Slip-and-slide power generators

Public release date: 24-May-2012
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Contact: Jennifer Lauren Lee
jlee@aip.org
301-209-3099
American Institute of Physics

Researchers from Vestfold University College in Norway have created a simple, efficient energy harvesting device that uses the motion of a single droplet to generate electrical power. The new technology could be used as a power source for low-power portable devices, and would be especially suitable for harvesting energy from low frequency sources such as human body motion, write the authors in a paper accepted to the American Institute of Physics' (AIP) journal Applied Physics Letters. The harvester produces power when an electrically conductive droplet (mercury or an ionic liquid) slides along a thin microfabricated material called an electret film, which has a permanent electric charge built into it during deposition. Cyclic tilting of the device causes the droplet to accelerate across the film's surface; the maximum output voltage (and power) occurs when the sliding droplet reaches its maximum velocity at one end of the film. A prototype of the fluidic energy harvester demonstrated a peak output power at 0.18 microwatts, using a single droplet 1.2 millimeters in diameter sliding along a 2-micrometer-thick electret film.

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Title: Power Generation from Conductive Droplet Sliding on Electret Film
Journal: Applied Physics Letters
Authors: Zhaochu Yang (1), Einar Halvorsen (1), and Tao Dong (1)

(1) Department of Micro and Nano Systems Technology (IMST), Vestfold University College, Horten, Norway

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Public release date: 24-May-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Jennifer Lauren Lee
jlee@aip.org
301-209-3099
American Institute of Physics

Researchers from Vestfold University College in Norway have created a simple, efficient energy harvesting device that uses the motion of a single droplet to generate electrical power. The new technology could be used as a power source for low-power portable devices, and would be especially suitable for harvesting energy from low frequency sources such as human body motion, write the authors in a paper accepted to the American Institute of Physics' (AIP) journal Applied Physics Letters. The harvester produces power when an electrically conductive droplet (mercury or an ionic liquid) slides along a thin microfabricated material called an electret film, which has a permanent electric charge built into it during deposition. Cyclic tilting of the device causes the droplet to accelerate across the film's surface; the maximum output voltage (and power) occurs when the sliding droplet reaches its maximum velocity at one end of the film. A prototype of the fluidic energy harvester demonstrated a peak output power at 0.18 microwatts, using a single droplet 1.2 millimeters in diameter sliding along a 2-micrometer-thick electret film.

###

Title: Power Generation from Conductive Droplet Sliding on Electret Film
Journal: Applied Physics Letters
Authors: Zhaochu Yang (1), Einar Halvorsen (1), and Tao Dong (1)

(1) Department of Micro and Nano Systems Technology (IMST), Vestfold University College, Horten, Norway

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[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

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