Communications of the ACM
Tech Trends in 2017: Energy Harvesting
Research into micro-scale energy harvesting has gained momentum in the last few years.
Credit: LinkedIn
Some experts see energy harvesting technology as essential to successfully realizing the Internet of Things, and research into micro-scale energy harvesting has gained momentum in the last few years.
For example, Stanford University researchers have prototyped HitchHike, an integrated radio/processor that applies backscattering to incoming radio waves and re-transmits data on a different Wi-Fi channel, which dramatically extends the Wi-Fi device's battery life.
Meanwhile, Swiss researchers last year tested prototype medical implants powered by subcutaneous solar cells.
Another notable innovation by scientists at the University of Cambridge in the U.K. is an ultra-low-power transistor capable of running for months or years at a time on ambient radiation; the device could power wearable devices or implantable electronics. The Cambridge researchers say the device harvests a "leakage" of electrical current characteristic of all transistors.
Experiments with static electricity also are proceeding, with scientists testing triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) to tap the charge that accumulates when two materials repeatedly come into contact and then separate, exchanging electrons. TENGs could power small medical implants, or be incorporated into hybrid energy harvesters that use both TENGs and solar cells to harness energy generated by wind and sunshine.
From Computing
View Full Article - May Require Paid Subscription
Abstracts Copyright © 2017 Information Inc., Bethesda, Maryland, USA
No entries found