Within no more than five years

Mar 24, 2010 21:01 GMT  ·  By
Vibrations from most environments could theoretically be harnessed to produce electricity
   Vibrations from most environments could theoretically be harnessed to produce electricity

For more than ten years, investigators around the world have been researching a method of producing electricity known as energy harvesting. Unlike conventional and renewable methods, which rely on heat, sunlight, winds or hydrothermal power to produce electrical current, this approach is entirely dependent on making use of the vibrations that appear in all manners of environments. This makes it ideally suited for powering up small electronic devices, including cell phones, mp3 players, and medical implants, PhysOrg reports.

In spite of the significant advancements made so far, the technology is still some time away from wide-scale, practical applications, but a team of researchers in the United Kingdom has taken an interest in reducing the time needed for perfecting energy harvesting. Experts from the University of Bristol Department of Aerospace Engineering, led by scientist Dr. Stephen Burrow, plans to have the technology ready to be used in consumer devices by 2015, they have recently announced.

At this point, the group is concerned with analyzing vibration patterns produced by flying helicopters and moving trains. These machines produce large distortions in their environment, and the UK team is currently looking at possible methods of harvesting the energy for producing electricity. However, the group does not exclude the possibility of being able to perfect harnessing mechanisms to a point where even vibrations produced by the human body and some household appliances could be used for the same purpose.

“Vibration energy-harvesting devices use a spring with a mass on the end. The mass and spring exploit a phenomenon called resonance – the production of a large vibration in one object as a direct result of a relatively small vibration in another object – to amplify small vibrations, enabling useful energy to be extracted. Even just a few milliwatts can power small electronic devices like a heart rate monitor or an engine temperature sensor, but it can also be used to recharge power-hungry devices likeMP3 players or mobile phones,” Burrow explains. He adds that his team is essentially working on a device capable of allowing mass and springs to resonate for a longer time, and on a wider range of frequencies.