What if you built....?

Question

a giant hamster wheel for humans in a prison, and forced (or enticed) fifty or so men to run in it at once (I'm envisioning individual wheels attached to a common central crank shaft, so that people could get on and off in shifts without stopping the whole wheel) could they (theoretically) generate enough electric power to provide the needs of the average sized prison? Is it feasible, do you think? It could at least offset the prison's demand for power a little couldn't it?

For Kerry K..... for the sake of argument, let's say the prisoner's aren't forced to run, but can work off their sentences faster by running on a voluntary basis... that should keep the ACLU happy....would it be feasible then?

Answer 1

A typical number from physiology class is that a high level of exercise requires something like 5 times the basal metabolic rate:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basal_metabolic_rate

Assuming that 10% of that energy can be converted to mechanical energy and that there is a 50% efficiency to get to useful electricity, we get 350 kcal*10%*50% = 20 W*hr per hour of exercise. What that means is that the prisoner barelly generate enough energy to keep the light bulb in his cell lit, but only if it's a compact fluorescent bulb.

Answer 2

I heard that somewhere , I think in Amsterdam, in a disco the floor was modified to generate electricity from the vibration caused by the dancing people....
A man can generate about 150 watt, well when I to the gym the cycle shows me about 150 watts, but I'm not very athletic, so probably more athletic people can do better and produce about 200....
I think that the big wheel is not a great idea...i think that cycles is better. they already exist and need a little modification..moving parts are smaller and they have less friction....and because the wheel could be "psychologically" worst because it get you feel like a trapped rat......you can put for example 100 cycles with an alternator and rectifier and sum the electricity produced and produce about 15 kW DC, so you can charge batteries, usually an house uses about 2kW(this is the limit, but usually a lot less..)
then inverters will use energy stored in batteries to produce AC current...

Answer 3

Feasible, yes, practical, no. On top of that, the legal ramifications are enormous. The prisoners are in jail to be punished for committed crimes, not for torture, regardless of beneficial the out come might be. The legal system would never allow such a thing to happen.

Answer 4

oh. man--go get a patent on that one quick before someone else does!

Answer 5

I think it would work, but alot of people would think it was foolish...

Answer 6

yeah sounds possible.
sounds funny.
i say go for it.

Answer 7

a little.