Feuer Frei!
08-28-11, 03:54 AM
Although you may not be using a Get Smart-style shoe phone anytime soon, it is possible that your mobile phone may end up receiving its power from your shoes. University of Wisconsin-Madison engineering researchers Tom Krupenkin and J. Ashley Taylor have developed an in-shoe system that harvests the energy generated by walking. Currently, this energy is lost as heat. With their technology (http://volumatrixgroup.com/tag/technology/), however, they claim that up to 20 watts of electricity (http://volumatrixgroup.com/tag/electricity/) could be generated, and stored in an incorporated rechargeable battery.
It converts mechanical energy to electricity via a microfluidic device, in which thousands of moving microdroplets (of an undisclosed non-toxic, inexpensive liquid) interact with “a groundbreaking nanostructured substrate.” The process is said to have a power density of up to one kilowatt per square meter (10.76 sq. ft.), plus it works with a wide range of mechanical forces, and is able to output a wide range of currents and voltages.
http://volumatrixgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/In-shoe-device-harvests-energy-created-by-walking.jpg
http://volumatrixgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/In-shoe-device-harvests-energy-created-by-walking-2.jpg
SOURCE (http://volumatrixgroup.com/2011/08/26/in-shoe-device-harvests-energy-created-by-walking/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+volumatrixgroup%2FNXFN+%28Vol umatrix+Group+%29)
It converts mechanical energy to electricity via a microfluidic device, in which thousands of moving microdroplets (of an undisclosed non-toxic, inexpensive liquid) interact with “a groundbreaking nanostructured substrate.” The process is said to have a power density of up to one kilowatt per square meter (10.76 sq. ft.), plus it works with a wide range of mechanical forces, and is able to output a wide range of currents and voltages.
http://volumatrixgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/In-shoe-device-harvests-energy-created-by-walking.jpg
http://volumatrixgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/In-shoe-device-harvests-energy-created-by-walking-2.jpg
SOURCE (http://volumatrixgroup.com/2011/08/26/in-shoe-device-harvests-energy-created-by-walking/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+volumatrixgroup%2FNXFN+%28Vol umatrix+Group+%29)