美国研究人员尝试从微风中获取能源（在线收听）

美国研究人员尝试从微风中获取能源

Solar chargers are effective only when the sunlight is relatively strong,but researchers at the Construction Engineering Research Laboratory in Illinois turned to the wind as another natural source of power often present in open spaces.

只有太阳光比较强时太阳能充电器才会有效，但伊利诺伊州建筑工程研究实验室的研究人员将自然界最为常见的风转化为另一种天然能源。

Four months of constant measuring in an open field showed that during evening hours 70 percent of average wind speed was less than or equal to three meters per second too slow for a wind turbine, but enough to make a light strip of fabric flutter.

研究人员们在一个开放场地4个月的恒定测量结果显示，晚间70％的平均风速小于或等于每秒3米，这样的速度对于风力涡轮机而言太慢，但足以使轻的布条振动。

“What has resulted is an innovative prototype with which to generate electricity at remote locations for very low wind situations.”

“我们依此希望创造一种崭新的模型，能在偏远地区风速非常低的情况下产生电力。”

The Flutter-Mallard portable sustainable electrical generation device has flexible strips affixed to pick-up coils with magnets that convert the vibrating energy into electrical charge.

这种鸭子振动式的便携可持续发电设备在传感磁线圈的磁铁贴上了柔软布条，将振动能量转化为电荷。

A special challenge was the design of an electronic device that can turn the constantly changing wind speed, and therefore varying power, into a steady electric current.

而对于电子设备亟待解决的一个难题是这样的设计可以把不断变化的风速及风速变化的功率，转变成稳定的电流。

But that was not the only problem researchers had to tackle.

但这不是研究人员需要解决的唯一问题。

“A concurring effort for the storage side of it. Remember it was integrated energy generation and storage, was the development as well of some supercapacitor technology for the purpose of storing the electrical power that resulted in a number of publications and also a second patent disclosure.”

“我们也在储能方面做了努力。别忘了这是综合能源的产生及储能。所以为存储电能而开发的一些超级电容器技术已经在一些刊物发表，以及第二项专利的公布。”

Many engineering students from the University of Illinois participated in the project.

伊利诺伊大学工程专业的很多学生参加了这个项目。

The device generates about three watts of power.

这种设备的功率大约是3瓦。

Researchers are now experimenting with strips made of flexible photovoltaic cells that could serve as additional sources of energy during the day.

研究人员正在试验可以在白天用作辅助能源的柔性光伏条。