We're seeing a lot of noise about energy harvesting in the last few months. It sounds like a scifi dream, but it's actually not that uncommon, especially for wearables and wifi.
It grabs extra ambient energy, whether it's solar, pressure, temperature differences, or just the electromagnetic radiation that's floating all around us from our advanced communications technologies.
The crazy part is when you scale it up. Wearables aren't really here yet, and neither is the 5G mesh network. It's also not being integrated into our building materials or civil infrastructure. But it's coming, and here's some examples, besides the obvious examples of solar, wind and hydro:
Using softened wood to create electricity in homes
Mar 2021, phys.org
They're using fungus to eat-away the insides of the wood, to make it more spongy, so it can become squishy when you walk on it, and thereby generating electricity via the piezoelectric effect. The floor creates electricity as we walk across it.
via: Jianguo Sun et al. Enhanced mechanical energy conversion with selectively decayed wood, Science Advances (2021). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abd9138
Battery-free Game Boy runs forever
Sep 2020, phys.org
Your own button-pressing as you play the game powers the game:
"It's the first battery-free interactive device that harvests energy from user actions," said Northwestern's Josiah Hester, who co-led the research. "When you press a button, the device converts that energy into something that powers your gaming.""Sustainable gaming will become a reality."
Your paper notebook could become your next tablet
Sep 2021, phys.org
"Self-powered paper-based electronic device""We developed a method to render paper repellent to water, oil and dust by coating it with highly fluorinated molecules. This omniphobic coating allows us to print multiple layers of circuits onto paper without getting the ink to smear from one layer to the next one."BUT -- "flourine" and "omniphobic" sound like PFAS which, if scaled-up, is bound to be an ecological distaster.Martinez said this innovation facilitates the fabrication of vertical pressure sensors that do not require any external battery, since they harvest the energy from their contact with the user.via: Marina Sala de Medeiros et al, Moisture-insensitive, self-powered paper-based flexible electronics, Nano Energy (2020). DOI: 10.1016/j.nanoen.2020.105301
Small generator captures heat given off by skin to power wearable devices
May 2021, phys.org
It converts heat from our skin into electrical energy.
via: Cell Reports Physical Science, Liu et al.: "Efficient Molecular Encoding in Multifunctional Self-Immolative Urethanes". DOI: 10.1016/j.xcrp.2021.100412
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| Nikon Small World 2020 - Crystals - Justin Zoll |
Researchers develop flexible crystal, paving the way for more efficient bendable electronics
Feb 2021, phys.org
A team of researchers led by Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) has developed a new material, that when electricity is applied to it, can flex and bend forty times more than its competitors, opening the way to better micro machines.Conversely, when it is bent, it generates electricity very effectively and could be used for better 'energy harvesting' — potentially recharging batteries in gadgets just from everyday movements.The novel material is both electrostrictive and piezoelectric. Its electrostrictive properties means it can change shape when an electric current is applied, while piezoelectric means the material can convert pressure into electric charges.via Nanyang Technological University: Yuzhong Hu et al. Ferroelastic-switching-driven large shear strain and piezoelectricity in a hybrid ferroelectric, Nature Materials (2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41563-020-00875-3
Engineers harvest Wi-Fi signals to power small electronics
May 2021, phys.org
To harness this under-used source of energy, a research team from the National University of Singapore (NUS) and Japan's Tohoku University (TU) has developed a technology that uses tiny smart devices known as spin-torque oscillators (STOs) to harvest and convert wireless radio frequencies into energy to power small electronics. In their study, the researchers had successfully harvested energy using Wi-Fi-band signals to power a light-emitting diode (LED) wirelessly, and without using any battery.via: National University of Singapore: Raghav Sharma et al. Electrically connected spin-torque oscillators array for 2.4 GHz WiFi band transmission and energy harvesting, Nature Communications (2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-23181-1
Slightly Off-Track:
World's fastest information-fueled engine designed by university researchers
May 2021, phys.org
"Information engine" converts the random jiggling of a microscopic particle into stored energy. What the f*** is an information engine? (Maxwell's Demon was an information engine.)
Here you go:
The information engine designed by SFU researchers consists of a microscopic particle immersed in water and attached to a spring which, itself, is fixed to a movable stage. Researchers then observe the particle bouncing up and down due to thermal motion."When we see an upward bounce, we move the stage up in response," explains lead author and Ph.D. student Tushar Saha. "When we see a downward bounce, we wait. This ends up lifting the entire system using only information about the particle's position."via Simon Fraser University: Tushar K. Saha et al, Maximizing power and velocity of an information engine, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2021). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2023356118
Researchers create ambient vibration energy harvester with automatic resonance tuning mechanism
Sep 2020, phys.org
Is this real? Because they're making it sound like it's totally real:
The energy harvester performs automatic resonance tuning by adjusting its own frequency in response to the environmental conditions, thereby harvesting electrical energy from waste energy sources such as vibration, heat, light, and so on. It's especially useful for small electronic devices that operate wirelessly, like IoT systems.
So if you have a guitar, or some nice big glassware, you may have tried make it sing all by itself, just by humming or singing at the right frequency, until it sings along. That's the standing frequency of the body of the guitar, or the resonant frequency. It's the overall frequency at which the guitar naturally vibrates. All things naturally vibrate, at a molecular level. And when you scale that up, all the molecules that make a guitar, all their vibrations cancel out, until you have one resonant frequency.
This self-tuning energy harvester has to find that frequency, so that it can collect that waste.
via the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) research team from the KIST Center for Electronic Materials: Youn-Hwan Shin et al, Automatic resonance tuning mechanism for ultra-wide bandwidth mechanical energy harvesting, Nano Energy (2020). DOI: 10.1016/j.nanoen.2020.104986
Post Script, for the Wordporn: Doppler Vibrometers
Device tracks house appliances through vibration, AI
Sep 2020, phys.org
Hyper surveillance, the panopticon and integrated building management systems:
Do I even need to explain it? You can already guess how it works. If you give enough data to enough computing power, you can know everything. It's called omniscience.
This is a deep learning neural net that learns the vibration patterns of the appliances in your house by pointing a laser at an interior wall in the center of a home, or the ceiling in two-story homes. It's ultimately identifying the paths traveled by the vibrations from room to room, called path signatures. It's 96% accurate and can even identify dripping faucets, besides the obvious exhaust fan, refrigerator, etc.
But wait, the bonus!! -- The device is primarily useful in single-family houses, Zhang said, because in buildings it could pick up activities in neighboring apartments, presenting a potential privacy risk. -- It's so fucking good it can spy on your neighbors!
Persistent surveillance is the future, accept it.
via: Wei Sun et al, VibroSense, Proceedings of the ACM on Interactive, Mobile, Wearable and Ubiquitous Technologies (2020). DOI: 10.1145/3411828
Post Post Script:
The Crystal Radio (uses no power except that of the radio signal itself, goes back to the late 1800's, and was responsible for the introduction and popularization of radios for the general public.)
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