Nanotechnology pushes battery life to eternity...with a tap of your finger

www.physorg.com...

A simple tap from your finger may be enough to charge your portable device thanks to a discovery made at RMIT University and Australian National University.

In a crucial step towards the development of self-powering portable electronics, researchers at RMIT University in Melbourne have for the first time characterised the ability of piezoelectric thin films to turn mechanical pressure into electricity.

Lead co-author Dr Madhu Bhaskaran said the research combined the potential of piezoelectrics - materials capable of converting pressure into electrical energy - and the cornerstone of microchip manufacturing, thin film technology. "The power of piezoelectrics could be integrated into running shoes to charge mobile phones, enable laptops to be powered through typing or even used to convert blood pressure into a power source for pacemakers - essentially creating an everlasting battery," she said.

If I understand the article correctly, you can use simple motions to power an electrical device. The problem is that there's no cost-effective way of doing this yet, and they are still working on how to transfer the electricity generated.

"The next key challenge will be amplifying the electrical energy generated by the piezoelectric materials to enable them to be integrated into low-cost, compact structures."

I wonder if this type of device could be used at a power plant?

This would be awesome.

The gym down the street could be the new power plant for the city lol

reply to post by buni11687

..enable laptops to be powered through typing..

I saw this the other day and started laughing. One would have to type a whole lot to get any usable power.

reply to post by buni11687


Pretty cool find.
I can see it now power plants running on hamster power, it's like a dream come true.

Great post OP

Nanotechnology has been talked about for a couple decades at least and finally in the last couple years they have made thhe first steps.

Imagine the possibilities of this technology sufficiently devolped we could have roads paved with this stuff to charge zero emission vehicles.

Yet another technology that will never see the light of day. Just think of an electric car using this tech? Oh you would not get back what you put out but you could extend the range for say 200 miles per charge to 300 miles per charge. You would never have to charge a cell phone again. Just caring it around would charge it.

You see some one jogging in place and ask what are you doing , "Oh just charging my (portable device)"

Sounds good but I do not think we will see it on the market any time soon if at all.

reply to post by fixer1967


I wouldn't be so negative, power companies and small electronic devices don't really have a deal between them. I'm pretty sure this type of technology will come out if it's good enough.
I would see someone like Nintendo starting this.

wow you could change the way hydro electric dams operate instead of turning a turbin have the water fall down a series of ladders formed of this stuff, no moving parts

Originally posted by GalacticJoe
reply to post by buni11687

 

..enable laptops to be powered through typing..

I saw this the other day and started laughing. One would have to type a whole lot to get any usable power.

I can see the adult industry and its lines of toys using this

The more you TAP the better it will operate

Originally posted by GalacticJoe
I saw this the other day and started laughing. One would have to type a whole lot to get any usable power.

Going by current standards, yes...but the definition of "usable power" has changed considerably over the years, and will continue to change. What I mean is that portable devices used to consume energy in the range of 10's of watts...that meant batteries had to put out a lot of power to run the devices, and didn't last long before going dead.

Now, portable electronics typically operate using milliwatts and even microwatts. Smaller, lighter batteries can keep things running much longer than 20 years ago. So if electronic components continue getting smaller and more efficient, realistically we could see consumption decrease to the picowatt or nanowatt range and then piezoelectric chargers could easily provide enough power to charge your batteries.

reply to post by buni11687


That's awesome because I'm always tapping my fingers and stuff like that, so I'll be charging my batteries without even noticing it.

it's not revolutionary nor a new concept and doesn't really require nanotech to be exploited.

It is based on the faraday principle, very simple : when you move a coil around a magnet, electromagnetic energy is produced.

Electromagnetic induction is the production of voltage across a conductor moving through a magnetic field.

en.wikipedia.org...

as simple as that & you can find flashlights, for example, & since years, that are using batteries that are charged every time you move it (the conductor coil is lose inside so it moves relatively to the magnet -or the opposite can't remember- and the current produced is charging the battery, no high-tech, no nano-tech just some smart inventors)

sure nanotech could make the concept much more powerful for obvious reason : use the faraday principle on really tiny scale and multiply as much the potential.

Piezoelectric devices are nothing new, though not based on induction - at least, not in the standard sense.

Any crystalline structure under an applied force will generate a voltage potential across an access perpendicular to the force applied. Quartz is well known for this, and it is the basis behind most watches and clock operations these days. A "fork" of quartz with aluminum applied to the tips is used in a resonant circuit (since, conversely, a crystal with an applied voltage will apply a force) - during tuning at production, the aluminum is vaporized off the ends, using a laser, until the quartz is resonating at the right frequency.

The technology was used rather early in microphones. More recently, it's been used in LCD displays - where we see the opposite effect - electricity is applied to a crystal and distorts it into a pattern that blocks light. It's also used in a number of pressure sensors.

To be honest - it's not really going to be all that practical in terms of generating power. sure - you could run a watch or something off of it - but you can just as well do that with a much cheaper solar panel. As for powering a computer by typing? Maybe a calculator - but not anything in the league of even a 'dumb' phone.

I dont know if anyone has mentioned it, but, a few years ago a 'novelty' story ran in the MSM about a discoteque in UK, that had its lighting that was powered by the amount of people dancing on the dancefloor; basically a similar idea. I dont remember the ins-and-outs of the tech used, but, i seem to recall that it utilised pressure, or, feet hitting the floor.
I dont see any reason why this power is system is not viable.
Akushla

reply to post by buni11687


they could be built into the soles of shoes and phones could be charged by your every day activities .
also what about building them into tyres , no more flat batterys .
or even fit them into the highways and the traffic would power the street lights .

Originally posted by hp1229
I can see the adult industry and its lines of toys using this

The more you TAP the better it will operate

"RED ALERT, POWERLOAD. CORE BREACH IMMINENT"

reply to post by Aim64C


The first Harley Davidson only got 1HP out of 1000CC or more of displacement, look how we get now. Just because piezeoelectric power is at this stage now doesn't mean we can't improve it.

reply to post by buni11687


15 years ago my mum worked in a tiny factory (4 other people on the shop floor) of the company who invented the piezo film. The only use for it back then was attaching an LED to a thin strip and flicking the strip to power the LED. People put them in kids trainers so they had a flashing light at the back.

Good to hear they finally have a real use for the stuff!

Likely not many of you are old enough to remember when the possibilties of tech were endless, but crystal power has been visualized since the 60's. Thankfully nano tech may make some of these dreams a reality, it's most likely that our petro based civilization will never see such marvels at a consumer level. Sadly there is no profit in it and that is what our society has become. One of the pursuit of profit only.

Till the global conciousness shift in 2012 that is