Soon, batteries that will run on human kinetic energy

Researchers have taken a step closer to capture the kinetic energy of our everyday movements, such as walking, and to convert it into electrical energy.

Researchers have taken a step closer to capture the kinetic energy of our everyday movements, such as walking, and to convert it into electrical energy.

Researchers have for many years attempted to harvest energy from our everyday movements to allow us to trickle charge electronic devices while we are walking without the need for expensive and cumbersome gadgets such as solar panels or hand-cranked chargers.

Now, Jiayang Song and Kean Aw of The University of Auckland, New Zealand, have built an energy harvester that consists of a snake-shapes strip of silicone, polydimethylsiloxane, this acts as a flexible cantilever that bends back and forth with body movements.

The cantilever is attached to a conducting metal coil with a strong neodymium, NdFeB, magnet inside, all enclosed in a polymer casing. When a conductor moves through a magnetic field a current is induced in the conductor.

The team concedes that this is just the first step towards a viable trickle charger that could be used to keep medical devices, monitors and sensors trickle charged while a person goes about their normal lives without the need for access to a power supply.

The study was published in the Journal Biomechatronics and Biomedical Robotics.