Scientific and technological research knows no bounds. MIT is indefatigable in such researches. Their latest breakthrough will see body heat that transforms into energy run low-power electronic devices. Yes, electricity runs through your body.
Darren Quick in gizmag talks of ‘new energy-scavenging systems under development at MIT’ that ‘could generate electricity just from differences in temperature between the body (or other warm object) and the surrounding air.’
These latest MIT efforts are not necessarily newfangled. The difference this time is the potential capability ‘to harness differences of just one or two degrees, producing tiny (about 100 microwatts) but nevertheless useful amounts of electricity.’ That won’t be enough to charge your cell phone or iPod, of course, but it can do wonders for such low-power electronic contraptions as ‘biomedical monitoring systems or sensors in remote and inaccessible locations.’
The star of the show is a ‘control circuit that optimizes the match between the energy output from the thermoelectric material (which generates power from temperature differences) and the storage system connected to it, in this case a storage capacitor.’This is the stuff that only techies would know. What we are aware of, though, is the fact that technological advances through the decades have brought about electronic devices that now consume less power and are, therefore, in need of only minimal energy to recharge.
0 comments:
Post a Comment