Innovative Hymini charges gadgets using sun, wind, AC, or USB

There's no shortage of green solar- or wind-powered ways to juice up your gadgets these days, but rarely do we see a charger that employs both together -- along with the reliable old power grid -- for sweet, sweet redundancy. The Hymini from startup MINIWIZ was first conceived by founder Arthur Huang in an MIT business class, and combines a micro turbine generator with a 1200mA/h lithium ion rechargeable battery that can also be filled via USB, AC, or an optional array of up to four miniSOLAR solar panels. According to published specs, the device -- which has yet to be priced or released -- will operate at wind speeds between 9mph and 40mph, with a 20-minute session in 19mph winds providing enough power for between four minutes of talk time (cellphone) and forty minutes of music playback (flash-based DAP). Very promising indeed, yet of limited utility until we find a gadget that ensures we don't leave all these handy supplemental charging products in the bottom drawer of our desk when we actually need them.

[Via Crave]

[HineyWipe @ Oct 18th 2007 11:26AM]

Obviously, Hymen was taken.

[Natedog @ Oct 18th 2007 12:08PM]

I was thinking the exact same thing. Why did nobody at MINIWIZ notice that the name is way, way too close to hymen?

[Andy S. @ Oct 18th 2007 1:56PM]

The jokes about broken Hyminis practically write themselves, eh?

[ScreamingSkull @ Oct 18th 2007 12:21PM]

Just what I need when I get lost on that desert island!

[Ken @ Oct 18th 2007 12:29PM]

I especially like how on their website they show it used to generate energy from wind on a motorcycle and a outside a car while driving. Great: now we can waste of energy in extra gasoline due to crappy wind resistance to recharge this thing outside a car/motorcycle instead of plugging it in to the cig lighter/direct to battery, which would be way, way more efficient. I would have expected more from someone who came from MIT...

[Othello @ Oct 18th 2007 12:46PM]

Wait, you think hanging your hand out the window of a car will cause a noticeable increase in gas expenditures?

[NHAnimator @ Oct 18th 2007 12:53PM]

Yes. This is why NASCAR drivers wait until they win before they wave to the crowd.

[Ken @ Oct 18th 2007 2:09PM]

Othello- Not enough to measure, but a heck of a lot more energy than you'll get from a crappy wind generator. Otherwise, you'd be well on your way to a perpetual motion machine. For example, there have been efficiency studies on which is more fuel efficient, rolling your window down, or using your AC. BOTH decrease your fuel efficiency to a measurable degree, and that's without strapping a silly plastic do-dad to your window frame. When I took my Yakima rack cross bars off my pickup truck, my highway mileage went up almost 2MPG. Wind profile counts...

[Rick @ Oct 18th 2007 3:52PM]

So do you have to run really fast while holding this up in the air? Or do you wave your arm side to side frantically while trying to wind charge?

[Dan @ Oct 19th 2007 10:06AM]

I checked out the site and if you input your city it tells you what its average wind speeds are. Not sure where you live but usually the breeze you get from walking/standing still is enough. Arm flapping or hot air not necessary for it to work.

[Rick @ Oct 19th 2007 7:17PM]

So just standing there and letting this thing dangle will allow sufficient air flow to reach it and enable it to charge? Wow.

[J. Dyson @ Nov 1st 2007 3:33PM]

Nice idea.
This product would require propulsion to get any kind of performance i.e attached to the outside of a vehicle traveling at 30+ mph, the 3” diameter blades would still not exceed 1 watt of power.

A solar panel would far out perform this disappointing performance.The 60 day warranty is also a big reason why to avoid it.
Sorry.