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Wearable Device Generates Electricity From Walking Knee Movements

Posted by timothy on from the walk-to-work dept.

Zothecula writes "If you've ever worn a knee brace, then you may have noticed what a large change in angle your knee goes through with every step you take, and how quickly it does so. A team of scientists from the U.K.'s Cranfield University, University of Liverpool and University of Salford certainly noticed, and decided that all that movement should be put to use. The result is a wearable piezoelectric device that converts knee movement into electricity, which could in turn be used to power gadgets such as heart rate monitors, pedometers and accelerometers."

10 of 99 comments (clear)

  1. Or.. by busyqth · · Score: 5, Funny

    It could be used to power a truly awesome joy buzzer.

    1. Re:Or.. by Jeremi · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Already done. Search slashdot for it. It'll be used to power small implants and uses sugar from the blood.

      That's somewhat useful, but what we Americans really need is a device that runs on the energy stored in body fat. People could connect their home gaming rig to their beer belly's AC socket, and emerge at the end of their 8-hour Skyrim session significantly slimmer than when they started.

      --


      I don't care if it's 90,000 hectares. That lake was not my doing.
  2. Travel! by rbowen · · Score: 5, Funny

    You could even use the power generated by your knees to travel from one place to another!

    --
    Apache guy, Open Source enthusiast, runner
    1. Re:Travel! by rbowen · · Score: 4, Funny

      I was talking about "walking." It was funny. Now it's not any more. Thanks a lot.

      --
      Apache guy, Open Source enthusiast, runner
  3. Re:More power by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Finally, a way to power our future borg implants.

    Except that we already had this technology in 2008. And /. user Promatrax161 called out the idea in 2005. But then he may have adapted it from a shoe based version in 2001.

  4. Failure by hort_wort · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I'm willing to go out on a knee here (sorry) and declare this experiment a failure. They have generated 2 milliwatts. Milliwatts -- my spellchecker doesn't even recognize that. For $15, I could get a 1,000 milliwatt solarpanel, tape it to my dang knee, and just sit there. Peizoelectric tech has amazing applications, but this one appears to be a dud.

  5. Re:Next up ... by PNutts · · Score: 5, Funny

    Sex Power!

    Well, since this is /. you're talking about something that mounts to one wrist.

  6. The human dynamo by namgge · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Walking is a very low-energy form of movement that relies on some highly evolved bio-mechnics. Attempting to harvest a useful amount of energy introduces dissipation in parts of the 'mechanism' that have not evolved to handle it. The result can be anything from mild discomfort to quite serious injuries. So, such techniques are limited to a few mW, and are in most respects inferior to using a battery.

    It's been years since I saw a bicycle with a dynamo on it for similar reasons.

  7. I used to generate electricity like you ... by dbIII · · Score: 4, Funny

    I used to generate electricity like you, but then I took an arrow to the knee.

  8. Re:More power by ongelovigehond · · Score: 4, Informative

    Sweat cools because the phase transition from liquid to vapor absorbs a lot of energy to break the bonds. This energy is provided by the skin, so as a result, the skin gets cooler. Likewise, if you condense the vapor back into a liquid, the exact same amount of energy is released again. If that condensation happens inside the suit, the suit will get warm, defeating the purpose of sweating in the first place. It would be like running in the desert in a raincoat.