Patch-electric generator
New electronic patches are charged by human movement
Tatiana Matveeva, "Scientific Russia"
Scientists from Osaka University (Japan) together with the company Joanneum Research (Weitz, Austria) presented patches for wireless health monitoring, which use built-in piezoelectric nanogenerators that are powered by collected biomechanical energy. This work will help in the future to create new autonomous health sensors, as well as wearable electronic devices without batteries, according to the Patching up your health press release.
The development is described in detail in an article published in the journal Nature Communications (Petritz et al. Imperceptible energy harvesting device and biomedical sensor based on ultraflexible ferroelectric transducers and organic diodes).
As wearable technologies and smart sensors become more and more popular, the problem of powering all these devices is becoming more and more urgent. Although the energy needs of each component may be modest, the need for wires or even batteries becomes burdensome and inconvenient. Therefore, new methods of collecting energy are needed.
An international team of researchers from Japan and Austria has invented new super-flexible patches with ferroelectric polymer that can not only determine the pulse and blood pressure of a patient, but also be charged from ordinary human movements. The authors of the development used substrates with a thickness of only one micron.
Photo: Osaka University.
Based on the piezoelectric effect, which very effectively converts a person's natural movement into a small electrical voltage, the device responds quickly to changes in voltage or pressure. These voltages can be converted either into signals for medical sensors, or for direct energy collection – to charge the device.
According to the authors, multilayer patches can collect up to 200 millijoules per day from biomechanical movements if the patches are glued to joints such as knees or elbows. This is enough to collect data on the work of the cardiovascular system several times a day.
The pastors are so thin that they are barely noticeable. In the future, with their help, it will be possible to create sensor systems that can accurately collect bio-data about human health. Additional modules allow you to use other functions, such as wireless communication with a smartphone or computer.
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