Should we use Treadmills to Generate Electricity? (Experiment)
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- Опубликовано: 31 июл 2024
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In this video I will try out an idea I had in my head for quite a while. Why not simply use a treadmill to generate electricity? I mean we power treadmills to make us run, so why not "run" as well but push the treadmill to produce electricity. That is exactly what I will be finding out in this video. Is such a modification possible? How much power can we produce? Would I recommend it? Let's find out!
Websites which were shown/used in the video:
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0:00 Treadmill Generator Idea!
1:07 Intro
1:45 Motor Inspection
3:21 Driver Electronics
5:27 Using the Motor as a Generator!
7:31 Charge your Phone?
9:06 Verdict 
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Stationary bike with a "fly wheel" with at least 10 to 15 kg can help to solve the problem of a generator to charge batteries, once the system has enough inertial momentum you'll use less effort to keep it in constant motion and generate smooth flow of energy
A rowing machine would be a good conversion too. The resistance mechanism is usually a fan, but it has a decent amount of momentum, and there's usually air baffles to adjust the resistance. Add a servo and a generator to the mix, and you could adjust the baffles on the fly to maintain a constant resistance over a range of loads.
I always wanted something like a flywheel generator bike... "if I'm gonna ride this stationary bike it might as well do something other than exercise"
@@TheActionBastard search it in youtube. There was a video with it, but not stationary bike, moving one.
Bikes been generating electricity for a long time I remember lighting the 150watt light at a science center. But even generators for bike lights been around for a long time I have a few and one time I put a transformer on the generator terminals and lite up a Christmas light. That was my electrical and electronics project for eighth grade shop class. Had I mounted it on a bike and turned the bike up side down I believe I could have lit up larger bulbs. I also knew of a person that made their child to generate electricity for watching a TV if the program was educational then the TV was plugged in an outlet but for a cartoon or other childrens program the child peddled for electricity to run the TV. Exercise never hurt a child and the parents did good for the child. 73
@@ronb6182 I'm a little dubious that the child actually *ran* the TV. His peak output would have been barely over the minimum needed to run the TV (I'm assuming it was a CRT, not a modern LCD). But having the TV be on a circuit that only turns on while the bike is generating would still achieve the goal and work pretty well... Those science-centre bike-generator-drives-a-lightbulb things were, as I recall, always tough to get a bright light from, and most people didn't have the stamina to run for any useful amount of time... Although they were also very beat up machines that certainly needed maintenance they didn't get.
Instead of trademill, try using Gym steady bicycle. It's rotating motion would be more efficient.
Also, I'm waiting for your video on Altium PCB design tutorial.
Noted!
Black mirror writers had that figured out long ago.
Seconded. Many gym bikes are actually flywheel-powered so you can use them without mains. Their electronics just start lighting up when you generate a little power and then you have metrics and controls.
I remember reading something about the sustainability of using bikes as power generators, and even under ideal circumstances the power you could generate over the lifetime of the bike couldn't offset the power required to produce all the materials involved in the setup. This would be even more true for treadmills of course.
am i missing something with these replies, didnt he already do this with the bike and got a much heftier 200w out of it a few months back??? i wouldve thought thats just fairly intuitive with how the force vector diagram for both those activities (running on a treadmill and riding a stationary bike) looks in my head. i mean mono panels probably last a lifetime if treated well so if you have the space and money it might seem daft to try and use either the treadmill or bike generators as actual offgrid power sources, especially if you want to accommodate for modern conveniences like electric heating and AC but for me just to keep the lifelines like lights, fridge, phone going i'd love to have access to a free 200w or even 20w if it meant i could disconnect from mains, which in my country comes with a not insignificant standing charge, so youre forced to pay a chunk of money every month before you even use any electricity. not to mention that i wouldnt need to run heating in the winter with all the extra heat my little inbuilt furnace would be putting out just to crank out those watts on the treadmill lol. personally i think both are cool cause even though the treadmill would produce 10x less power it would allow me to change up my position every now and then from the exercise bike, same as a sit-stand desk allows me to change up my position between those two for comfort and ergonomics. idk, just food for thought, but personally id really really love more stuff like this.
