If I had a DC brushless fan that requires 12vdc to operate, and realized this fan can produce electicity. Would it be possible to make an array of the same type of fan and let wind blowing on the array, power the lone fan for cooling? Is this possible?
2007-08-11 15:59:08 · 3 answers · asked by smittybo20 6 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
Ok, do you think perpetual motion is possible?
2007-08-11 16:27:24 · update #1
Ok you hit on something, are laws made to be violated? It is being done everyday with all of the new technology. So why not? Let's add a little more boost to the problem. Lets say we step up the voltage to the fan. And use it to turn the other fans thru a gear ratio, making them easier to turn at a faster rate than the single fan. Would that not produce enough power to turn the single fan?
2007-08-11 17:23:02 · update #2
I think it is possible ! good question!! but im no Einstein!
2007-08-12 04:07:44 · answer #1 · answered by DagNaggit limpuladerfy II 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Yes, you could use wind to power the DC generator, which provided the DC current to run your cooling fan. So long as it's not the wind produced by your fan.
That would be perpetual motion, and it would violate the first law of thermodynamics.
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No, these laws are not made to be violated. Not even by "all this new technology."
It wouldn't matter how much mechanical advantage you want to give yourself. Every time you convert energy from one form to another, some of it is lost through entropy, to some unusable form. Most usually to heat. Every additional stage you add simply increases your loss to entropy.
Step-up transformer? It hums (energy lost to sound) and warms up (lost to heat). Reduction gearing? You've got to move all those gears, and you lose energy to friction - and thus to heat. There's no way around entropy, without some additional outside source of energy.
Now with your scenario (cooling fan) it follows that there is some heat source being cooled. It might be possible to harness that heat to produce airflow to drive your generator. But then you would've just introduced an outside energy source into your system.
2007-08-11 23:40:35 · answer #2 · answered by skeptik 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
i think all electric generators are electric motors running in reverse and all electric motors are electric generators running in reverse
2007-08-11 23:23:01 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