Wearable Sports Sensors Could Harvest Energy

Mar-02-13 The PolyPower A/S was designed as a wearable sports sensor, but it could have deeper applications for actuating and energy harvesting.

Created by the Danish company Danfoss, the PolyPower material is made up of a combination of silicone dielectric material with a corrugated surface layered on top with very thin sheet of metallic electrode. When a high voltage is applied to the material, the film will lengthen and become slimmer. When the film relaxes, the voltage increases significantly, leading the company to believe the material could be useful for harvesting energy.

Meanwhile, the PolyPower sports/body sensors are already being used to monitor body position and internal activity. In this application the process is reversed, and stretching the sensor results in a change in capacitance. This change allows the sensors to measure a wide range of physical data, and the thin profile of the elastic material means it could be fashioned into many types of easy-to-wear gear. The first prototype was developed to monitor golf swings.

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[GIZMAG.COM]

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