Monday, April 6, 2009

Generating Electricity through Motion

Imagine this: you are on a dark road late at night and your car breaks down. You reach for your cell phone and the battery is dead and you don't have your charger. Or you are on that long drive, flight, biking or some activity and your iPod battery runs out. In most cases you are either sleeping in your car the rest of the night or you are doing your activity in silence, or maybe a-la "American Idol"

Now imagine this: you are in those same situations but because you are wearing a new jacket, shirt, pants with a new nano type of fabric your movements generate electricity that can recharge the cell phone or iPod battery.

Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have been working on a new type of technology that will convert the mechanical movements of the body into electrical energy. This new technology has been touted as having a potential impact on many arenas including.. "personal electronics."

What does his mean to all of us? That someday there will be a technology that allows us, through movement, to generate enough electricity to recharge our personal electronic devices. I don't know about you but I pay way to much for batteries that last no time at all. I am all for this technology. Think about it, right now for a number of years we have had watches that will self-wind themselves with the movement of the wearer. There are companies out there that have been working on thin light weight material to project images onto. This seems to be the next logical progression and oh the possibilities abound.

original article: PHYSORG

No comments: