant Intensity of Sound, never short of it. You can try it out over there. I am sure you will succeed.😁

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Ramani Aswath

Member • Sep 7, 2011

viky23
hello everyone
ths is my first thread...i have read some posts on this topic and have seen that the sound energy cannot be converted with efficiency into electrical energy....but what if the intensity of the sound is high and if they are continuosly provided??...if thats possible ll i get some gain in this type of conversion.. say in theatres or in stadiums???i really need some answers for this as my projest rests on this,,,
It helps in any project to do an order of magnitude calculation. The power associated with sound can be calculated from this: 10[SUP](dB/10)-16[/SUP] W/cm[SUP]2

[/SUP]If you consider a carrier jet with a dB level of 130, which is the highest normally present sound level, applying the above formula we get the power output as 10W/m[SUP]2 [/SUP], which is quite modest and will not justify the cost of harvesting it.
<a href="https://www.roymech.co.uk/Related/Physics/Physics_Sound.html" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Physics - Sound - Roymech</a>

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Sabrina Rajvansh

Member • Sep 7, 2011

When a sound signal is transmitted , it is first converted into another form of electrical signals which are then transmitted, but as such sound cannot be stored in the form of electrical energy to be utilized later on for other purposes such as lighting the bulb and so on as sound energy can not be stored as electrical energy, as such there are no devices for that but innovation is what we engineer s are good at.

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aj_onduty

Member • Sep 7, 2011

Ramani sir, I would like you to bring your attention to this one!
#-Link-Snipped-#
The link was posted by you in another discussion, if you remember. In the equipment described in the above link, the power requirement is very minute, and it takes power from stray electromagnetic waves and from miniature solar cells. What if we can use piezoelectric crystals which respond to vibrations, vibrations can be mechanical vibrations, sound waves... These crystals can harness energy from both the movement of skin or substrate and also any stray sound available!
I hope this has relevance with the topic. Please comment, not just Ramani sir, but everyone.

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Ramani Aswath

Member • Sep 8, 2011

@aj_onduty:
Good of you for some lateral thinking. While you can certainly do all that you said, as BigK posted, a microphone (a loud speaker in reverse does it better but bulkier) converts sound to electricity. There are elastic belts that can convert lung movements to small power. Good idea. Keep at it.

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aj_onduty

Member • Sep 8, 2011

bioramani
@aj_onduty:
There are elastic belts that can convert lung movements to small power. Good idea. Keep at it.
Exactly, the belt worn around the chest to count breaths! Some have piezoelectric crystals, while some work on the principle of resistivity. In the former, the belt provides power signals to the detector, while in the latter, the power is injected into the belt which is varied by the belt according to the inflation of lungs. The variation is detected by the detector.
In case of sound, the sound signals can produce a very small amount of electricity, less than that in the case with the energy which we can harness using MEMS on the human body. We talk about harnessing some kind of energy from somewhere, but in my short span of life I had till this second, I have never heard someone talking about sound energy conversion to electrical energy in a forum, or as a project. This is a nice initiative by @vicky23.
Now if we can harness the power using piezoelectric crystals, you just need to put up sheets of piezoelectric crystals on signal poles in very high density traffic areas, where people usually honk the red signal away! You can use it in sound buffering systems in large theaters and halls, where either the loudspeakers or the people will ensure a constant sound!
Stray sound is everywhere!
One problem with using piezoelectric crystals is the cost factor! For that big amount of power, no one will be interested to make such a big investment. But hey, then why are we here? Engineers can bring out a solution to this.

But I must say, if harnessed, sound energy can be converted into electrical energy, can be stored in cells, and can be used! I request humbly to one and all, please keep this thread rolling. May be, in some doodle, some words of one of us, there will lie an answer to this question.

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Iqra Rasheed

Member • Jun 3, 2012

kindly someone else has circuit diagram of voice is converted into electrical energy

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d.santosh kumar

Member • Nov 27, 2012

general diaphragms cant with stand high sounds.how we can generate high powers?

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Ramani Aswath

Member • Nov 27, 2012

Iqra Rasheed
kindly someone else has circuit diagram of voice is converted into electrical energy
Every microphone does it. You just speak into a moving coil loud speaker and check the voltage at the speaker's terminals with an oscilloscope or a sensitive AC micro voltmeter. You will see an electrical out put.

