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Motion-powered gadget charger back on track

NEW YORK--The idea of harvesting the energy from motion to charge gadgets looks like it's ready to take a step forward.

Tremont Electric plans to start taking new orders for its kinetic energy charger called the nPower PEG (personal energy generator). The cylinder-shaped device, which is about twice as long as a smart phone, costs $159 and will be available for sale online in a month or two, company executives said last week at the CEA Lines Show. It's currently back-ordered.

The company is aiming the portable charger at backpackers or people who are the move but who don't have consistent access to charging, such as college students. While a person is walking, the charger, which weighs 11 ounces, generates as much power as an iPod Nano uses, said CEO Aaron LeMieux. Twenty-six minutes of walking is enough to top off a 3G smartphone for one minute of talking through a USB port, according to the company.

The nPower PEG charges a battery when a magnet, placed between two springs, moves up and down. The device is "tuned" to the frequency of motion of walking, LeMieux explained. It can also charge the internal lithium ion battery by shaking.

This on-the-go charging category has attracted several companies, including portable battery and fuel-cell makers. In fact, the nPower Peg was introduced at least two years ago. But the category of portable charging for consumer electronics has not yet materialized in a significant way.

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Peggle is the iPhone and iPod Touch version of the extremely popular (and addictively fun) arcade game also found on Macs, PCs, the Nintendo DS, Xbox Live, and other platforms. Combining skill and luck, this easy-to-play, Pachinko-style game challenges you to shoot down a set number of orange pegs with a limited number of balls on ever more complex levels. You can rotate a scroll wheel or just tap the screen to aim, ideally threading through ubiquitous blue pegs to hit multiple orange pegs with each shot, using carefully planned ricochets. You can double tap the screen to zoom in … Read more

Charging gadget redefines power-walking

The nPower PEG (Personal Energy Generator) from a company called Tremont Electric harnesses personal kinetic energy as a person walks, transferring it into electricity to the portable electronic device plugged into it.

Using this method, the PEG can charge the average portable device up to 80 percent in about an hour.

Aaron LeMiex, the inventor and founder of Tremont Electric, came up with the idea for the device while hiking 1,500 miles of the Appalachian Trail more than 10 years ago.

The PEG is 9 inches by 1.5 inches, weighs about 9 ounces, and is made of recycled materials. The PEG isn't a battery, so users can not store their kinetic energy to be used for charging later. Instead, it's more of a kinetic energy real-time converter that must be plugged in to the device as it's moving for the kinetic energy to be transferred as electricity immediately to the device.

The PEG, which has a standard USB 2.0 output, is compatible with 90 percent of portable electronic devices including MP3 players, GPS units, and digital cameras, according to Tremont Electric. (The compatibility list includes BlackBerry, iPhone, iPod, LG Chocolate, Magellan GPS, Nintendo DS Lite, Palm Treo, and most cell phones from Motorola, Nokia, Samsung, Sanyo, and Sony.)

There's no need to wear the device, as with some other kinetic energy harvesting devices. Simply carrying the PEG in a backpack, purse, or briefcase while walking provides the opportunity to harvest enough kinetic energy for the electricity.… Read more