綠色健身房與發(fā)電健身器械外文翻譯--這些將汗水轉(zhuǎn)化成電能的運動器材

1、<p>　　中文2000字，1200單詞，6300英文字符</p><p><b>　　外文翻譯</b></p><p><b>　　原文</b></p><p>　　These Exercise Machines Turn Your Sweat Into Electricity</p><p

2、>　　Author: Tom Gibson</p><p>　　Nationality: USA</p><p>　　Originate from: IEEE Spectrum, 2011 ,48(7):50 - 55.</p><p>　　Walk into a spinning class at the New York Sports Clubs'

3、 facility on Eighth Avenue and West 23rd Street in Manhattan and you'll find 20 sweaty people furiously pedaling their stationary bikes. Look closely and you'll notice something unusual about this workout: Each o

4、f the bikes is attached to a black box with wires running out of it. The box is a compact generator that converts the motion of the wheels into electricity, which is then fed into the power grid, offsetting some of the c

5、lub's energy</p><p>　　By adopting power-producing exercise machines in this way, gyms can promote themselves as environmentally friendly and also reduce their electric bills. At least three start-ups in

6、the United States are now selling equipment to retrofit aerobic machines—stationary bicycles, elliptical trainers, and steppers—into electricity-generating gear. These companies have already converted several hundred mac

7、hines at dozens of U.S. health clubs and university gyms.</p><p>　　The reality, though, is that this technology faces major hurdles before it can go mainstream. For one thing, the economics aren't very e

8、nticing. The energy output from a single exercise machine is quite small: Unless you're Lance Armstrong, you might be able to power a ceiling fan while spinning a stationary bike, but not much more. So a gym might ha

9、ve to wait decades to recover the money it spent converting its exercise machines to generate electricity. What's more, the energy output of these m</p><p>　　Backers of the technology respond by comparin

10、g the current cost of these machines with that of technologies like compact fluorescent bulbs or solar and wind power , which many people doubted would ever take off. They claim it's only a matter of time until every

11、 exercise machine comes equipped with a generator. And with some 30 000 gyms in the United States, that would mean millions of machines-and many more in people's homes-whose combined energy would then be appreciable.

12、 </p><p>　　“Stationary bikes create resistance, and through this friction, heat is produced,” says Jay Whelan, cofounder of the Green Revolution , in Ridgefield, Conn., the company that converted the spinnin

13、g bikes at the NYSC in Manhattan. “The industrial engineer in me said, 'What a waste! There's got to be a way to capture and use this energy.' ”</p><p>　　Although the basic idea of attaching a ge

14、nerator to exercise equipment is many decades old, the press started lavishing attention on this concept four years ago, after a Hong Kong gym called California Fitness rigged 18 exercise machines to charge a battery and

15、 power fluorescent lights. Since then, three companies in the United States have been working hard to market the technology, each taking a slightly different approach.</p><p>　　In 2007, Hudson Harr, then a 2

16、1-year-old graduate of the University of Florida with degrees in electrical and mechanical engineering, spent all the money he had amassing a collection of used elliptical machines and electrical parts. Transforming his

17、mother's house into his laboratory, he began tearing the equipment apart. What he found is that some elliptical models already had small DC generators inside. These power the monitoring console and also serve to incr

18、ease the amount of resistance the </p><p>　　Normally, the generator uses a bank of resistors to dissipate the energy it produces. Harr figured that he could get rid of the resistors and put that power to wor

19、k. “Essentially, we remove the internal resistance the machine has and give it an external load, which is our equipment,” he says. Harr's strategy is to wire each elliptical machine to a central unit containing an in

20、verter that converts the DC power generated to AC. The inverter in turn connects to the building's electrical system and </p><p>　　Harr's lab is no longer taking up space at his mother's house. H

21、is company, ReRev , based in Clearwater, Fla., has moved into a 1400-square-meter production facility and now employs 15 people. ReRev has wired up 150 machines at more than a dozen gyms. It has installed systems at many

22、 colleges, including Drexel University, James Madison University, Oregon State University, Texas State University, and the University of Florida.</p><p>　　Meanwhile, the Green Revolution, the company Jay Whe

23、lan and Mark Sternberg founded in 2008, went down a different road. Instead of elliptical trainers, the two entrepreneurs focused on exercise bicycles. They started by taking an ordinary bike and propping its back wheel

24、up on a triangular frame. Then they attached a car alternator to the wheel and hacked it to boost the amount of power it could generate, which also raised the resistance to motion it provided.</p><p>　　Their

25、 initial idea was to design and build entirely new exercise bikes with generators attached to them. But the owners of exercise clubs didn't want to buy all new equipment, so the two entrepreneurs decided to build a p

