joshbyard: New Chip Harvests Energy Three Ways,…

joshbyard:

New Chip Harvests Energy Three Ways, Simultaneously

We’ve seen a number of different devices that can harvest energy from various sources, but none quite like this new chip developed by a team of MIT researchers. It’s able to harvest energy from three different sources simultaneously: light, heat and vibrations.

The key to that is a sophisticated control system that’s able to rapidly switch between the three sources at all times to prevent any of that energy from going to waste (and not draw too much power itself), with energy from the secondary sources stored in capacitors to be picked up later — as opposed to existing systems that simply switch between sources based on what’s most plentiful.

(via MIT researchers develop chip that can harvest energy from multiple sources — Engadget)