Airports generate a great deal of noise during aircraft take-offs and landings. As of now, this acoustic energy is left to dissipate and represents a lost energy resource. It also causes noise pollution in the area.

Boeing has developed a system for generating electricity from the acoustic energy from an aircraft on a runway.

Acoustic wave collectors are mounted along the runway to collect the acoustic energy and direct the collected acoustic energy to an associated acoustic converter assembly.

A vibrating element within the acoustic converter assembly moves in response to the acoustic energy. This movement draws air into the housing below the vibrating element and then forces the air downward to form an output air flow.

The output air flow is directed to an associated turbine assembly to cause a shaft to rotate at a rate proportional to the magnitude of the received output air flow. An associated generator that is coupled to the shaft generates electricity proportionally to the rate of rotation of the shaft.

The generated electricity may be used to light up the runways.

US9359997