Daily Bits

batteries

Need Electrical Juice? Walk More!

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Woman Walking with Cellphone
Woman Walking with Cellphone

How often do you have to charge your smartphone? I think I mentioned some time ago that ever since I switched to the iPhone 4, I have had to charge my mobile phone every day. Comparing this to the every other day (sometimes every three days) charging I had to do with my Nokia E63, it does seem excessive. However, if you think about what one normally does with the iPhone (not to mention 3G or Wi-Fi always on), the once a day charging system does make sense.

Having access to electrical juice is something that the modern person has to deal with on a daily basis. As such, researchers are also on the ball as to figuring out how to make batteries last longer and how to provide consumers with more power. [Read more…] about Need Electrical Juice? Walk More!

Let Your Fingers Do the Charging: Possible “Everlasting” Battery

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300px-IPhone_4_in_handIf this new technology fully becomes reality, you might have no issues with your phone’s battery life anymore. Researchers at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia have found a way to generate electricity in a manner that suits every touchscreen user’s habits – by applying mechanical pressure to piezoelectric thin films.

Think about your iPad (or Samsung Galaxy for that matter). Think about your iPhone or iPod Touch (or any other touchscreen device). Now think about how long the battery lasts. Depending on your usage and how “old” the gadget is, you probably have to charge your device every day.

Now imagine this scenario. The more your type or touch the screen of your device, the less need for charging it. I don’t know about you, but it is brilliant! No more having to lug around a cable just to make sure you don’t run out of juice while you’re on the go. No more worrying if you’re going to have enough power to last all night. All you need to do is keep on typing…

The science behind the idea I can’t spell out for you, but Dr. Madhu Bhaskaran – the lead co-author of the research – says “the research combined the potential of piezoelectrics – materials capable of converting pressure into electrical energy – and the cornerstone of microchip manufacturing, thin film technology.” He further explains that this concept has been proven and shown, although there remains the problem of implementation in the real world. ((Source: Physorg))

No doubt that the team – or some other guys – will be able to rise to the challenge of actually using this technology to benefit the countless technophiles all over the world. As for those who keep fiddling with their phones, you’ll finally have the excuse to keep on typing – you need more juice!

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Mobile Phone Battery Dying? Talk Louder!

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ShoutTechnology never ceases to amaze me, and even the most improbable ideas can turn into reality, thanks to some of the most creative minds in this world. In the future, if you are in the middle of nowhere without electricity and your phone’s battery is running out of juice, you might just have to talk louder to power up your gadget.

I kid you not – this is the technique that has been developed by some electrical engineers in South Korea. The idea is simple – sound waves being converted into electricity. The brainchild of Dr. Sang-Woo Kim of the Institute of Nanotechnology at the Sungkyunkwan University in Seoul, South Korea, this technique holds a lot of promise for the average person today.

Not only can using the phone to make a call help to charge the battery, but the background noise can also be used to power up the device. Before you get too excited, you have to understand that there are limitations to the technology. For one, the power that can be derived from the sound waves may not be enough to charge the battery to its full capacity. However, if the technology works properly, the sound waves may at least be able to allow the device to keep on functioning until a proper outlet can be accessed. Even better, this technology can be applied to gadgets other than mobile phones. Think netbooks and laptops.

Here’s the science behind the idea: set up two electrodes with strands of zinc oxide in between. Attach a sound absorbing pad. When this pad vibrates, the zinc oxide strands move as well, the result of which is an electrical current. That is, of course, simplifying things, but the concept alone is enough to evoke some excitement as to its potential!

Via Crazy Engineers

Wear This Shirt and Forget Batteries

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If Zhong Lin Wang (Georgia Institute of Technology) and Jong Min Kim (Samsung Electronics) are successful, we might not to lug around heavy batteries for our mobile devices anymore. The two guys, together with their teams, have unveiled a prototype of their pet project – a flexible energy storage device. This flexible energy storage device is made of zinc oxide nanowires which are incorporated into fibers that are used for everyday clothing. In other words, we just might have shirts and dresses that can function as batteries!

The concept is not that new, actually, but others before this current team were unable to make prototypes that were light enough. In making this new prototype, though, the team made use of supercapacitors which are so tiny that they make the idea feasible. More than being light, these supercapacitors are also very flexible, making them perfect for clothing material.

Of course, more than the flexibility and wearability, we are also concerned about the power capacity of these supercapacitors. Well, the good news is that they can be recharged very quickly and almost endlessly. Even better, the zinc oxide nanowires can be recharged by the person’s heartbeat or a light wind. So if you need to recharge your batteries – literally – you just need to walk a little faster to increase your heart rate and get a bit of wind blowing on the shirt! It does sound too good to be true, doesn’t it?

Since this is all in the development stage, we might not see “battery shirts” in the market any time soon. One thing that is bugging me though: I wonder how much they will sell for?

Photo via Me and Him