26、ower-producing modification instead. Their module attaches directly to the bikes, feeding electricity to two 12-volt batteries wired in series. When a user starts pedaling, the batteries charge, and when they're full

27、, the inverter kicks in and sends power to the grid, converting</p><p>　　So are these electricity-producing exercise machines merely a marketing gimmick, something to make gym patrons feel good about their w

28、orkouts? At the moment, that would seem to be the case. Gyms that have embraced the technology say that by advertising themselves as greener than regular gyms—and gyms are notorious power hogs—they can attract environmen

29、tally conscious customers. And if enough customers choose that gym rather than another one down the street, the initial investment will pay for it</p><p>　　Take the Green Microgym in Portland, Ore. Adam Boes

30、el opened the facility in 2008 with Human Dynamo machines inside and solar panels on the roof. Boesel reports that his gym generates about 36 percent of its own electricity, saving nearly 40 000 kWh per year-although he

31、admits that the savings come mostly from the solar panels. </p><p>　　“People are very receptive,” says Boesel. He even initiated a program called Burn and Earn, which rewards customers with $1 coupons—redeem

32、able for food, beverages, clothing, and other merchandise—for every hour they operate the electricity-generating equipment. The electricity produced certainly isn't worth a dollar to him. And he'll be lucky if he

33、's still in business when the electricity generated from the machines finally compensates for the extra money he spent on them.</p><p>　　But this might change in the not-too-distant future, if the compan

34、ies selling retrofitted equipment can ramp up volume and bring costs down. Or if the mainstream manufacturers of exercise machines catch the wave and add an electricity-generation option to their products without chargin

35、g a large premium for it. If including that feature ups the price only $100 or so—a reasonable prospect given the very minor alterations needed—the payback period would rival that of many other conservation measure</p

36、><p><b>　　譯文</b></p><p>　　這些將汗水轉(zhuǎn)化成電能的運動器材</p><p>　　在曼哈頓第八大道和西23號街，走進一個在紐約體育設(shè)施俱樂部的SPINNING課程班，你會發(fā)現(xiàn)20個人正揮汗如雨猛踏固定式自行車。仔細觀察,你會注意到一些不尋常的東西：所有臺自行車通過電線連接在一個黑盒上。盒子是一個簡易的發(fā)電裝置，可將車輪的動

37、能轉(zhuǎn)換成電能，再將電能送入電網(wǎng)，提供俱樂部的部分能源使用。對于這些去健身房運動人，這不僅是氧健身；他們的汗水同時促進了綠色環(huán)保。</p><p>　　以這種方式采用發(fā)電健身器材，在健身的同時可以促進環(huán)保、減少電費?，F(xiàn)在，美國至少有三家設(shè)備銷售公司正在改造有氧健身器材——固定式自行車、橢圓機、踢腿機——將其變?yōu)榘l(fā)電裝備。這些公司已經(jīng)改變了幾十上百家美國健康俱樂部和大學(xué)健身房。</p><p>

38、;　　然而，現(xiàn)實是，這項技術(shù)成為主流前面臨著一系列障礙。首先，在經(jīng)濟方面不是很誘人。從單一的鍛煉機可輸出的能量很?。撼悄闶翘m斯?阿姆斯特朗，才能踩踏一臺固定自行車來滿足一臺吊扇運作，但僅此而已。所以健身房可能需要幾十年才能收回在發(fā)電健身器材上所花費的資金。更重要的是，這些機器的能量輸出太低，只能提供很少的環(huán)境效益。所以不要認為健身愛好者單憑固定自行車就可以免費美國對化石燃料的依賴。</p><p>　　技術(shù)的支

39、持者回應(yīng)，通過比較這些機器的當(dāng)前成本與其他技術(shù)，如緊湊型熒光燈或太陽能和風(fēng)能，人們質(zhì)疑終將消失。他們聲稱，這只是一個時間問題，只要每一個運動機都配有一臺發(fā)電機。并且，美國有30000多家健身房，這意味著有數(shù)以百萬的機器，包括普通人家里的，它們產(chǎn)生的電能綜合將十分可觀。</p><p>　　“固定自行車產(chǎn)生阻力，并通過這種摩擦，產(chǎn)生熱量，”綠色革命的創(chuàng)始人之一杰伊·惠蘭表示，在康涅狄格州、里奇菲爾德市，公

40、司將轉(zhuǎn)換自行車提供給曼哈頓紐約運動俱樂部?！肮I(yè)工程師對我說，‘真是浪費！必須有一種方法來捕捉和使用這種能量。’”</p><p>　　雖然給運動器材附加一個發(fā)電機的基本思想十多年前就有，但直到四年前，香港加州健身房控制18健身器材給電池充電和進行照明出現(xiàn)后，媒體才開始把注意力集中在這一概念。從那時起，這三家公司在美國一直致力于市場的技術(shù)，方法略有不同。</p><p>　　2007年，哈

