While most handset manufacturers are concentrating on improving battery life by creating more efficient versions of the current battery cells an inventor has been thinking outside the box and has patented a phone powered by kinetic energy.
Famous devices including the Everlite Kinetic Torch and Seiko Kinetic wristwatch have attracted attention in the past but this is the first time we have seen the technology considered for a mobile phone. The Everlite torch needs just a 30 second shaking to give 1 hours light.
The kinetic technology powers the phone and charges the battery while the phone is being kept moving so an office worker wouldn’t get much power during the day. We can see manual workers in the developing world being one of the main target markets for this sort of invention.
The patent seems fairly broad and discusses a variety of electronic devices such as TV remotes and PDA’s.
The abstract states:
A wireless electronic device with a kinetic energy to electrical-energy converter is disclosed. In one embodiment, the wireless electronic device comprises a control mechanism, a kinetic energy to electrical energy converter, and a movable user interface element, wherein movement of the movable user interface element provides both signal information to the control mechanism and kinetic energy to the kinetic energy to electrical energy converter.
The kinetic-energy-to-electrical-energy converter converts kinetic energy provided by movement of the movable user interface element to electrical energy and provides the electrical energy to the wireless electronic device.
Update: it turns out there are already some similar devices out there, albeit in concept form. Thanks Dave & Gizmodo.
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Dave 02.23.07 at 4:01 pm
This is the first you’ve heard of kinetic-powered phones? Might want to visit Gizmodo to read about these, then:
http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/cellphones/new-phone-concepts-juice-themselves-up-224174.php
james hodgson 06.29.08 at 8:02 am
Hi at University (industrial design) I came up with the idea for a kinetic mobile phone back in 1998. Good to see someone bringing the idea to life,