Kite phone charger?

[tombear]

Ok this will be a little odd but bear with me.

has anyone seen a phone charger that runs off a spinning kite like this sort?

http://www.kitesatoldcity.com/IBS/SimpleCat/product/ASP/product-id/394433.html

A while back I picked one up for my youngest, in a charity shop but still bagged for £1. To be honest I got it mainly for the novelty that h t was Made in England according to the packaging. Anyroad it flies rather well even in moderate airs and as I watched it spin I wondered if that motion could be harnessed. Knowing nothing of electronics I thought of powering LEDs or if the cord was very light wire running something off it on the ground. Then remembering that they used box kites to raise aerials for field radios back in WW2 ( I once picked up a lovely bright orange cotton US army one but like a idiot sold it on rather than played its it). I thought could it be used as a aerial boosting device for a mobile phone.

Anyroad, not having a original bone in my body, some ones bound to have come up with one if it is a sensible idea. I vaguely recollect a single use emergency balloon that acted as a aerial and visual reference point.

Google didn't find one but perhaps I used the ring keywords.

atb

tom

 

[mrcharly]

You'd need a big spinning kite to get much power, and some sort of cord where the torque for the generator was less than the torque that would just twist the cord into a tangle.

 

[Outlaw13]

I think there are a number of companies looking at using kites to generate power on a large scale. The idea being that the kite flies higher than a wind turbine so the wind will be more constant. Power is generated as the kite gains altitude by pulling it's rope through a generator. The kite is then turned out of the wind and pulled back closer to the ground using some of the power it generated.

 

[Goatboy]

Think it would be pretty hard to make a light portable generator that wouldn't tangle as folk say. also for the small amounts of power going through that length of cable might not work too well.
You could always wait to be struck by lightning though! Lots of power there
You can use kites to suspend a torch or strobe to attract attention and the spinning kite would make it even more noticeable.
Would be interesting to hear how an aerial worked though?
Did help a mate make a wind generator that lit his greenhouses years ago out of the cooling fan from a lorry.

 

[tombear]

Cheers folks!

id thought if it was viable someone would have done it!

ATB

Tom

 

[mrcharly]

Keep thinking!

It's not a daft idea, but I suspect difficult to put into practise. After all, ET phoned home with the power from the wind making a branch move.

If you want to read about something that sounds like it shouldn't work, read up on ram pumps, where the pump uses the water flow to pump some of the water to a point higher than the water source. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydraulic_ram

 

[petrochemicals]

They do propellor chargers for the rucksack, and water turbines, but I suppose you could use a motor, and reverse it. You could use a baloon to tether it on or you could just stick it high up.