Shoes that Can Charge Your Mobile When You Walk

You heard me right; yeah I mean your shoe. Maybe it’s weird for some of you, but the idea of using your shoe to generate power has always been around since green revolution. Now, a bunch of researchers in Louisiana Tech University is working on a pair of sneakers which can generate power while you are walking and they hope to use that power to charge small portable devices such as cell phones, GPS devices and mp3 etc.

It might just be the next best thing to be around when you have no way of powering you phone when on outings. You can get the whole story here.

Here’s an excerpt from source:

Dr. Ville Kaajakari, assistant professor of electrical engineering at Louisiana Tech University, is being featured by MEMS Investor Journal, a national online industry publication, for developing a technology that harvests power from a small generator embedded in the sole of a shoe.

MEMS are tiny “smart” devices that combine computer chips with micro-components such as sensors, gears, flow-channels, mirrors and actuators.

Kaajakari’s innovative technology, developed at Louisiana Tech’s Institute for Micromanufacturing (IfM), is based on new voltage regulation circuits that efficiently convert a piezoelectric charge into usable voltage for charging batteries or for directly powering electronics.

“This technology could benefit, for example, hikers that need emergency location devices or beacons,” said Kaajakari. “For more general use, you can use it to power portable devices without wasteful batteries.”

Via: Treehugger/Louisiana Tech University