Consumers May Soon Power Their Own Wearables
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If new wearables are to enjoy maximum commercial development, technology companies have to start thinking of new ways to power wearable devices. This includes harvesting energy from body heat and movement – at least that's the message heard by attendees at the recent Hot Chips conference and exhibition in Cupertino, California. Texas Instruments’ lead design engineer Yogesh Ramadass discussed the push toward new energy sources at length.
Despite a lot of excitement about the future of wearables, the technology has already run into a significant problem early on: we do not have the capability of producing batteries that are both extremely small and capable of providing the power needs of wearables over the long term. The solution proposed by Ramadass solves the problem by taking the battery out of the equation.
For now, the solution only applies to low-power wearables consuming energy measured in microwatts rather than milliwatts. For example, a wearable device that collects health-related data and transmits it to a GP’s office without any user interaction would consume microwatts of energy. Things like smart phones and wristwatches use milliwatts of energy to power their displays and touch screens.
The technology used to harvest ambient energy for powering electronics is still fairly new but Ramadass told the assembled Hot Chips crowd that research and development have come far enough to make it “convenient to replace the battery … with ambient energy” in some cases.
How does it work? These new wearable devices are able to absorb energy from the surrounding environment. For example, body heat can be absorbed and converted to electricity whenever a device is being worn. Movement is another good source, using the friction of kinetic energy to generate electricity. Other ambient sources including sunlight, air movement and even sound waves are being considered as possibilities.
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