Gadgets That Run on Body Heat
Thu Aug 23, 2007 7:37AM EDT
See Comments (141)
No jokes about hot bods, please. All of you warm-blooded folks may have the advantage with this new technology. You may soon be able to power your cell phone, PCs, and other electronics by tapping into your own body heat, and you don't need to be pedaling a stationary bike, walking the treadmill, or otherwise working up a sweat to do it. You can just sit there, couch potato style, and generate enough body heat to keep your gear going.
I stumbled across this tidbit on the Discovery Channel, but the research originates from the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits, where they are developing special circuits that use body heat. These could lead to battery-less cell phones and medical monitors that draw energy from their users.
The new circuits utilize the principle of thermoelectric generators (TEG) made from semiconductor elements. According to the scientists, the TEGs extract electrical energy simply from the temperature difference between a hot and a cold environment. Normally, a difference of several tens of degrees would be required in order to generate enough power, but the difference between the body's surface temperature and that of its environment is only a few degrees. To boost the energy, they combined a number of components that store up the energy until there's enough to operate the electronic device.
The photo shows a wireless transmitter being powered by the heat given off by a person's hand via a thermoelectric generator. Can't wait to see if it takes advantage of hot flashes!
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127 Posted by hrosario305 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:21PM EDT Report Abuse
Question? How long would I have to sit or stand for my power source to be fully charged. Any-one
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128 Posted by ejbabyak on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:52PM EDT Report Abuse
be careful what you wish for; haven't any of you seen the matrix?
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129 Posted by clynglee1 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:27PM EDT Report Abuse
We are in a period of time when we need to be using every bit of our combined intellect to solve the energy crisis.Oil is a dirty dangerous and limited resource.Every invention which moves us towards clean,renewable energy is a step in the right direction.We have become very dependent upon energy for our transportation,food production,distribution,storage,processing,and cooking.Everything we do uses energy.This computer and this forum we are in is using energy.So I say this is great,hopefully,like everything else it can be tinkered with and improved and adapted along with other technologies to make it better and more efficient and powerful so that it will be everywhere in the coming years.
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130 Posted by stove_mouse on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:45PM EDT Report Abuse
I like how the first few comments focus less on the technology and more on beating up on the person before them. Typical American 'class'...and, yes, I AM myself an American. In regards to the technology...it sounds like a good idea in theory but, the fact that it mentions energy being stored until there is enough to run the device makes me skeptical that it's a viable alternative to battery power at this time. I suppose I'd have to see it in action.
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131 Posted by clynglee1 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:27PM EDT Report Abuse
Yes maybe it could be used to power LED's.If the body glove I mentioned earlier were covered with lights we could start a whole new line of fashion design...LOL.Maybe a computer chip could cause the lights to change colors with changes in our mood or our body movements-I saw "Blue Planet" where these deep sea creatures emanate light from lumanesent cells.They looked like living neon signs.Maybe we could make a T-shirt that used TEG's to power lights that created various designs and /or messages...LOL.
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132 Posted by clynglee1 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:27PM EDT Report Abuse
It was amusing to me to see how off track people get and how they beat each other up over each other's comments.The hot-flash thing was of course inevitable.The "threw up in my mouth a little "was disturbing and then the way we have all fixated upon it is almost like a psychology term paper.LOL.Still...I'd like to see the bikini on the beach that lights up and says.."I'm HOT!!!"
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133 Posted by timroy03 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:10PM EDT Report Abuse
The government will never let this take away profits from the power grid.
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134 Posted by kimpowell3c on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:51PM EDT Report Abuse
As one of the "warm-blooded folks" I would love to have one of these products. Wonder if those of us who have a higher level of body heat could set up kiosks on the street to charge items for those not so fortunate! Way to turn a profit... LOL!
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135 Posted by alaoma05 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 2:49PM EDT Report Abuse
From alaoma - Guys we hope that we will be able to understand the principles of electromagnetic field on human body.
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136 Posted by insaneclownposse600040 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:24PM EDT Report Abuse
maybe they should put those in the seats of cars that would be more useful
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137 Posted by insaneclownposse600040 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:24PM EDT Report Abuse
everyone throws up a little in there mouth. I pick my nose too. can you think of a smart thing to say aboot that?
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138 Posted by miwi98 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:22PM EDT Report Abuse
This would be great for those of us who have to a protable device, battery operated, hooked to our bodies for life. I just love technology that enables society to live a better life
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139 Posted by promerovecus on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:20PM EDT Report Abuse
Thats great all we need now is the AI to take advantage of this kind of tech. ;)
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140 Posted by urtur2000 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:28PM EDT Report Abuse
webcop33, Yes. If everyone would read the original article, you'll notice that it says it works on the difference between your skin temp and the ambient temp. Your skin is not as warm as your internal body temp in colder weather, but the ambient temp will fall more quickly than your skin temp will. (The ambient temp could go down from 80 degrees to zero degrees, and your skin temp would not change by 80 degrees.) What I'm wondering is, did they incorporate anything to allow it to work when your body temp is cooler than the ambient temp? If it's 120 degrees out, your body will be cooler than the ambient temp, unless you're suffering from heat stroke. Since they don't mention any such feature, I'm guessing not. Though they say that it will generate energy if you're just sitting around, I would think it would work better if you were moving around. That way, your body would move more blood to your skin to try to cool off, and so your skin temperature would be higher. (Your internal temperature stays about the same regardless of the weather and how much you exercise, but part of your body's thermoregulation system involves sending more or less blood to the surface of your body and your extremities, to allow more or less of the heat you generate to dissipate.) Note that this device would not make your body any colder or steal heat from your body. It can't make power from just absorbing heat. It needs a temperature difference to generate power. It does not use electricity from your body to generate power, it uses body HEAT. Unless it generates some sort of harmful radiation as a process of making and storing power, it should have no effect on your body or your cancer risk. Some people have pointed out that you should be able to use the difference between indoor and outdoor temperature to generate electricity, if you can generate electricity from body heat. I guess that that's the way that hybrid cars generate their energy, but it does seem like you could generate some energy by installing these devices in the windows of a building. But would they even generate as much power as if you stuck on a few solar panels? Also, cleverchris04, your comment is not only extremely off-topic, but praying and buying this gadget will have roughly the same effect on the world's poor. This invention will not hurt the world's poor and could help them since it provides a cheap power source--although, since it's hot much of the time where many of the poorest people (who don't have air conditioning) live, it may not work well in those areas. But unless you assume that the people who worked on this invention would have gone to join the Peace Corps if they hadn't thought to make this--and I don't think you can assume that--I don't see how this can possibly hurt the world's poor. So do you just go to every single internet forum you can and post the same message over and over? That's annoying, and I don't think it will win people over to your cause. What are you hoping to accomplish?
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141 Posted by renvideoom on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:36PM EDT Report Abuse
Way Way Cool! and that IS an understatement.
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126 Posted by clynglee1 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:27PM EDT Report Abuse
It is amazing how some of you think that the TE generator will drain your body heat.Your body will remain a steady 98.6 degrees and it will not change.The device simply uses the temperature differential to produce an electron flow known as current.There is no "radiation" from this.It produces clean energy which is needed very much.I would like to know more about this device and i also wonder if it could be coupled with solar photovoltaic cells to increase their output.The idea of the tailpipe heat was also interesting,as well as the use of electronic heat emissions.We may be on a roll here.This "think-tank"use of the internet is great!