I think the Concept 2 rowing machines at my gym are doing fundamentally the same to charge their onboard batteries. At least I have never seen them being connected to any wall outlet in the past year. Those literally run on blood, sweat and tears :D
That sounds about right. Now I am sad that I do not have such a rowing machine at home. Would certainly be fun to find out how much power you could produce with them ;-)
@@greatscottlab Even elliptical trainers run on power generated by humans lol. My gym has ones that even have a fan that runs off of human powah. The wattage is also displayed at around 200W while doing cardio.
@@greatscottlab You can buy cheap broken or oil based ones and stick a motor on the output? You might need a flywheel too due to the way you row, but it would also make it feel more like a boat :D
i have one at home and it had a small onboard battery in it, so maybe it runs on that 😁
They do have standard alkaline batteries in them they use the power generated to prolong their life, same as calculators with small battery and a solar panel
NOTE: This product works exactly as described. ruclips.net/user/postUgkxguEIMc_Qwab-3QMTpF6jaRL80hiOOsIN It originally earned a four-star review due to a minor defect (see below). However, the manufacturer's customer service rep (Lita) went above and beyond the call of duty and deserves five stars now. I wish I could give even more!I purchased this item which arrived quickly. Assembly instructions were easy to follow. There was only one problem: One bolt did not screw into the hole properly. I called the company. Their customer service rep (Lita) was terrific! She took all my information and submitted a request to replace the defective part. I'm hoping to finish assembly and start using this treadmill soon. (Fingers crossed...)FOLLOW UP: Lita called back to inform me that the company will send a replacement part AND a technician(!!) to install it properly. AMAZING CUSTOMER SERVICE!! Thank you!!
Man, you’ve inspired me to become an electrical engineer, I’ve been watching since 2017 and now I’m in college. Thank youuuuu!
Awesome! Glad I could help you.
*electrical engineer
A stair-stepping device would make a whole lot more sense since that’s the principle which ancient engines used for cranes lifting masonry and for the Archimedes Water Screw for irrigation.
This is what he should make!
Sure it wouldn't make you go faster, but would be great for all the people who use the stair steppers at granny speed at the gym.
I think may be in the future can gym studios store& make their own 30% or more energy using this kind of sustainable way who knows 🙄😁
Congratulations, you just invented Rick & Morty's "Gooble Boxes".
I also immediately thought that a stepper would've been better and thought 'Someone has got to have said this!'
Now I want to see if it's possible!
@@oder4876 Problem is the amount of Energy a human produces is a joke in comparison to the amount of Energy needed for manufacturing the Tools to even Transform the mechanical Power into electricity.
Honestly, dude, it worked better than I thought it would! Really fantastic job! 😃
Stay safe and creative there! 🖖😊
Hey man! Great new intro and updated content feel!
Nice experiment I received a job offer to work for Decathlon a sports company as an Electronic technician this gave me an idea about treadmill design thanks for your effort
This was pretty interesting. Thank you, Scott
Yeah this one gave me a few great ideas to play with.. Thanks Scott.
I love your channel and your content. Every week I look forward your new video :)
I really enjoyed this, thanks! This reminds me of a video or article that I found about someone's vacation tiny house/cabin that has a human sized exercise wheel connected to a generator to charge the house batteries. I like this concept, and I think the challenges that you encounter can be resolved. I hope to see more follow-up videos from you about converting exercise equipment into electricity generators.
Man I've been thinking about such a thing for such a long time, wondering how much power I could generate. Thanks you for doing this!
A top athlete can generate about 400 watts. That's not very much when it comes to powering a house. After allowing for the losses in any equipment to harvest that power, you're not going to be saving very much on your electricity bill any time soon.
The voltage drop actually has to do with the internal resistance of the motor itself as well.
