Researchers hail energy harvesting breakthrough

Researchers yesterday debuted new energy harvesting technology, which they claim has the potential to generate enough power from a short walk to recharge mobile devices such as mobile phones and iPods.

The Biomechanical Energy Harvester, which was unveiled in this week's Science journal, resembles an orthopdic knee brace and captures kinetic energy from the walker's step which it converts into usable electricity.

It uses technology similar to the regenerative brakes used in hybrid cars, collecting the energy typically lost when the muscles in the leg slow the knee after swinging the leg forward to take a step.

Energy harvesting technologies have attracted huge interest in recent years with various projects investigating how to capture energy from footfalls at busy concourses and how to make use of the energy lost from heel falls.

Last year, US start up M2E Power announced it had secured $8m in venture funding and was 18 months away from launching a battery device for the military that converts kinetic energy into electricity by moving a conductor within a magnetic field.

However, the researchers from Canada's Simon Fraser University who developed the technology insisted it boasted more than many existing energy harvesting technologies, claiming it was lighter than backpack-based batteries and generated higher energy loads than technologies designed to capture power from footfalls.

The report claimed that wearing a device on each leg, an individual can generate up to 5W of electricity with little additional physical effort. Walking at a brisker pace generates up to 13W, meaning that one minute of walking provides enough electricity to sustain 30 minutes of talk time on a typical mobile phone.

Max Donelan, lead author of the report and founder of spin-off company Bionic Power, said that he plans to have a working prototype of the system available within 18 months. He added that the company would initially target the military and medical market, but could ultimately be used more widely to provide clean power for handheld consumer electronic devices.

"A fully charged battery pack represents more than just a mere convenience," he said. "It allows a soldier to get back home safely. It benefits stroke victims, amputees and others who rely on power-assisted medical devices for mobility… And of course it is a necessity to anyone in the developed world who has come to rely on portable electronics for work or play."

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