Fish Power? Electric Ray's Organ Provides Power To Generator

Nature, researchers recently found, may be able to teach us a better way. Scientists from the RIKEN Quantitative Biology Center (QBiC) in Osaka began work to develop a new type of electricity generator, based on the knowledge that electric rays known as torpedoes can beat other systems by generating electric power with near 100% efficiency. The torpedo has electric organs with densely-aligned membrane proteins that convert the chemical energy of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) into ion transport energy, and a nervous system that controls the whole process.

QBiC’s Yo Tanaka and his collaborators thought the principle used by the fish might be applied to make a breakthrough power generator. Their experiments, reported in Scientific Reports, artificially reproduced and controlled this phenomenon.

They began by looking at what happens in a live electric ray. Tanaka says, “When we used physical stimulation of a live torpedo, we detected less than 10 milliseconds of pulse current with a peak voltage 19 V and current of 8 A in the electrical response. Using this pulse, we found that we were able to store enough electricity to light up LED light or drive a toy car.”

 

The experimental setup

Credit: RIKENB

Then, in an attempt to generate more electricity, they removed the electric organ from a torpedo and chemically stimulated the organ by injecting a solution of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine though a syringe. They were able to achieve more than a minute of continuous current, with a peak voltage of 91 mV and 0.25 mA of current.

Tanaka continues, “By increasing the number of syringes, we achieved a peak voltage of 1.5 V and a current of 0.64mA. In addition, we found that it is possible to repeat power generation and keep the organ functional for up to one day.” By combining a fluid control device to control the stimulation as is done by the torpedo’s own nervous system, they were able to generate and store electricity with a peak voltage of 1.5 V and 0.25 mA of current.

Tanaka says he hopes the research will be a first step towards a future high-efficiency power generator that uses ATP directly and could lead to a modern, ultra-clean electric power generator.

 

Citation: Yo Tanaka et al., An electric generator using living Torpedo electric organs controlled by fluid pressure-based alternative nervous systems, Scientific Reports (2016), doi: 10.1038/srep25899