Shown off at electronics trade show CEATEC 2011 in Tokyo this week, the Hybrid Power Generation Device is energy-capturing thin film — and a work-in-progress — from Fujitsu. According to Pocket-lint, the film can only claim a nanowatt from us humans, but it does open the door to an intriguing future of person-powered tech.
How does it work? The Pocket-lint piece describes its method of operation thusly:
The idea is that the cell could be worn on your body with power being generated by the difference between your body heat and the ambient air temperature using organic semi-conductor materials.
We all know The Matrix took the concept a bit too far, but the idea of using body heat to generate electricity isn’t complete madness. Maybe some day we’ll have the knowledge to make this kind of technology super-efficient, but for now, Fujitsu is happy for the 5x5cm cell to crank out 0.0007W, or 700 microwatts. Which is not enough to power anything, really.
But, with power requirements of our devices shrinking and tech like this advancing, they should meet in the middle. How long it will take for the compromise to be reached is anyone’s guess, though I imagine Fujitsu wouldn’t be doing the R&D if they believed it a lost cause.
Image: Pocket-lint
Fujitsu Hybrid Power Generation Device on-hands [Pocket-lint]