For those who have asked me about other things on the horizon or in recent memory relating to generating power and charging batteries on the road...
In the "maybe coming soon, but not-quite-ready" category of
other battery chargers, Powertrekk have announced their water-powered, ion-exchange fuel-cell power supply will at last be available Spring 2012. It appears to be a variation on a hydrogen fuel cell. It can charge devices either directly from the fuel cell or from the built-in rechargeable battery. There is no indication how long the fuel packs last, or how long it will operate on one.
Details here:
http://www.powertrekk.com/ FAQ here:
http://www.powertrekk.com/support/ Explanation of technology here:
http://www.powertrekk.com/powertrekk/technology/Fuller explanation by third party here:
http://ktrmurali.wordpress.com/tag/powerpukk/In a similar vein, Apple have filed two patent applications (published in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office database 22 Dec 2011) for portable fuel cells designed to allow users to operate their devices away from mains-recharging. The patents are broad and open to a variety of fuel-cell types. It looks like compact fuel cells are coming. How soon remains to be seen. According to Powertrekk, we'll only have to wait till Spring, which is what they said last year.
BioLite have announced their forthcoming line of battery-charging portable woodstoves:
http://biolitestove.com/BioLite.html These claim to use a thermo-electric module (possibly a Heusler alloy producing a Seebeck effect thermocouple) to convert 5000+BTU of thermal (fire) energy (heat) into 1-watt of electrical energy. Their campstove looks possibly suitable for bike touring:
http://biolitestove.com/CampStove.html Basically, a small fire made of twigs and sticks is kindled in a metal can. Once it is fully alight, the heat from the fire is converted to electricity, which powers a small electric fan to make the stove into a clean(er) burning mini-forge; any electricity beyond that needed by the fan is available for charging external devices. There's some big names behind it:
The BioLite team together has over 30 years of product development experience and holds more than 30 utility patents. Previous clients include OXO, Johnson & Johnson, Hewlett Packard, Nike, Lego, Church and Dwight, Pepsi, GE, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Motorola, and Bosch. More than 90% of our developed products have gone on to be successful in the market.
The drawback is it appears to charge only while alight, limiting practical charging time.
As for geared dynohubs, I seldom see the Renak Enparlite mentioned (
http://renak.de/wordpress/willkommen/ ), probably because it is not very efficient compared to Shimano's and Schmidt's offerings. It is way behind, according to the CTC's Chris Juden in tests conducted at Schimidt's own facilities:
http://www.myra-simon.com/bike/dynotest.html . It does have a couple unique features that might be nice to see in other dynohubs: It has a clutch that allows it to truly freewheel when not in use and is internally geared so the generator runs faster than the wheel, reducing low-speed handlebar vibration and eliminating low-speed flicker. Unfortunately, the internal gears have proven subject to wear and there is the poor efficiency. Pity.
The Aufa FER 2002 also has a clutch, is driven by a belt, has already come and is now nearly gone, thanks to extremely poor efficiency. It is a type known as a Speichendynamo, or "spoke dynamo". An informative article on it is here:
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speichendynamo, Google-translated English version here:
http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=de&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fde.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FSpeichendynamo&act=url A variation on the Aufa FER 2002 is the Sunup DS-series, specifically the DS1r by Taiwan's Sunup Eco (a brand-engineered version was marketed poorly by Dosun). It is also a spoke dynamo but attaches only to the left-side of a rim-braked cassette rear hub, and is unusual in having a three-phase permanent-magnet (DC output) generator; most dynohubs, are single-phase (AC output; current must be rectified to DC for LEDs). Test results are intriguing, but unfortunately, it is not quite here yet. It does not seem to have found a distributor or be finalized in design (it has been delayed over concerns related to voltage overprotection due to the 3-phase design), though some prototypes were released for testing and evaluation in 2011. A rear-mounted generator has some promise for generating power at camp; invert the bike, crank the pedals, and hey presto -- power on demand. I'll post a link when it is a bit further along. It appears future marketing will come direct from Sunup under their own name. A more refined version is promised for 2012, with more power at lower speeds. I think this is one to watch in the next year.
For those who remember such things, Sturmey-Archer made internally-geared rear hubs with internal generators. The 3-speed AG was an AW with a dynamo in it, and their FG was a 4-speed FW with an internal dynamo. They are now unavailable and are unsuitable to our on-tour battery-charging needs, having only 3- or 4-speeds and less efficiency than contemporary models.
Those wishing to inexpensively dabble a foot in the waters of dynamo-powered battery chargers may wish to look at the Bike2Power SpinPOWER S1, I3, and I4, the latter priced at USD$59.95 on a current sale. Also available through Amazon. It includes a sidewall generator, but most people I know discard that and use the USB power converter alone with their hub dynamo. The company site is here:
http://www.bike2power.com/ I'll add this to the link collection in an earlier post, above. Usual disclaimers, as I have no financial interest in the company or experience with them. Limited reviews of their S1 model here:
http://www.amazon.com/SpinPOWER-S1-Universal-Smartphone-Bicycle/product-reviews/B0051KID2Q/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1 It would be terrific if this charger was workable for the price, as it would open up a world of possibilities for extremely reasonable cost.
American online retailer and supplier Velo-Orange have fueled persistent rumors of a clutch-type dynohub, detailed in their blog posts here:
http://velo-orange.blogspot.com/2010/10/those-new-dyno-hubs.html#uds-search-results and by searching their site using "dyno hub" as a search term. Their Grand Cru model
appears to be [ Edit: confirmed, it is] a Taiwanese Shutter Precision unit with bespoke branding. Apparently some early VO Grand Crus had problems due to misassembly at Shutter, but I understand Shutter soon caught the problem. See:
http://www.sp-dynamo.com/spproductswitchrim.html , home page for Shutter here:
http://www.sp-dynamo.com/index.html By appearance, their designs seem to be um, "inspired" by Schmidt's SON series. Unfortunately, I have no objective efficiency data to share at present. It appears the clutch simply adjusts the gap between the magnets and the windings, decreasing drag and vibration to virtually nil in the off state. There is no earthing through the alu axle and no pressure-equalization to match Schmidt's design. The _Bicycle Quarterly_ Reader's Review has an interesting discussion related to this hub and clutchless hubs in general:
http://groups.google.com/group/bqrr/browse_thread/thread/892d834880ec2fcf From what I have seen so far (and lacking objective test data), I believe Shutter's dynohubs - both clutched and extremely lightweight clutchless -- show some real promise at about half the cost of the Schmidt offerings with the same 26 poles. They have also come up with a plano-convex collimating fisheye-lensed LED headlight that looks promising in terms of output if not beam pattern and has a 9-minute standlight. Stay tuned, I think Shutter are due to come on strong.
Best,
Dan.
