MADMEC 2008:
"Materials Solutions for Alternative Energy"

TEAM NAME: AIR ENERGY RESOURCE (AER)

Team Members

Mihai Duduta, DMSE '10

Alexandra Patricia Tcaciuc, 1E & 5 '10

Ryan Bonaparte, DMSE '09

Abstract
Our team has decided to focus on challenge #1 and find a way of salvaging wasted energy in cars. As most of the systems in a car have already been studied and optimized, we focused on the surroundings of the car, in order to find reusable energy. The main energy waste for a car comes from having to move air out of its way. In fact, the air resistance increases with the square of the velocity at which the car is traveling, meaning that the faster you travel, the more energy is wasted. Our proposed prototype would harvest the energy of the air moved out of the way of a traveling car. Our prototype would consist of a large grated structure. In the hollow parts of the grate the prototype would have bands of plastic on which magnets were attached. The motion of the air would move the bands and with them the magnets. The change in magnetic field thus generated could be harnessed as electricity by placing several coils of wire within the structure. An ideal location for such a prototype would be along a highway with fast and constant traffic, in which changes in air pressure would happen frequently. Moreover, the prototype could be light enough to be planted along the walls of a building in order to harvest wind energy, thus addressing challenges #2 and #7.