Design Article
10 energy harvesting solutions for 2012
Anne-Francoise Pele
12/14/2012 12:15 PM EST
Ear-powered batteries
The chip is small enough to fit in the cavity of the middle ear
Eventually, the devices could monitor biological activity in the ears of people with hearing or balance impairments, or responses to therapies. Eventually, they might even deliver therapies themselves.
The chip is small enough to fit in the cavity of the middle ear
A team of researchers from MIT, the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary and the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology has harvested the energy of a guinea pig’s inner ear to power a small sensing device. The electrical potential of the cochlea operates like a biological battery and is essential for turning sound pressure waves into the electrical signals sent to the brain. Researchers have developed a chip that can harness this electrical energy without interfering with normal hearing.
Eventually, the devices could monitor biological activity in the ears of people with hearing or balance impairments, or responses to therapies. Eventually, they might even deliver therapies themselves.
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Pratham Bhat
12/17/2012 2:55 AM EST
gud idea...please provide related review papers
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GREAT-Terry
12/17/2012 4:13 AM EST
Very interesting ideas. It would be good to see them commercialised.
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iniewski
12/17/2012 12:24 PM EST
Ann-Francoise, great article...would you be interested in expanding it to a short book chapter for the energy harvesting book I am editing? kris.iniewski@gmail.com
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chanj
12/17/2012 12:34 PM EST
Wearable human motion energy harvester
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&ved=0CDwQFjAB&url=https%3A%2F%2Fortus.rtu.lv%2Fscience%2Flv%2Fpublications%2F12703%2Ffulltext.pdf&ei=EVfPUIXlLOzriQKg5YDgBg&usg=AFQjCNEFYDLM1v8-FadBNfV0bENghV0Lbw&bvm=bv.1355325884,d.cGE&cad=rja
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chanj
12/17/2012 12:41 PM EST
Energy harvesting seems to be one of the next big thing in 2013. I wonder whether the energy is being harvested is actually needed elsewhere. Harvesting from breathing and body heat would probably has no side effect to the person. I would like to understand more about "Harvesting vibrations from heartbeats", etc.
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elPresidente
12/18/2012 2:42 AM EST
These slide show, multipage, formats are ANNOYING
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horta1212
12/19/2012 3:46 PM EST
The amount of energy harvested thru these methods is ridiculously small except for the green wheel. You're better off putting a rechargable watch battery into devices along with wireless charging circuitry than use these methods. The exception being research into implantable pacemakers that never need removing.
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DR.PAUL
12/20/2012 6:20 AM EST
a good device for the ears. Thanks to the Engineers. by Dr.Paul
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thinkndo
12/20/2012 11:38 AM EST
In olden days, human energy was used for various purposes.We had slaves at that time :)
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martin.rowe
12/23/2012 1:17 AM EST
We have a blog about piezoelectric technology being used for human energy harvesting. See "Human Energy" as The Connecting Edge.
http://www.theconnectingedge.com/author.asp?section_id=2602&doc_id=254826
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Wegatech
3/25/2013 10:43 AM EDT
Wegatech Electronic has designed a circuit which can harvest energy from piezoelectric to power small microcontroller successfully.
For more information, please visit
http://www.wegatech.com
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