Thread Rating:
  • 0 Vote(s) - 0 Average
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5

How to power billions of sensors? By converting waste heat into electricity (design)

#1
C C Offline
https://resou.osaka-u.ac.jp/en/research/2020/20200318_1

RELEASE: Interconnected healthcare and many other future applications will require internet connectivity between billions of sensors. The devices that will enable these applications must be small, flexible, reliable, and environmentally sustainable. Researchers must develop new tools beyond batteries to power these devices, because continually replacing batteries is difficult and expensive.

In a study published in Advanced Materials Technologies, researchers from Osaka University have revealed how the thermoelectric effect, or converting temperature differences into electricity, can be optimally used to power small, flexible devices. Their study has shown why thermoelectric device performance to date has not yet reached its full potential.

Thermoelectric power generators have many advantages. For example, they are self-sustaining and self-powered, have no moving parts, and are stable and reliable. Solar power and vibrational power do not have all of these advantages. Aviation and many other industries use the thermoelectric effect. However, applications to thin, flexible displays are in their infancy.

Many researchers have optimized device performance solely from the standpoint of the thermoelectric materials themselves. "Our approach is to also study the electrical contact, or the switch that turns the device on and off," explains Tohru Sugahara, corresponding author of the study. "The efficiency of any device critically depends on the contact resistance."

In their study, the researchers used advanced engineering to make a bismuth telluride semiconductor on a 0.4-gram, 100-square-millimeter flexible, thin polymer film. This device weighs less than a paperclip, and is smaller than the size of an adult fingernail. The researchers obtained a maximum output power density of 185 milliwatts per square centimeter. "The output power meets standard specifications for portable and wearable sensors," says Tohru Sugahara, the other co-lead author of the study.

However, approximately 40% of the possible output power from the device was lost because of contact resistance. In the words of Tohru Sugahara: "Clearly, researchers should focus on improving the thermal and electrical contact resistance to improve power output even further."

Japan’s Society 5.0 initiative, aimed at helping everyone live and work together, proposes that the entirety of society will become digitalized. Such a future requires efficient ways to interconnect our devices. Technological insights, such as those by Ekubaru, co-lead author, and Sugahara, are necessary to make this dream a reality.

The article, “Fabrication and characterization of ultra-lightweight, compact, and flexible thermoelectric device based on highly refined chip mounting” was published in Advanced Materials Technologies at DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/admt.201901128


https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/Q2_NnBYvIQ0


https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/Fm3UuZjK86A
Reply


Possibly Related Threads…
Thread Author Replies Views Last Post
  Article Will renewables break the power grid or save it? (design & engineering) C C 1 24 Mar 19, 2024 10:56 PM
Last Post: confused2
  Research DNA origami folded into tiny motor (engineering, design) C C 0 57 Jan 19, 2024 06:56 PM
Last Post: C C
  Article Making hydrogen fuel from waste plastic may whup green version (engineering options) C C 1 110 Sep 15, 2023 11:45 PM
Last Post: confused2
  Keeping electricity affordable on EV wireless charging highways (civil engineering) C C 0 161 Oct 24, 2022 03:07 AM
Last Post: C C
  Scientists create renewable biocement entirely out of waste material (engineering) C C 0 75 May 13, 2022 04:12 PM
Last Post: C C
  Plastic-eating enzyme could wipe out billions of tons of landfill waste (engineering) C C 0 79 Apr 28, 2022 01:37 AM
Last Post: C C
  Ukraine’s nuclear power plants at ‘unprecedented’ risk as fighting continues (design) C C 3 146 Mar 5, 2022 01:37 AM
Last Post: Kornee
  Wooden floor generates electricity + The expensive machine keeping Moore's Law alive C C 0 84 Sep 1, 2021 07:01 PM
Last Post: C C
  Mars: Ingenuity, gift that keeps giving + UK: How flooded coal mines could heat homes C C 0 82 Jul 8, 2021 05:53 PM
Last Post: C C
  Waste plastic turned into clothing + Shape shifting robots in the wild: the DyRET C C 0 97 Mar 16, 2021 02:52 AM
Last Post: C C



Users browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)