Recently professor Zhong Lin Wang et.al from the School of Materials Science and Engineering at Georgia Tech have recently demonstrated a novel energy harvester.
Blood flow or the contraction of blood vessels inside the body are used to create energy using piezoelectric harvesting.
[Link]
[Link to research group]
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Trees as batteries
A topic slightly off topic in this blog, but I think it is really cool.
Do you remember the experiment we probably all did in school where you stuck two metal-rods into a lemon to create electricity.
At first sight this sounds fairly similar is based on completely different principle however.
Voltree has developed a method utilizing the pH difference between the inside of the tree and the soil to create electricity. They use this to power remote sensor nodes which form a wirless mesh network in order to monitor remote forests.
[Link]
Do you remember the experiment we probably all did in school where you stuck two metal-rods into a lemon to create electricity.
At first sight this sounds fairly similar is based on completely different principle however.
Voltree has developed a method utilizing the pH difference between the inside of the tree and the soil to create electricity. They use this to power remote sensor nodes which form a wirless mesh network in order to monitor remote forests.
[Link]
Panel discussion about Energy Harvesting
I just came across a video of a panel discussion about energy harvesting including loads of remarks about MEMS harvesters. Amongst the group discussing are representatives of Perpetuum, TI, and EnOcean.
Very interesting to watch as it includes a lot of information about where the harvesting industry has come to by now, what is possible and where things are going.
[Link to Video]
Very interesting to watch as it includes a lot of information about where the harvesting industry has come to by now, what is possible and where things are going.
[Link to Video]
Saturday, April 18, 2009
MEMS inertial measurenemt unit in new Wii-controller
Apparently Nintendo plans to unveil a new controller for the Wii-console containing a 2-axis gyroscope.
This is attached to the current sensor (containing a 3-axis accelerometer) extending its sensing capabilities.
With the help of this InvenSense IDG-600 gyroscope the controller is essentially turned into a 5-axis Inertial Measurement Unit.
[Link]
This is attached to the current sensor (containing a 3-axis accelerometer) extending its sensing capabilities.
With the help of this InvenSense IDG-600 gyroscope the controller is essentially turned into a 5-axis Inertial Measurement Unit.
[Link]
Thursday, April 9, 2009
iSuppli webinar MEMS Outlook 2010
iSuppli will hold another free MEMS webinar named:
"Global Economy Fumbles, MEMS Stumble: Recovery Outlook for 2010".
I think the name says it all.
This will take place on the 22nd of April at 8:30 PDT.
[Link]
"Global Economy Fumbles, MEMS Stumble: Recovery Outlook for 2010".
I think the name says it all.
This will take place on the 22nd of April at 8:30 PDT.
[Link]
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
New MEMS Timing device
California-based company SiTime has recently presented a MEMS-based timing device, a Voltage Controlled MEMS Oscillator (VCMO)
Combined with an ASIC containing a phase-locked loop, the device provides:
Combined with an ASIC containing a phase-locked loop, the device provides:
- Frequency between 1 and 110MHz
- Pull ranges of ±30 PPM, ±60 PPM, ±120 PPM or ±240 PPM
- Operating voltages of 1.8V, 2.5V, 2.8V or 3.3V
- Frequency tolerance of ±25 PPM, ±30 PPM, ±50 PPM and ±100 PPM
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
