Army logistics used to be “bullets, beans and bandages” but now adds a fourth B, for batteries. The Army estimates that unless something is done, soldiers will been to carry 20 pounds of batteries in their kit, and has launched a Wearable Power competition to solve the problem.
Now, Idaho-based startup Motion 2 Energy says that it has a solution to the problem: a generator/battery combo, scalable from vehicle-mounted power down to the micro– and nano– machine level, that generates power from movement or even vibration.
The technology is similar in principle to the Seiko Kinetic watch or the “shaker” flashlight. A magnet inside the power cell is free to move within a coil, and does so as the cell itself moves. But business development manager Regan Rowe says that advances in magnetic materials and design and control technology do two things: they generate power more efficiently and do so from smaller movements. Power gets produced even if the coil moves through one wire in the coil. The “boffin” behind the technology is Eric Yarger of the Idaho National Laboratory.
Overall, the system is three to seven times more efficient than earlier motion-based generating systems, and M2E believes that in normal movement, a hip-worn M2E battery will provide as much output as a conventional battery, but will not have to be replaced and recharged.
So far, prototypes have been treadmill-tested. M2E is building customized prototypes for military testing, early next year. Rowe says the company has not decided whether to enter the Wearable Power competition, because its goals are written around fuel-cell and similar systems. However, the company’s strategy is to aim at the high-cost, low-volume military market first — and then move into commercial markets.
Read the rest of this story from our friends at Aviation Week on Military.com.
– Christian
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
Which battery lasts the longest is like which gum has the longest taste.I hope this works.
Really neat concept in that it isn’t just that the battery lasts longer it is that it recharges as you walk around I think.
DoD should just strap these on the wrists of horny 14 year old boys and connect them to a giant DoD power array.
Dammit, Spals, I was going to make a crack about a self-powered vibrator. No fair!
This one heck of a breakthrough. Now they only need to find a way that battery can generate power and recharge itself without even moving, and does so even more efficient than this new battery tech. Am I dreaming? Or maybe they can always have the nano-mechanisms that do all the moving/motions within the battery and the battery don’t have to even look like it is shaking, and this shaking motion within the battery recharge and create power for the battery. How about that? :)
That energy ain’t free. It still comes from the motion of the soldier, so it’s still going to make ‘em tired and hungry.
Back in the day when I was carrying around a power-sucking portable CD player,I sure could have used a battery like this,& I’m sure for others,various electronic appliances come to mind when thinking about this battery’s potential.Come on,military first yeah,but then pass it down to us civilians.
Nothing new to me. There were already concepts in the military years ago about the possibilities to generate electricity by striking the boots. It sure did take long to reach Defense Tech.
>Really neat concept in that it isn’t just that the battery lasts longer it is that it recharges
>as you walk around I think.
The problem is the memory effect of some batteries.
I noticed a comment about wearable power contest, does anyone have any intel on when where who is doing this? Perhaps a link? really appreciate it. Happy turkey day all. Shout out to my friend Christian…
Dave
While everyone’s enthusiasm is nice, ohwilleke really has it right. If you know anything about power, this system they’ve developed produces about nothing. Let me put it this way: walking continuously for for 15-20 hours will produce as much energy as ONE CR-123 battery (the ones in your taclight). Thus, for anyone operating anything other than an LED press light, this is pretty useless.