Which can be quite substantial. A dynamo with maybe even a PFC would probably work better in this case.
Dynamos require less force to spin compared to DC motors.
Ya the more current you draw, the more voltage drop from the ISR
Hey Guybrush!
And also the LEDs clamp the voltage
Interesting video. Love the channel!
Thank you!
Maybe a stair master with a flywheel and friction brake, remove the brake and use the flywheel to drive your motor/generator. Keep up the great work Great Scott!!
I really love these "saving-power" ideas, Great Scott. It helps to "fuel" eco-friendly ideas of students like me. Maybe u know, students like me can use these ideas in future to innovate the world in eco-friendly way.
please don't . this is how we get freaking solar roadways
Want to make the world better, find ways to generate even more energy at an even more scale. "eco-friendly" is gimmick for low-power sparse density systems that will never scale.
Energy shouldn't be saved, energy should be spent to make people's lives better. If some way of making energy is bad, find better ways, but it must generate even more energy, not less.
thanks for your opinion guys
Great scott!
Here in the states, I had taken apart a used treadmill several years ago. It had a 96v DC motor. It's only recently I've thought about trying to get several of these for projects.
0:31 "all I am doing on the treadmill is running which is also a waste of power" that's exactly why I got myself an e-scooter 😅
There are so many things I wanna say about this idea but I don't wanna waste my time explaining every single one of them in a comment that noone will ever read, let alone you scott.
I read all the comments
A penal treadmill was a treadmill with steps set into two cast iron wheels. These drove a shaft that could be used to mill corn, pump water or connect to a large fan for resistance.
I think your video is the best explainer of where your energy is going, be it running or on a treadmill, most of it is fighting gravity. The difference between running (maintaining momentum while being slowed by wind resistance) and a treadmill where these don't apply is bugger all. You could just get a skipping rope.
Great video as always! Quite an interesting concept
Thanks!
I have a stationary bike trainer for my regular road bike. I had considered attaching a treadmill motor to the roller shaft of that. I would be interested if you could continue some of these types of videos on generating power. The stationary bike trainer generator could be an interesting one.
If you want to do a followup of this video I think you could improve efficiency by plotting the power produced at different loads and see where it should operate (similarly to what is done for solar panels), then you could also change the motor or the gear ratio between the motor and the carpet so that you can walk at a more comfortable speed
This was pretty cool !
Could you perhaps test the motor connected to a bycicle style hometrainer ?
I remember when my dad disassembled one for lubing, i noticed that it has a DC motor, i tryed to power from a 12V lead acid, and it was SLOW! and WEAK at 12V, i also tryed charge the batt it was very stiff to get running, very nice exercise.
Maybe try swapping out the motor for a 12v one next time? Good video, very informative 👍🏻
Totally worth it even if it's impractical! I haven't even watched the video yet but I can say that you absolutely should do it.
it would be fun to see you try to incline the treadmill, you don't have to hold on to the handle anymore as gravity helps with the pulling.
I'm curious to see if the incline is enough so that your weight does the pulling or the load is just too big (battery) that it will stall
Great video as always! Maybe a human-sized hamster wheel could help generate more electricity and with a more stable output? I think the spikes seen in your video could have been made from you taking steps, which means not actuating the thread mill in a continuous manner. With a hamster wheel, I think you could have a more stable output by diminishing the span of time where no force is applied to the generator's rotor using your hands along with your feet to actuate it!
Anyways, I really enjoy watching you from week to week, keep up the quality content!
Nice. Try modding rower or skierg, should be easier to put in more power.
I tried to make a generator like this as well, last year, although my treadmill doesn't have a motor, so I was trying to adapt some old scrap motor to maybe connect to the treadmill. I gave up soon because it was too much effort and indeed, my calculations were similar to yours. Meh, it's still good to know.
Good video by the way!
