Berit Goodge’s Comps Presentation
Wednesday, January 27th
3:10 pm in Olin 141
Small but Mighty: Micro-scale Energy Harvesting for Integrated Electronics and Portable Devices
From smart phones to smart buildings, many modern devices are programmed to self-monitor their environments and adjust accordingly. Nearly all such sensors require some form of electrical power to operate. For portable or remote devices, however, drawing power from the grid or batteries is impractical. Devices with the ability to generate their own supply of electrical power vastly increase their potential applications. We will explore three devices: the Windbelt, piezoelectric nanogenerators (PENGs), and the MicroPower thermoelectric chip, all three of which convert some form of latent or unused energy into low levels of electrical power — just enough to operate a small device.