Betreff:
The future of
mobiles: powered by a heartbeat |
Von: Dr. Christine Aschermann |
Datum: Fri, 27 Jul 2007 21:33:53 +0200 (Westeuropäische Sommerzeit) |
|
Für die Technikfreaks!
Fantastisch! -------Originalmeldung------- Von: Margaret E White Datum: 22.07.2007 19:59:25 An: Office@oberfeld.at; Christine
Aschermann Betreff: The
future of mobiles: powered by a heartbeat Sunday Telegraph Science section 22/07/2007 The future of mobiles: powered by a heartbeat
Last Updated: 12:01am BST 22/07/2007
However, researchers also hope that they will
eventually be able to use the highly-efficient generators to power other
portable wireless devices, including mobiles and MP3 players. It would mean
that mobile users could charge their phone by simply keeping it in their
breast pocket near their heart. Steve Beeby, a reader in electronics at Southampton
University where the generator has been developed, said: "There is a big
drive towards using wireless devices, but one of the challenges in supplying
power to these devices is that batteries have a finite supply that needs to
be replaced. We have a spin-out company that is now looking at powering
pacemakers from the movement of the heart. "As the power consumption of electronic devices
continues to fall, the opportunity to use these devices to power them becomes
more apparent. The potential is there for devices like mobile phones and MP3
players being at least augmented by vibration generators. There is quite a
lot of energy available on a human such as the impact of a heel on the floor
which could also be used." The miniature generator works on the same principles
as a kinetic powered watch, which uses the movement of a coil between magnets
to produce an electrical current. The researchers at Southampton and their company
Perpetuum have found that they can tune the device to a particular frequency
of movement so it will produce far more power than the devices found in
watches. Mr Beeby added: "The -problem with humans is
that they really don't move around that much at the kind of frequency needed
to generate a sufficient amount of electricity. But we can tune our generator
so that it can make the most of that resonance." The researchers are also hoping to use their
technology to scavenge energy from the vibrations of bridges and roads. Paul
Lee, the director of technology, media and telecommunications at business
consultants Deloitte Research, said: "There are two strands of
development in the mobile phone industry which are to either cram as many
power hungry applications into a phone as possible or to make a phone as
efficient as -possible. "It is in the latter category that power
scavenging can really help, and while it may not completely replace
-batteries, it can be used to help supplement power. In the developing world
this kind of device will be particularly attractive. Using body -movement is
one way of doing it, but there are other devices that aim to use body
heat." |