New System that Harvests Energy from Temperature Differences

Manufacture and widespread use of chemical batteries have resulted in a number of environmental concerns. From the use of hazardous chemicals to toxic metal pollution, the battery industry is a major contributor to electronic waste. Therefore what would be ideal at this juncture is a technology that can do away with batteries without compromising on their function.

Two researchers from MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA); Prof. Anantha Chandrakasan and Yogesh Ramadass, have seemingly developed just that!

Energy scavenging system?

Is one that harvests energy from an external source. These sources include wind, temperature gradients, salinity gradients, kinetic energy etc.

The system developed by the MIT researchers harvests the temperature gradient between the human body or any other warm object and the surrounding air to generate power.

How much power?

The technology is said to be able to generate tiny 100 microwatts of power by harnessing temperature differences of only one or two degrees.

For what purpose?

This energy is capable of powering biomedical monitoring systems worn by patients, electronic sensors, processes, communication devices and even industrial installations.

Recent developments in technology have significantly reduced the amount of power consumed by these equipments and therefore the small amount of energy generated through this MIT-device is sufficient to power them.

An example of its application…

Would be a monitoring device worn on the arm or leg of a patient which monitors his/her heart-rate, round the clock. No batteries would be required for this device and it would be powered just by the patient’s body temperature.