Power Harvesting: The Bat Hook Helping Special Ops 'Superheroes'

Power lines crisscross the skies, delivering electricity with the flip of a switch. But what happens when a soldier is outside, away from an electrical outlet, and unable to access electricity to power equipment or recharge batteries?
An engineer at an Air Force research lab in Dayton, Ohio, has figured out how to harness electricity from power lines via a system called RAPS. RAPS is a connecting device that's attached to the end of a long cable. When the device is thrown over a power line, a blade at the end pierces the power line and completes the circuit that brings electricity down to the soldier. And that can mean a lot in the desert or jungle.
"Research and development is an amazing field to work in and yes, it's fun," says mechanical designer Dave Coates. "Especially when you have a lot of people saying the task you've been given is impossible, and then you produce something like this."
CONCEPTS EXPLORED
Remote Auxiliary Power System (RAPS)
AC and DC Electricity
Power Grid
MILITARY BRANCH
Air Force

[@ferdocrane4179]

In my country this is calling "stealing electricity"

[@GuillermoHernandez-mu5mj]

In a war zone normal rules do not apply

[@Tonygarry78]

Hell yeah. I'm taking everything. Including your AR-14. Or 12eltenth

[@shodanxx]

It's not stealing when a soldier does it, it's not murder either when they kill someone. And most importantly, it's not imperialism if the US does it !

[@Its303AcidBass]

@@shodanxx 💗

[@Geolaminar]

United States arms research: It's where our taxes go.

[@mikeovett4449]

You don’t need all those sophisticated crap people in other countries have been doing this for many years with some wire and some wood

[@jasonclark6194]

I seen a guy down the street use a set of jumper cables to steal power 😂

[@ninehundreddollarluxuryyac5958]

Can the electric company sue for damaging insulation on their lines? This will lead to leakage and electrolysis induced corrosion, requiring the entire line to be replaced a year after some army guy charged his phone.

[@3rdHalf1]

First of all - this thing solves problem no one had. That said - There is no place on earth where a company would be able to sue any military for damaging a power line.

[@MrHerhor67]

What? The current will not flow through the water, why would you have electrolysis there? Most transmission lines are not insulated anyway, and I don't see them being replaced yearly.

[@ahndeux]

@@MrHerhor67 They have to be insulated when its coming down to the house with the three wires shown. The ones that are not insulated are the high voltage lines at 7200V. Those lines are just separated by an air gap. I have no idea what you are talking about current not flowing through water. Current flows through water very well as long it has impurities. Salt water is one of the most conductive electrolyte.

[@garycook5125]

That's not an issue, because the wire ends are exposed to the elements where they are connected to the transformer on the pole. The insulation is to keep the lines from conducting with each other.

[@lordnetsplits3192]

Defending foreign countries but their own… awesome

[@jeffreyyoung4104]

If you are outside a house with power, it would be simpler and safer to enter and use the wall sockets. There isn't anywhere I would be willing to toss that over a power line and hope it cuts into the insulated portion without bridging the neutral wire.

[@garycook5125]

It's proper usage requires the user to connect to the secondary of the last transformer (120VAC X 2).

[@Ezio-Auditore94]

So the actual operation of the device was shown poorly and the last part was cut

[@ahndeux]

It sounds great until you have to detach it. Who is volunteering to go up a power pole? If you are special ops, you can just throw it away because Uncle Sam is wasteful, but not for the average Joe Blow stealing power.

[@roberttill3787]

If you have thrown it up and pulled it back anticlockwise to engage it, throw its cable over the cable and pull it round clockwise to disengage it. The problem is that in the UK we dont run a live phase and the neutral together, so a problem develops with that system. Hey-Ho......

[@chechebro1]

Where can I buy one of these?

[@garycook5125]

Two of your graphics in the presentation depict your product being attached to the power lines on the primary side of the last transformer. I hope no one tries that.

[@theinthanhlan3582]

"__" is stealing electricity legal in america?

[@bend8353]

You are not miles away if have a 120v transformer near by.

[@chrishultgren777]

Need this for my Tesla

[@seymourpro6097]

How "special" do forces have to be to live connect to a 100+KV line. It's a fine system for 110vac but the same "black wire" could be carrying higher voltage.

[@baburaospeaks2429]

How can it work without Earth ?

[@chewygum1854]

it's in parallel, there are two razors cutting

[@knotkool1]

1 razor for hot, 1 bare metal for ground/earth. the bare metal part contacts with the bare metal wire as demonstrated.

[@edo153]

The razor cuts into the hot wire that’s insulated and the base of the connector touches the bare wire which is the neutral/ground completing the circuit

[@edo153]

@@chewygum1854 what? 😬😂

[@chewygum1854]

@@edo153 bruh this was over a year ago idfk 😂

[@martywolf1819]

What if it hooks up backwards

[@garycook5125]

AC is not polarity sensitive, and the flat side won't cut into the hot line either.

[@walkingdead171]

Lol I'm making this

[@africanelectron751]

Try it on 750kv lines....

[@Zoldier92]

@@africanelectron751 Try it on your nose.

[@jvon3885]

Not that special but yeah it's useful.

[@GroovyVideo2]

ranchers do this All the time

[@Ogrematic]

Unless there's a power failure.

[@jvon3885]

But in the jungle or the desert, they don't have too many powerlines. So what then? Why not build a device that can harvest the radiant energy in the sky? That would be a better solution.

[@garycook5125]

They did; it's called a rollup solar panel. It'll only provide low current, low voltage DC, though.