New trickle charge tech could usher in batteries that run on human movement

New trickle charge tech could usher in batteries that run on human movement
Advertisement
Scientists are developing gen-next batteries that capture the energy of our everyday movements, such as walking, to convert it into electricity to power cellphones and other devices.

Researchers have for many years attempted to harvest energy from our everyday movements to allow us to trickle charge electronic devices while we are walking without the need for expensive and cumbersome gadgets such as solar panels or hand-cranked chargers.

Lightweight devices are limited in the voltage that they can produce from our low-frequency movements to a few millivolts.

Now, Jiayang Song and Kean Aw of the University of Auckland, New Zealand, have built an energy harvester that consists of a snake-shapes strip of silicone, polydimethylsiloxane, acting as a flexible cantilever that bends back and forth with body movements.

The cantilever is attached to a conducting metal coil with a strong neodymium, NdFeB, magnet inside, all enclosed in a polymer casing. When a conductor moves through a magnetic field a current is induced in the conductor.

This has been the basis of electrical generation in power stations, dynamos and other such systems since the discovery of the effect in the nineteenth century.

Using a powerful magnet and a conducting coil with lots of turns means a higher voltage can be produced.

In order to extract the electricity generated, there is a need to include special circuitry that takes only the positive voltage and passes it along to a rechargeable battery.

The development of kinetic chargers has been stymied by current diode technology that requires a voltage of around 200 millivolts to drive a current.

Song and Aw have now side-stepped this obstacle by using a tiny electrical transformer and a capacitor, which acts like a microelectronic battery.

Their charger, weighing just a few grams, oscillates, wiggling the coil back and forth through the neodymium magnetic field and produces 40 millivolts.

The transformer captures this voltage and stores up the charge in the capacitor in fractions of a second. Once the capacitor is full it discharges sending a positive pulse to the rechargeable battery, thus acting as its own rectifier.

The team concedes that this is just the first step towards a viable trickle charger that could be used to keep medical devices, monitors and sensors trickle charged while a person goes about their normal lives without the need for access to a power supply.

The study was published in the International Journal Biomechatronics and Biomedical Robotics.

(Image courtesy: John Seb Barber)

Comments

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.

Further reading: Batteries, Cellphones, Mobiles
Google Currents app shut down, users redirected to Google Play Newsstand
Google finally starts rolling out revamped Google Maps for desktop
Share on Facebook Gadgets360 Twitter Share Tweet Snapchat Share Reddit Comment google-newsGoogle News
 
 

Advertisement

Follow Us

Advertisement

© Copyright Red Pixels Ventures Limited 2024. All rights reserved.
Trending Products »
Latest Tech News »