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Jeffrey Arulraj

Member • Nov 27, 2012

d.santosh kumar
general diaphragms cant with stand high sounds.how we can generate high powers?
There is some thing wrong here Buddy high Sound never heard of it. The frequency limit is available for each and every diaphragms we use some are suited for upto 10kHz you can't use them for sound manipulations. But some are designed to be used for even US having high frequency of about 1.4 MHz so they are reliable till their limit

Every device has a limit and it can't be driven beyond that

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d.santosh kumar

Member • Nov 27, 2012

sir, if u know tell me different frequency ranges for different diaphragms

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Jeffrey Arulraj

Member • Nov 27, 2012

d.santosh kumar
sir, if u know tell me different frequency ranges for different diaphragms
Just google diaphragms there are a lots of hits
Ps : Do tell your need for dia that will help us to limit our search criteria a lot

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d.santosh kumar

Member • Nov 28, 2012

i want do a small project on it. thats why iam asking

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Henri

Member • Dec 10, 2012

microphones and earphones just to mention a few are transducers where electrical energy is converted to sound and sound to electrical...so definately it is possible,,,again there can be no 100 percent conversion of forms of energy without loss

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Henri

Member • Dec 10, 2012

makru921
As Biggie has pointed out, the microphone basically is made of a transducer to convert sound into electricity. However, to produce electricity in a large scale using sound alone would not be possible, I believe so, because the electrical energy produced would be very small.

I had read somewhere that somewhere they were able to create oscillations in liquid sodium in a tube closed at both ends using high levels of sound, and then in the presence of a magnetic field in the middle of the tube, electrical currents could be produced. But this could not be used in a large scale.
makru921
As Biggie has pointed out, the microphone basically is made of a transducer to convert sound into electricity. However, to produce electricity in a large scale using sound alone would not be possible, I believe so, because the electrical energy produced would be very small.

I had read somewhere that somewhere they were able to create oscillations in liquid sodium in a tube closed at both ends using high levels of sound, and then in the presence of a magnetic field in the middle of the tube, electrical currents could be produced. But this could not be used in a large scale.
makru.exactly where did u read that..it sounds interesting i would like to check it out

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Ramani Aswath

Member • Dec 10, 2012

makru921
I had read somewhere that somewhere they were able to create oscillations in liquid sodium in a tube closed at both ends using high levels of sound, and then in the presence of a magnetic field in the middle of the tube, electrical currents could be produced. But this could not be used in a large scale.
That is a consequence of magneto hydro dynamics. In nuclear plants this process is used to pump liquid sodium to extract heat from the reactor.

Some basics are here:
#-Link-Snipped-#

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ABCD ABCD

Member • Dec 10, 2012

A project on this would be very interesting. But i'm not certain about the amount of energy you receive from the project. At most you could just run a clock. BTW, some wrist watches(HMT) store the vibrational energy in a spring and release it to keep the watch going. See if you can use that, for your project.

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Mortane

Member • Jan 27, 2013

bioramani
Every microphone does it. You just speak into a moving coil loud speaker and check the voltage at the #-Link-Snipped-# speaker's terminals with an oscilloscope or a sensitive AC micro voltmeter. You will see an electrical out put.
But how can we use this electrical output. Is there any application?

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Jeffrey Arulraj

Member • Jan 29, 2013

How do you think does Public announce system works Friend it manipulates the electric energy produced by the speaker

Mortane
But how can we use this electrical output. Is there any application?

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Ramani Aswath

Member • Jan 29, 2013

d.santosh kumar
i want do a small project on it. thats why iam asking
Take any speaker from a defunct radio set (4" will do nicely). Or buy a new one. Connect a sensitive digital multimeter to its terminals. Speak into the speaker. The meter will show a voltage. Keep it near any other sound source if you are the strong silent type.

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Motheeswaran

Member • Aug 26, 2013

How to sound & noise energy converted in to electricity and how can it stored ?....

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Jeffrey Arulraj

Member • Aug 26, 2013

Motheeswaran
How to sound & noise energy converted in to electricity and how can it stored ?....
Well we have transducers in the form of Microphones that will be the best instrument to convert sound into voltage

And use some software to store the audio signal in the format you need use software like Audition to record your voltage form of sound

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Motheeswaran

Member • Aug 27, 2013

what software use ?

Conqueror
Well we have transducers in the form of Microphones that will be the best instrument to convert sound into voltage

And use some software to store the audio signal in the format you need use software like Audition to record your voltage form of sound
What Software use ?

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Motheeswaran

Member • Aug 27, 2013

Motheeswaran
what software use ?

What Software use ?

bt i neen for ans is 1st of al sound energy convert in to elecricity ?

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Motheeswaran

Member • Aug 27, 2013

Conqueror
Well we have transducers in the form of Microphones that will be the best instrument to convert sound into voltage

And use some software to store the audio signal in the format you need use software like Audition to record your voltage form of sound
bt i neen for ans is 1st of al sound energy convert in to elecricity ?

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Jeffrey Arulraj

Member • Aug 27, 2013

Motheeswaran
bt i neen for ans is 1st of al sound energy convert in to elecricity ?
Yes Sound energy can be converted into electricity.

PS: Do you know about microphone?

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Shashanki

Member • Jul 11, 2016

What will be the best way to convert sound energy into electrical energy?

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Stephen B Johnson

Member • Aug 6, 2016

Any form of energy can convert into a different form of energy. It's the efficiency of the transfer that varies.

Light to heat or vice versa is relatively efficient.
Sound to heat would not be efficient.
Sound to emf would not be efficient.

Microphones convert sound to electrical signals, but it goes into an amplifier.

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