Battery-less technologies are in our future. It’s all about the Internet of Things and interconnecting devices. The thinking is that if IoT devices didn’t have the need for a battery charge they could stay connected forever because the battery wouldn’t run out and need to be recharged. The only way this would be possible is with energy harvesting. Instead of getting a charge from a battery, you would get the direct charge from something like solar power or wind energy. Some devices and utilities are soon going to be using kinetic energy producing sources as well. However, there is an overlooked source of energy that electrical engineers are now actively working with. Electromagnetic energy.
Now, a group of researchers is researching how to tap into the energy that electromagnetic energy produces. This would including converting radio waves into battery-charging power.
Dr Przemyslaw Pawelczak currently conducts research into the batter-free computers field of electrical engineering at the University of Washington.They have announced a battery-less computer named WISP )Wireless Identification and Sensing Platforms). The computer they have created works on harvested radio waves. He said: “Our vision is to have truly wirelessly programmable, software-defined, battery-less computers wherever and whenever you want. Imagine the possibilities.” The device would use RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) and then energy-harvest the waves and convert them into electricity. The University of Washington is working with the Delft University of Technology and have filed a patent for the device.
According to insider sources, the WISP currently has equal processing power when compared to the Fitbit fitness trackers that are currently available. There are rumors that Apple and Microsoft are working on the same technologies.
Source: EE Times