Wearable Microgrid” Harvests Energy From Human Body to Power Electronic Gadgets

 


A "wearable microgrid" created by bioengineers at the University of California, San Diego, collects and stores energy from the human body to power small electronics. There are three main parts to it: biofuel cells that run on sweat, bioelectric generators that run on motion, and super capacitors that store energy. All parts can be screen-printed onto clothing and are washable. 


Co-first author Lu Yin, a bioengineer at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering, stated, "We are applying the concept of the microgrid to create wearable systems that are powered sustainably, reliably, and independently." A wearable microgrid includes devices that locally harvest energy from various parts of the body, such as sweat and movement, while containing energy storage, just as a city microgrid integrates a variety of local, renewable power sources like wind and solar. 



This shirt collects and stores energy from the human body to power little gadgets. UC San Diego bioengineers consider it a "wearable microgrid"—it consolidates energy from the wearer's perspiration and development to give supportable capacity to wearable gadgets. 


Credit: The wearable microgrid was developed by the team led by UC San Diego bioengineering professor Joseph Wang, who is also the director of the Center for Wearable Sensors at UC San Diego and the corresponding author on the current study. It is constructed from a combination of flexible electronic parts. Screen-printed onto a shirt, each component is positioned to maximize energy collection.


Bioelectric generators use the energy of movement to produce electricity. The chest of the shirt contains biofuel cells that use sweat as energy. In order to power small electronics, super capacitors store energy from both devices and then discharge it. When compared to a system with only biofuel cells, the system as a whole boots two times faster.


Greater Than The Sum Of Its Parts

Charged materials rub against one another to generate electricity as the arms swing against the torso.


The setup was likened by Yin to a water supply system. 

He stated, "Imagine the bioelectric generators are like a hose that shoots out jets of water, and the biofuel cells are like a slow-flowing faucet." You can draw from the super capacitors in any way you want. The tank into which they both feed is the super capacitor. 


Flexible silver interconnections printed on the shirt and insulated by a waterproof coating connect all the components. As long as no detergent is used, repeated bending, folding, and crumpling, as well as washing in water, have no effect on the performance of any individual component. 


According to Yin, this work's main innovation is not the wearable devices themselves, but rather their systematic and effective integration. 


We are not simply combining A and B and referring to it as a system. "We selected components with compatible form factors (everything is printable, flexible, and stretchable here); matching results; and complementary functionality, which means that they can all be used in the same situation (in this case, vigorous movement)," he said.


Other Applications

For athletics and other forms of exercise, this particular system is useful. However, this is only one application of the wearable microgrid. We are not constrained by this design. "By selecting various energy harvester types for various scenarios, we can modify the system," Yin stated.


The researchers are developing additional designs that can conserve energy while the user is sitting in an office or moving slowly outside, for instance

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