41、德遜·哈爾，佛羅里達大學(xué)電氣和機械工程學(xué)位21歲的研究生，花了他所有的錢積攢了一系列用于橢圓機電氣部件。把他母親的房子變?yōu)樗膶嶒炇襾聿鸾庠O(shè)備。他發(fā)現(xiàn)一些橢圓模型內(nèi)部存在小型直流發(fā)電機。用以支持監(jiān)視控制臺，并幫助用戶運動時增加阻力感。這是因為電流產(chǎn)生的磁場力，創(chuàng)造了一個反向運動。通過調(diào)節(jié)電流量的生成，用戶可以改變他或她感到阻力。</p><p>　　通常情況下，發(fā)電機使用電阻銀行產(chǎn)生的能量消散。哈爾認為

42、他能擺脫權(quán)力的電阻,將工作?！盎旧?我們刪除機器的內(nèi)部阻力和給它一個外部負載,這是我們的設(shè)備,”他說。冷霧的策略是每個橢圓機連接到一個中央單元包含一個逆變器,將生成的直流電源轉(zhuǎn)換為交流。逆變器依次連接到建筑物的電氣系統(tǒng),最終提要網(wǎng)格。</p><p>　　哈爾的實驗室不再占用他母親家中的空間。他的公司ReRev總部位于佛羅里達州克利爾沃特。搬進了1400平方米的生產(chǎn)設(shè)備，擁有員工15人。ReRev連接了150臺

43、機器和十幾個健身房。在許多大學(xué)安裝了系統(tǒng)，包括德雷塞爾大學(xué)、詹姆斯·麥迪遜大學(xué)、俄勒岡州立大學(xué)、德克薩斯州立大學(xué)和佛羅里達大學(xué)的。</p><p>　　與此同時，綠色革命，杰伊·惠蘭和馬克·斯騰伯格公司于2008年成立，走了一條不同的路。不同于橢圓機，這兩位企業(yè)家的研究主要集中于運動自行車。他們剛開始使用普通的自行車，并用三角形框架支撐它的后輪。然后他們使用汽車交流發(fā)電機輪，通過它提

44、高可能生成的電量，并提高了運動阻力。</p><p>　　他們最初的想法是，設(shè)計全新的健身自行車和與其相連的發(fā)電機。但運動俱樂部業(yè)主不想購買新設(shè)備，所以兩位企業(yè)家決定對發(fā)電進行改變。他們的組件直接連接到自行車，給兩個12伏串聯(lián)的電池供電。當(dāng)用戶開始騎車，電池充電，當(dāng)電池充滿，變頻啟動，將24 v直流轉(zhuǎn)換為110 v交流，發(fā)送至電網(wǎng)。</p><p>　　所以這些發(fā)電健身器材裝置只是一個營銷

45、噱頭，讓顧客對他們的訓(xùn)練感覺良好嗎？目前，似乎是這樣的。接受新技術(shù)的健身房通過廣告宣稱自己比普通健身房——臭名昭著的耗電——更加綠色，更能吸引顧客的環(huán)保意識。如果有足夠的客戶選擇這樣的健身而不是普通健身房，最初的投資收回將快得多。</p><p>　　2008年，在俄勒岡州波特蘭， Adam Boesel開辦了內(nèi)部裝有Human Dynamo發(fā)電機和屋頂太陽能電池板設(shè)備的綠色健身房。據(jù)報道，他的健身房自給供電約達

46、36%，每年節(jié)省近40 000千瓦時——盡管他承認儲蓄主要來自太陽能電池板。</p><p>　　“人們非常接受，”Boesel說。他甚至發(fā)起一個項目叫做燃燒和收入，客戶運行發(fā)電設(shè)備將獲得每小時1美元優(yōu)惠券的回報，可兌換食品、飲料、服裝和其他商品。產(chǎn)生的電力當(dāng)然不止一美元。如果他仍在營業(yè)時，發(fā)電器械最后補償他在他們身上花費投資，他將是幸運的。</p><p>　　在不太遙遠的未來這樣的現(xiàn)狀

47、可能發(fā)生改變，如果公司銷售的新設(shè)備可以增加體積、降低成本，或者生產(chǎn)運動機器的主流廠商能抓住潮流，給他們的產(chǎn)品添加發(fā)電選擇并不收取大額溢價。如果包括了這些特性并且價格只上升100美元——一個合理的前景給予必要的改變——因此投資回收期會比其他保護措施更具競爭力。</p><p>　　作者：Tom Gibson</p><p><b>　　國籍：美國</b></p&g