Charge your iPhone with wind power using the iFan
Dutch designer Tjeerd Veenhoven has come with an ‘iFan’, a way for him to charge his iPhone while cycling, I guess, to work and back, and around town.
Smartphone batteries don’t last long in a day, especially if you do more than just call and be called. A friend of mine usually asks his husband before they leave somewhere if he is ‘all charged up’, not if he is ready to go, just to give you an idea of the sign of the times.
The iFan, made with a modified computer fan, is a rubber skin that just slides onto the phone and charges when the wind blows, taking 6 hours to fully charge an iPhone. As Veenhoven writes, “rather long I think… but it works.”
He plans to see what he can do about making the fan blades smaller and have the thing charge from a car and the likes. I enjoy reading about his thought process as well, which keeps it real.
(Link: digitaljournal.com, Photo: Tjeerd Veenhoven)
How cool. When it’s modified a bit I would love one!
How tedious. Just for a second, imagine yourself riding a bike with this silly thing in your hand. Waving it around. Riding through -I don’t know- Weena in Rotterdam or in front of Amsterdam CS with a bloody fan on top your phone, and for quite some time because it is not going to charge your phone in a second.
And the car suggestion is even more stupid. If you are in a car, hook up your phone to the car battery. The electricity is already there, and by using the car’s apparent “wind” you are not saving any energy.
This is the sort of completely pointless design project that just parasitizes something that is already “cool” (the iPhone) and tries to add a little layer of sustainable, green, wind driven whatever on top. And fails.
I agree with Walter. It’s up there with eating worms to save on feeding the world, but I do think the idea is interesting.