The MIT microturbine rotor has to turn two million rpm--more than 20,000 revolutions per second.

December 10, 2004 10:47 PM

The MIT microturbine rotor has to turn two million rpm--more than 20,000 revolutions per second. Here's some current efforts. Micro Electric Machines (MEMS)pdf, the future of Aerospace Power Projection? Further interesting reading. pdf A couple of articles are a year-year and a half old, but still current in the analysis of "tiny technology". I find the concept of dime-size turbines to be fantastic!
posted by codeofconduct (7 comments total)

So, should I have been born in like 100 years, or what?
posted by MarkO at 11:34 PM on December 10, 2004

I've been hearing much about these devices recently -- and their potential uses are widely varied and great, don't get me wrong -- but aren't we trying to get away from fossil fuels? These turbines burn kerosene. Do the by-products of kerosene combustion get vented out of the cell phone near your nose and mouth while holding it to your ear? And it's just a hunch, but I don't think airlines would be too happy with liquid fuel-powered laptops and cell phones on board.
posted by pmbuko at 12:00 AM on December 11, 2004

From the first link:
The lightbulb went on when Alan Epstein, a meticulous 53-year-old engineer with a twinkling sense of humor, was sitting in a jury pool in a Cambridge, Massachusetts, courthouse.

good to know his mind was in the right place.
"hmm? what? Oh yes, yes, guilty. Whatever"
posted by joelf at 12:01 AM on December 11, 2004

He was in a jury pool, not in a jury.
posted by kindall at 12:13 AM on December 11, 2004

There are a lot of pretty smart people working on these projects. If they can design a turbine to power a cell phone, the exhaust problem probably has not escaped their attention.
Also, it's not like you'd need a 5 gallon tank of kerosine to power the laptop, and airlines are not particularly unhappy about the lighters.
posted by c13 at 10:16 AM on December 11, 2004

I've spent the past two summers working on the project linked to (Micro Electric Machines pdf), including getting the generator to produce power this past summer. It's really amazing to see the dime sized turbine, and know it's spinning at 250 kRPM. Unfortunately, the project I worked on is getting axed this year, as the sponsors are hedging their bets on the magnetic induction motor instead of the electric induction motor.

For some really impressive MEMS projects, check out Sandia MEMS, the MEMS group at Sandia national labs. The stuff is a few years old, and I'm not sure if they're actively working on it any more, but they have some amazing gear trains and mirror systems.

As for the exhaust issue, I'm not really sure, given that the generator we were using was usually running off pressurized air instead of combustion (simpler for testing the generator half). It seems like it would be pretty diffuse, though, not a big black cloud of smoke coming out of your cell phone.
posted by PaperDragon at 12:45 PM on December 11, 2004

not a big black cloud of smoke coming out of your cell phone.

*snicker*
posted by codeofconduct at 4:34 PM on December 11, 2004