All those fitness conscious people on earth, what if your running gave you much more than just burning calories? What if I tell you that in the not so distant future, you can charge your portable electronic devices by just burning the sole of your running shoes. Surprised, I am certainly not pulling your leg here, actually two engineering researchers at University of Wisconsin-Madison, Tom Krupenkin and J. Ashley Taylor have had a vision of such a device, and they’ve presented a paper on it. So, with their invention coming, your battery may discharge while on a run, but your phone’s battery will last forever. Read on and feel charged up.
What’s is it?
Human body is a power house of energy and research has proven that a good sprint can produce a kilowatt of energy, enough to power a house. But, all this energy cannot be harnessed. But, if a small amount can be, then it will be enough to power your electronic devices like mobile phones, music players etc. Energy from the sun is also a good source of free power but it is not available 24×7. While for this, you just have to take a saunter. According to Krupenkin, currently there are not enough technologies in the watts range, they are either aimed at large scaled power harvesting, like wind or solar, or small power applications, like calculators.
In their paper published in Nature Communications, Tom Krupenkin and J. Ashley Taylor allude to this technique by the name ‘reverse electrowetting.’. The initial development for this project was funded by National Science Foundation Small Business Innovation.
Methodology:
Mechanical energy is generated whenever we walk, run, or do anything with our feet. This mechanical energy is what the researchers envision to trap. The mechanical energy is converted into electrical energy by using a transducer which is essentially a micro fluidic device which consists of thousands of liquid micro-droplets which interact with a nano structured state. The device could be embedded into the footwear which stores the energy and can convert it to 20 watts of electrical power. And this device never needs to be recharged as this works in real time. It creates, and generates simultaneously.
Usage:
You don’t have to rely on chargers anymore. Now, you can keep yourself fit, and simultaneously enjoy your playlist without worrying about those little battery bars on your device.
Future:
Currently, wires have to be attached to the transducer and to the device in question, but Wi-Fi can make things easier. Wi-Fi hotspots installed with the transducer will enable the user to charge their device without having to go through the pain of handling all those worrisome wires.
Via: Science Daily
