What is Piezoelectricity?

An eccentric multi-millionaire in london named Andrew Charalambous(nicknamed Dr. Earth by his colleagues) decided to open a sustainable club a while back. According to club4climate.com, Club Surya

is the worlds first ecological club. From recycled furniture to waterless urinals, and solar panels, letting patrons in for free who can prove they rode a bike or walked, It seems to be the green-party party fiends dream come true. Now for the good part. A piezoelectric dance floor that supposedly generates up to 60% of the clubs power usage.

Now to the point. What is piezoelectricity?

"Many materials, both natural and man-made, exhibit piezoelectricity:"

"Piezoelectricity is the charge which accumulates in certain solid materials in response to applied mechanical strainThe word piezoelectricity means electricity resulting from pressure. It is derived from the Greek piezo or piezein (πιέζειν), which means to squeeze or press, and electric or electron (ήλεκτρον), which stands for amber, an ancient source of electric charge.^[2] Piezoelectricity is the direct result of the piezoelectric effect. "

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piezoelectricity

The best example would be a gas grill lighter, when you press the button a little hammer hits a piezoelectric crystal creating a spark.

"in thelaboratory of Zhong Lin Wang at Georgia Tech, the blinking number on a small LCD signals the success of a five-year effort to power conventional electronic devices with nanoscale generators that harvest mechanical energy from the environment using an array of tiny nanowires."

"Wang's nano-generators rely on the piezoelectric effect seen in crystalline materials such as zinc oxide, in which an electric charge potential is created when structures made from the material are flexed or compressed. By capturing and combining the charges from millions of these nanoscale zinc oxide wires, Wang and his research team can produce as much as three volts - and up to 300 nanoamps."

Energydaily.com november, 09,2010

." Recently Israeli company Innowattech unveiled a new use for this versatile energy tech – they’re planning to install piezoelectric pads throughout the country’s railways to generate electricity"

"The company has previously used piezoelectric pads on Israeli highways, and now they’re using similar (albeit larger) devices on railways. Innowattech plans on substituting 32 standard railway pads with their own piezoelectric IPEG PADS, which are of a similar design. In addition to generating energy, the new IPEG pads can determine the size of the wheel that passes over them, as well as the speed and weight of the vehicle.

A prototype of the energy-generating system was installed last year by the Technion University and Israel Railways in order to show the benefits of the technology. The project discovered that a railway track with trafficked by 10 to 20 ten-car trains could produce as much as 120 kWh, which could be used to power infrastructural systems such as signs and lights. Any surplus energy would then be uploaded to the country’s power grid."

Inihabitat, Timon Singh, 12/09/10

"Atelier DNA has conjured a new concept for generating juice via wind power, where the fruit of their brainstorming sessions have resulted in the Windstalk. This potential clean energy generation project/tourist attraction might just be realized over at Abu Dhabi’s Masdar City, where it will comprise of over a thousand carbon fiber reinforced resin poles that stand at a massive 55 meters (180 feet) high. Don’t worry about them falling down, since they are anchored to the ground in concrete bases which range between 10 and 20 meters (33-66 feet) in diameter. The poles themselves are 30cm (12 inches) in diameter at the base, where they will taper up to a diameter of 5cm (2 inches) at the top. Through it all, you will find a stack of piezoelectric ceramic discs that function as electrodes which are connected by cables that run the length of each pole. One cable will hook up to the even electrodes, while another connects the odd ones. This means whenever the pole sways, the stack of piezoelectric discs will be compressed and generate a current through the electrodes simultaneously"

By Edwin Kee 10/14/2010, 12:05 am PT

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