Technology:
Fujifilm developed
a resin sheet that generates electricity with the help of the difference
between human body temperature and outside air temperature in alliance with the
National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST). It can be an auxiliary
power source of mobile device if it is attached to body or clothes. It can use
such power production sources as heat from a TV set, vapor from the bathroom, curtain
in the sunshine, and autobody. The company plans to improve performance and
durability with a view to putting it into practical application within five
years.
The newly-developed
sheet uses the thermoelectric effect that temperature difference between front
and back lets an electric current flow. In the normal condition, temperature on
the surface of human body and clothes is higher than outside air temperature, stable
power can be secured. Fujifilm applied electroconductive polymer with which Hideki Shirakawa, professor emeritus of Tsukuba
University, won the Noble
Prize in Chemistry in 2000. It developed an electroconductive polymer that transmits
electricity but does not conduct heat easily using its own original synthesis
technology. The sheet is 0.4 mm thick. The generation capacity is currently
only several milliwatts per postcard sized sheet. It reckons that the new sheet
will be suitable for the power source of a device that monitors cardiac beat
and blood pressure round the clock.
Hybrid thermoelectric
generator
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