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Hello everyone,

Being an ecological soul I've recently been experimenting with ways of powering an electric wheelchair solely on the energy generated when the occupant moves their false-teeth. As you can imagine, we've had startling results, particularly amongst our older female residents.

However, I'm stumped if I can find a way of transmitting the power wirelessly from the accumulator on the (false) wisdom tooth to the chair itself. I could go on using trailing cables but I'm a little concerned that a drooling patient may inadvertantly dribble down the wire and cause a short-circuit. Someone suggested Bluetooth, but no matter how many we painted the results were pitiful, and the test subjects often developed lead poisoning, Not a route I want to go down again!

Any suggestions as to how to effect energy transfer would be appreciated, or perhaps a novel way of collecting potential saliva?

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Best wishes Helga Walters (Housekeeper) Littleboxes Nursing Home "Caring for the wants and needs of the needy and the wanty"

Reply to
Helga Walters (Housekeeper)
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"Helga Walters (Housekeeper)" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@g19g2000yqe.googlegroups.com...

Forget the electronic approach. Too inefficient. Run a tube from the mouth to conduct the drool down to the floor through a microturbine/generator. An additional scheme would be to provide a coil /magnet combination (may need gears) ,as in a squeeze flashlight, on the teeth. These might not drive a wheelchair but would provide warning lights in case of a runaway chair. Alternatively, they might provide an ignition source for a jet fueled by minor legume changes to the patient's diet.

Reply to
<dhky

I think this approach won't get you anywhere. We've found that its much more efficient to harness the energy produced by shaking due to palsy than pursuing the denture route.

The subjects tend not to spend enough time rattling their teeth before they progress to the soft food stage, rendering this mode useless.

Reply to
Paul Hovnanian P.E.

C'mon now. Didn't you have the self control to wait about two weeks until April 1, came around again?

Just in case you are serious, do an energy balance. How big a stroke d of the jaw can you get by moving your jaw. What force P can you produce. Even more important how many bites per minute f can you maintain?

If P is measured in pounds, d in feet you can get Pdf/32,000 horse power. Figure out how much you need given the weight of the patient and the slope you have to overcome.

Bill

Reply to
Salmon Egg

Average male biting force ~68 pounds/square inch. I'd say that 120 chomps/second would be sustainable --or-- ~150 pounds at 30 chomps/ second for short burst.

Reply to
[SMF]

I am taking this much too seriously.

Just because you can bite, say with a force of 120 pounds when you are trying to crack nuts or wheat kernels, does not mean you can sustain that kind of force over the distance of a full bite of about half an inch. Trying to chew a tough sinew will quickly tire out your chewing muscle. It is much easier to biter a dentist's finger to get it removed from your mouth than to actually eat it bones and all.

Bottom line guess: With 100% efficiency one all stops out bite will raise a biter's body about a quarter of an inch at most.

Bill

Reply to
Salmon Egg

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