These Socks Get power from Urine to Send Wireless Signals to PC

[Reefa]

 

Researchers from the University of West of England in Bristol, Britain have got success in creating a pair of state-of-the-art socks which, when filled with urine and activated by the walking of the wearer, can generate enough power to send wireless signals to a computer-controlled receiver module.

 

The socks work as they are embedded with miniaturized microbial fuel cells (MFC) and are activated by fresh urine. The urine enters the socks through soft silicon tube in the heel, and when the wearer walks around, the urine is circulated around the MFCs, which charges the small batteries. Usually, continuous-flow MFCs would rely on a electric-powered pump for circulating the urine over the MFCs, but this system relied completely on activity of the wearer.

 

The manual pumping system in this experiment was based on the circulatory system of a simple fish. Soft tubes, placed under the heels, and the manual walking activity ensured that urine is passed over the MFCs and produces energy. The energy generated through this wearable MFC system was used to successfully run a wireless transmission board, and to send a message "First Wearable MFC" every two minutes to the PC-controlled receiver module.

 

This team had earlier demonstrated that a mobile phone can be charged using similar technology.

 

 

According to Prof Ioannis Ieropoulos from the University of the West of England, the latest research has opened up possibilities of using waste to generate energy which powers wearable and portable electronics.

 

"We wanted the system to be entirely self-sufficient, running only on human power - using urine as fuel and the action of the foot as the pump." said Prof Ieropoulos, who is also the lead researcher of this study.

 

"This work opens up possibilities of using waste for powering portable and wearable electronics."

 

"Having already powered a mobile phone with MFCs using urine as fuel, we wanted to see if we could replicate this success in wearable technology."" he said.

 

This study demonstrates it is possible to develop a wearable-MFC-technology based system which enables communicating the location of a person in an emergency situation. The system would also indicate that person is still alive as the system would work only if operator's fresh urine fuels the MFCs.

 

The detailed results of this study have been published in the journal Bioinspiration and Biomimetics.

 

biztekmojo.com

[vibranium]

Am I the only one who thought this is just an April Fool's joke?

 

This could help us on Mars. Who knows?

[CODYQX4]

Um, OK...

 

So you pee in the socks, wear them, and it charges your phone wirelessly.

 

This is exactly what I need... said no one ever.