OK. I have not totally thought this through so please poke holes in this.
I thought of this last night as I was trying to go to sleep and the ceiling fan was spinning away above me. And no, I wasn’t stoned but a little overtired so that may have had something to do with it.
Now, if I am correct an electric generator is quite similar to an electric motor (I know they are not the same, but close, right?). So, basically if memory serves a generator has a bunch of windings (stator?) and a shaft with magnets or some other doo-dads is rotating in the middle of it. The rotation is usually done by some other motor… either a gas/steam powered turbine or whatever. Am I right so far?
So, could this work on a smaller scale. Lets say you already have a shaft that is already turning via a small electric motor (I know there would have to be a practical lower limit for the RPM, but humor me for the time being). This is say either my ceiling fan (there’s the connection!) or, vacuum cleaner, exhaust fan in the washroom or whatever… something already turning at least several hundred RPM. On the end of that already turning shaft, could you put a “small” generator there? Therefore, the shaft while already being turned by the motor to do the “work” that is needed (IE - Turn the fan, run the Vacuum) could also be re-generating a small amount of electricity? This could then reduce the consumption drawn by the working motor FROM the power grid right from the get-go, or be fed back into the power grid. I realise that any amount of power made from one of these would probably be quite small, but if there was thousands/millions of them around wouldn’t it make some appreciable difference?
OR would any power that could be created be so insignificantly small (like 1 watt?) that this is a totally stupid idea and the energy to make all these little generators in the first place would be far more than they could create combined in the long run. Even though I know small (very small fraction of a HP) electric motors only cost a few bucks each in mass quantity, I would think a “generator” in the same mass qty should be comperable in $$$.
Whew. Did that make any sense at all?