Bike plus turbo trainer. It’s been on my to-do list for ages. During a 1h session a decently fit person can average anywhere between 200 to 300 watts at the cranks based on power meter readings. If I’m not mistaken that’s about 20-30amp hours at 12V, enough to charge up a tool battery pack or two and keep some LED lights on.
What? I was thinking about exactly this yesterday. What a coincidence!
Not so fast. I am currently sitting here watching the battery level in my phone slowly drop. I and 170,000 other people in Ottawa have had no electrical power for the past 28 hours. A somewhat nasty storm came through here yesterday toppling trees, power lines, and ripping shingles off of roofs. I've survived it all through the use of power bricks, draining UPS batteries, and taking my car for a run. Right now I would be happy to have your tread-mill power generator (or the earlier bicycle one).
Great video!
nice video !!!!
Adding a gear system should be a nice experiment to conduct
This is a question I had for a long time: why don't we make gym equipments generate electricity? Your video answer it from the point of view of DIY. I think on large scale it could still be done.
What about using capacitors to stabilize the energy draw, or something a little more advanced like a circuit that would distribute the load between charging a battery and the device itself, and also switch between charging and discharging the battery as needed in order to keep the energy being drawn from the generator constant?
A better option is to have a large capacitor bank which holds the charge and then use a boost-buck converter to stabilise the voltage. Add in a few LEDs to indicate whether or not you're generating sufficient energy to supply the load and you've got something which just might work.
I wonder if you could setup a gear box to let you run faster on the treadmill? Would there be a certain reasons as to why this could not work? Great video as always, so informative!
Would love to see this kind of thing with a flywheel, like you get with rowing machines and exercise bikes
Some treadmill motors have a flywheel. I have one of those, 180V DC 700W with a flywheel weighting around two kilos, 15cm diameter.
Very interesting! it'd be awesome to have a rig with a bike. Most men, with a bit of training, can generate 200W steadily on a bike (easily measured with a pedal based power meter). I can hold that power output for several hours, the limiting factor is boredom and discomfort. But it'd be awesome to know you're producing electricity. Like charging a power bank which you use to charge your phone for example. No juice, no phone, go back on the bike kind of thing.
Brother... I need your lab tour. How you are maintaining your lab very neat and clean & how you are storing the Messy wires and old circuits.
Same
Hey Scott! Just pitching and idea...it would be great to see upgraded handheld Pi console with current models/displays...are you up for it? Thanks for your videos! Educational as always!
This is great! Instead of a treadmill, we could use a Stairmill.
Super!! Thanks for sharing the idea 🤗I'm planning for converting a gym bycycle pedel power into a power bank charging system ⚡
Thanks for the support :-)
@@greatscottlab Your videos are very much inspiring for transforming ideas💡 to working one⚡
Make something like this actually work!
I have thought about this concept for a long time but never figure out the whole thing
This would hemp me a lot!
what if this could be played with a gearing ratio and instead of charging a battery directly which requires greater muscle mass in load, adding a capacitor to the loop would be better as its not a loadbearing component and use a transistor to cap the back flow of the energy stored in the capacitor in case of higher capacitance.
No need to adjust the gearing ratio (I think) because adjusting the load impedance will give a similar result. An MPPT converter could automatically adjust its impedance to extract maximum power. To avoid the annoying force spikes the MPPT converter should only adjust slowly.
@@thewhitefalcon8539 Would work, However this won't decrease the load on the treadmill do note tom has to exert certain amount of force to over come the resistance and to keep the mill rolling.
This is a great idea. Get in shape and generate renewable energy
Next, make a portable Solar battery pack that can change very fast and easy to set up while camping or some other outdoor activities
I would imagine that this would benefit from having a circuit that adjusts the current consumption in order to target a constant voltage, while adjusting the target voltage over time to account for your actual running speed.
I'm a software engineer, not an electronics engineer so my knowledge of electronics is not quite professional level, so this could be wrong but I could see this working by having a transistor (or whatever you'd use as an efficient variable resistor) in parallel with the load, such that you can create a partial bypass to reduce the amount of current going to the load, and then have a PID controller adjust the bypass to maintain the reference voltage.
