M2E Power, a company formed last year to charge electronic gadgets with human motion, has reported back that its system actually works.
Next year it expects to release a charger that can harvest enough motion from walking to replenish cell phones or other small gadgets, like GPS devices.
It says that six hours of cumulative motion can add 30 to 60 minutes of talk time to a cell phone.
M2E Power's charger, powered by human motion.
(Credit: M2E Power)The idea is to place the charger inside a purse or backpack and let it charge in the background, said Regan Rowe, director of business development at the company. When fully charged, M2E Power's device stores enough to recharge a phone at a speed comparable to an AC outlet.
Inside is a lithium ion battery and a series of coils and magnets. When it moves, an electromagnetic field forms around the coils to generate electricity.
The technology, developed in part at Boise State University, optimizes that field to match the slow frequency of human motion and draw a usable current.
The charger unit can be charged by an AC wall socket as well. M2E Power has had discussions with cell phone manufacturers to build the generator directly into a phone.
"Handset manufacturers are under pressure to deal with electronic waste issues and show they are looking for more sustainable practices," Rowe said. "We've seen a lot of interest in this as the wave of the future."
But because those products take a few years to design and develop, it will likely take at least two years before a self-powered cell phone is commercially available, Rowe said.
The company is also testing how much charge it can draw from the vibration of vehicles, Rowe said. The amount of charge a generator can make varies a great deal with the amount of motion.
"Someone with an old pick-up truck with no shocks will have a glorious time with M2E technology, but someone with a Mercedes will have to spend more time" charging, she said.
Long term, the company is looking at placing self-charging devices in hybrid and electric cars. Putting a self-charging device near windshield wipers or door locks could significantly cut down on a hybrid car's electrical load and extend its driving range, Rowe said.
The company also has military grants to explore the use of self-powering devices such as night goggles.
Clean tech company M2E Power on Friday said it has raised money to commercialize battery technology that converts motion to electrical energy.
The $8 million series A round was led by OVP Venture Partners and included money from @Ventures, Highway 12 Ventures, and existing investors. The investment will be used to expand research and development and build initial products.
The company's mission, in essence, is to apply the long-understood Faraday Principle--that putting a conductor near a magnetic field will produce voltage--to 21st century applications.
Treadmill tests at a biomechanics lab at Boise State University show how motion can produce enough electricity to power a light (on walker's waist).
(Credit: M2E Power)Its initial target is to create a D-size battery for the military and then create batteries for consumer electronics. Later, it plans to make larger batteries for renewable energy sources like wave power and wind turbines.
Soldiers rely increasingly on D and AA-size batteries to power scopes, radios, and other mobile electronics. Batteries alone can be an additional 10- to 30-pound burden, and discarded batteries leave a trace of a mission's movements.
The company intends to test out its batteries as part of a military research effort and, in parallel, design batteries for consumer devices.
Initially, the company expects to make a battery charger for a cell phone or digital music player that would provide a backup charge to an existing device with a cable, said Regan Rowe, director of business development at M2E Power.
Within a few years, it hopes to have mobile electronic appliances with specially designed motion-to-energy batteries, Rowe said. The batteries are larger than today's but the devices will never need to be plugged in.
In tests, M2E Power has found that two hours of motion--what an average person produces--is enough for one half to one hour of talk time on a cell phone.
How it works
Magnet and coil generators are typically too large for use in mobile electronics. The company's technologists have been able to generate enough electricity to power small devices by manipulating the electromagnetic field that is produced when a coil moves near a magnet, explained Rowe. It has patents in magnetics and coil structures.
Protoypes of batteries that convert kinetic energy--motion--to stored electricity.
(Credit: M2E Power)Its initial prototypes include a magnet attached to a spring, wire coils, circuitry, and a traditional battery to store electricity.
Because it is self-charging, it allows designers to make batteries with less traditional storage material, which often contain heavy metals, Rowe said. Also, the charging algorithms will be less taxing on batteries, making them last twice as long, she said.
The technology is scalable enough so that it could be used for wave and tidal power, hybrid batteries for cars, and other larger renewable energy applications.
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