Body Energy as a Power Source #Science #Engineering

Systems converting energy of the body into electricity, such as this foot prosthesis, are to be used by KIT scientists to power portable electric devices, such as smartphones or pacemakers of the heart.

Credit: KIT/Andreas Keller, courtesy KUNZBERG GmbH


It's not that pretty but devices built for research hardly ever will be.  The researchers have grand plans for it nonetheless.

Science Daily:  Body energy as a power source

Maybe you have heard of such systems previously but ones I've seen have aimed for a much lower scale in which they harvest energy from the body internally to operate impossibly small tiny devices. For the large scale, the KIT researchers went after solving the problem mechanically rather than electronically or by other means.


Smartphones, MP3 players, sports electronics devices such as pulse meters or trackers, medical equipment such as tonometers, pacemakers of the heart, or insulin pumps: An increasing number of electronic companions make daily life easier for us. But as useful these smart helpers may be: Their constant hunger for electricity is a problem. The solution: power supply by means of energy produced by body movements. This is the research subject of scientists at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT).

- SD

There you see the scope of the range of the devices the researchers hope to power and this next is to show they will do it.

Explanation of the animation: Below the heel and the ball of the walker there are cushions filled with a liquid. The impact and the heel-to-toe motion of the foot causes oil to be pumped through a hose connecting the two elements, in this way, like a miniaturized tidal power plant, operating a piston which, in turn, drives a generator generating power.

- SD

Essentially they have just built a pump but what a remarkable application for it.  The interested student is invited to read the body of the source article for much more about how the researchers were able to make this work


Zen Yogi:  is this about Dreaming Big?

Science is often driven by that and that's what creates the intrigue in it for me, mate.  In this exercise it becomes possible to eliminate Lithium ion batteries and their regrettable tendency to catch fire.  There's no need to look for a line forming which is comprised of angry people who insist on keeping such batteries since that is never going to happen.