Similar to a MPPT controller for solar panels.
Or have constant current equal to force required to rotate it. I would say a mosfet would do the trick that is pwm based. So you set the brake force of the motor.
Cool video. I remarked the tribute to your friend ElectroBoom with one spark ;-)
I'm a technician for a fitness company. Our home units use a dc motor but i commercial units use a 3 phase motor. Our other cardio units can be powered via a outlet or they can be self powered which charge when they are used(uses a rechargeable battery 12v 4.5ah).
Our new units with the exception of the treadmills can be self powered and have a small screen 10" touch screen. That being said we do not use the traditional battery to keep the unit running we use super capacitors.
Too your actually problem you need to check out something called the skillmill. Hope that helps.
Thanks!
Thanks for the support :-)
3:56 Is that a *FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUULLLLLLL BRIDGE RECTIFIER* ?
... And of course a great Video as always👍👍
Haha of course it is ;-)
Would using an MPPT module be an effective way of potentially getting more power out of a setup like this?
You could think of using MPPT charger that are readily available in the market/shops trading solar power stuff with proper max input voltage
hey, great videos I was looking for single battery/monitor in single chip solution as I was working on portable project with a display and I wanted to display the battery level on the screen and also charging animation on the as screen
I like the idea and premise of it. I hate functionally fixed stuff that wastes energy
I think you might be able to use the same principles as an mppt solar controller to get a more constant load and also vary the load you put on the treadmill. Something like a pwm controller on the output and some sort of configurable current limiting power supply after it maybe.
Every gym will become a Power generator 😂
cool video
I wonder if you could harness both your muscle power and the electrical power with some sort of load balancing. Like when you want the treadmill to offer low resistance, it draws electricity, but when you want high resistance, it switches off, and if you want even more resistance, it connects to a load like a battery
*not me coming back after quite some time to suddenly see your face for the first time O.o*
you should of tried using an Eclipse exercise machine, you run on air which causes no stress on your joints plus you get to used your arms as assistance, which will give you a much better exercise with a better generated electricity. Just my thought!!
would u plz tell me which pcb design software u use
You should see the Curve Treadmill. It might be a better fit for this purpose.
Super 👍
Maybe one of those stationary pedal cycles may create more power to charge a battery. Thanks for doing this experiment, I often wondered if this was viable. In days of past they used to run outback cinema's with a bunch of people all on push bikes pedaling in unison to generate power to run the projector.
Tacx Neo 2 smart bicycle trainer doesn't need external power supply - the power generated by the rider is also used to power the resistance circuit.
Also, it is relatively easy to generate around 200W with it for prolonged period of time.
Finally, in order to smooth out the irregularities in the load current consumption, a flywheel mechanical device can be used.
Hi, I was looking for a guide to build my own generator, working in a brewery we had some old waterpumps I can use. Are there any books you can recommend? I ofc found some, but i just don't know what they cover... and what not.. thanks!
been wondering this
I have been working with wind generators, and it's so fun developing impedance adaptors to adjust force to produce maximun power 🐝🐝😂
Interesting
You created the human version of hamsters powering electronics with a hamster wheel!
Ha! I'm surprised that any useful energy came out of this experiment at all.
But maybe the solution is to reverse the pulleys i.e. have the large one on the motor and the small one on the treadmill. Also, make sure the treadmill plank under the running belt is super well lubricated.
Good points :-)
@@greatscottlab might be fun to try building a battery charger that could simulate a variable load i.e. where one could be changing the load that the charger presents to the motor.
Who knows, if that works, maybe future treadmills will come with batteries and work as a UPS!! Assuming you don't mind a work out where you can only go at snail pace that is! 😉
bike trainer would work. a well-trained person should be able to output over 200watt for over 1 hour. There is a pro-cyclist that actually powers a toaster in a video on youtube. But most of will never be able to put out over 600watt for such amount of time :) there is also biketrainers that powers themself when you pedal the bike. not sure if its tacx or wahoo, but its one of the more expensive ones.
@@Stelios.Posantzis Sounds a bit like a MPPT controller for solar panels.
@@AndrewTSq magnetic bike trainers have a lot less friction than treadmills, so yeah
0:35 seconds into and you prove to me that having a treadmill is a waste of energy. Which is why I don't do exercises at all, I save energy and time!
What about a different gear ratio and a higher gradient incline? And maybe a different size motor/generator? I think with a little re-engineering this could be viable.
Though like others have said, a different design altogether (such as the bicycle, forget the stepper) would work much better.
I would suggest trying this with more varied loads. I suspect the limiting factor is the walking force which is theoretically proportional to the current. If you put more LEDs in series you may be able to get more power with the same amount of effort.
You need a giant inertial mass to make it more suitable. That's why pedal is a easier way to generate electricity
Correct. With a flywheel.
Contenu tout mignon comme notre youtubeur germano-chinois
My dads cousin runs a band in which the crowd has to create the electricity on gym bike generators, pretty funny!
All in all, it may not be worth it as a power generator. But I would say that it has potential as a mentoring tool. I find it amusing how easily it can show that, yes, when you draw power you actually need to push more and does give a unique feel of "how much" power does you phone use! Very cool as a school project (except the high-voltage stuff, unfortunately)!
did you measure the efficiency of the motor ? and also was there any kind of slip on the belts connecting the motor and the treadmill ?
Would it make sense if you just directly coupled the threadmill to the motor instead of using the belt ?
You could do an upgrade that changes the steepness of the treadmill with a motor, depending on the desired walking speed to keep it stable, so you could use gravity to walk and wouldn't have to push yourself forward
Please do a video on gravity electricity
this really just shows how incredibly efficient the human body is! compare the force needed to push the treadmill by foot (roughly equivalent to moving a big box or something) to how much power an autonomous pushing robot or something would need in order to push that same box. 30w for the human (i'm assuming big energy losses in the treadmill measurement) vs probably 100w or more for the robot.
And what about piezzo electrical component under the belt to get a bit of energy from your feet pressure ? or way too complicated to mix with the generator ?
I heard something about a new Lithium battery (I guess?): Lithium-ion phosphate. Scott, I recommend to check it out!
Can you switch the motor gear and the drive gear? Also it would be intereting to try build a circuit that would make the force you have to push constant
What about a bike? I've been thinking about converting my old bike into a recumbent exercise bike and figured I may as well add a dynamo to generate electricity too. I haven't put too much thought into the design yet, it's been just an idea for the past year, but now I'm wondering about the feasibility. 🤔
If you try with bicycle
I have see in vintage magazines static bicycle with the back wheel replacement of fan (inside protective grid for safety ) to cool the gym room
I tried with a bicycle about a year ago. Results were definitely better than this. I think combining this motor with a bike could be a winner.
You mad a lot of shortcuts here :) concept is good but you need to put much more effort in finishing this so you can make much more energy, you put too much energy in for final result. Im convinced that if you try ltl more you can make much more efficent machine :) Even to charge your night lights and practice very day is ok. Thank you for sharing and keep them coming!
You dont need a separate buck converter. Even in india (230v mains) my phone chargers works just fine with my ebike battery (13s 48v). Just connect the phone charger to the motor. This way you will also get the additional Safety features of the phone charger and isolation from high voltage on output side.
Concept to consider: steady treadmill at whatever speed is comfortable to lift counterweights for release at a later time to generate consistent current. Think coo coo clock weights. It’s a simplified concept. Is it possible to simulate this with charging deep cycle batteries?
I think gear system is a must here
Scott! Please use BLDC 3 phase motor from other your vlogs ;) That can make better results, and of course see you next time! :)
maybe you will use bigger BLDC motor (diameter) for better results