Wearable thermoelectric generator for harvesting human body heat energy

Kim, Min Ki; Kim, Myoung Soo; Lee, Seok; Kim, Chulki; Kim, Yong Jun

doi:10.1088/0964-1726/23/10/105002

Cited by 204 publications

(135 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…While the state-of-the-art thermoelectric generators rely on rigid, brittle, and expensive Bi 2 Te 3 and Sb 2 Te 3 -based inorganic materials, there has been a great deal of effort recently toward fl exible and lower-cost thermoelectric generators. [ 143 ] This has been accomplished by printing [ 164,[177][178][179] or sputtering [ 180 ] fi lms of the Bi 2 Te 3 and Sb 2 Te 3 materials on fl exible substrates, infi ltrating the fi lms with PEDOT:PSS to improve fl exibility, [ 181 ] and employing alternative materials with higher fl exibility such as carbon nanotubes, [ 182,183 ] PEDOT:PSS, [ 184,185 ] and Te nanorods. [ 186 ] Figure 14 b-c shows the fl exible Bi 2 Te 3 /Sb 2 Te 3 thermoelectric generator on a glass fabric developed by Kim et al (Figure 14 b), generating electricity from the heat of a person's wrist (Figure 14 c).…”

Section: Power Sourcesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Still, the difference between body temperature and air temperature is relatively small, giving millivolt-level voltages for a single generator. [ 164,178,181,186 ] The 1 V or greater voltage levels required by most electronics are thus achieved by connecting dozens of thermoelectric generators in series [ 143,182 ] or by using power electronics to boost the voltage. [ 118,187 ] Nevertheless, wearable thermoelectric generators have been used to power a number of medical sensing devices including a glucose sensor, [ 182 ] pulse oximeter, [ 187 ] and electroencephalogram.…”

Section: Power Sourcesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Monitoring of Vital Signs with Flexible and Wearable Medical Devices

et al. 2016

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Advances in wireless technologies, low-power electronics, the internet of things, and in the domain of connected health are driving innovations in wearable medical devices at a tremendous pace. Wearable sensor systems composed of flexible and stretchable materials have the potential to better interface to the human skin, whereas silicon-based electronics are extremely efficient in sensor data processing and transmission. Therefore, flexible and stretchable sensors combined with low-power silicon-based electronics are a viable and efficient approach for medical monitoring. Flexible medical devices designed for monitoring human vital signs, such as body temperature, heart rate, respiration rate, blood pressure, pulse oxygenation, and blood glucose have applications in both fitness monitoring and medical diagnostics. As a review of the latest development in flexible and wearable human vitals sensors, the essential components required for vitals sensors are outlined and discussed here, including the reported sensor systems, sensing mechanisms, sensor fabrication, power, and data processing requirements.

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Section: Power Sourcesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Power Sourcesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Monitoring of Vital Signs with Flexible and Wearable Medical Devices

et al. 2016

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“…92 Acquiring the capability of stretching TEGs will enable an improved integration with the complex motions of the human body. Smart clothing, fabrics and textiles, which can be flexed and stretched to some extent, might be used for this pur- • C. 93 More recently, Du et al developed a power generating clothing by coating a commercial fabric with a TE polymer, that generated 12.5 nW at a temperature difference of 75…”

Section: -91mentioning

confidence: 99%

Review—Micro and Nano-Engineering Enabled New Generation of Thermoelectric Generator Devices and Applications

Rojas

Singh

Inayat³

et al. 2017

ECS J. Solid State Sci. Technol.

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As we are advancing our world to smart living, a critical challenge is increasingly pressing -increased energy demand. While we need mega power supplies for running data centers and other emerging applications, we also need instant small-scale power supply for trillions of electronics that we are using and will use in the age of Internet of Things (IoT) and Internet of Everything (IoE). Such power supplies must meet some parallel demands: sufficient energy supply in reliable, safe and affordable manner. In that regard, thermoelectric generators emerge as important renewable energy source with great potential to take advantage of the widely-abundant and normally-wasted thermal energy. Thanks to the advancements of nano-engineered materials, thermoelectric generators' (TEG) performance and feasibility are gradually improving. However, still innovative engineering solutions are scarce to sufficiently take the TEG performance and functionalities beyond the status-quo. Opportunities exist to integrate them with emerging fields and technologies such as wearable electronics, bio-integrated systems, cybernetics and others. This review will mainly focus on unorthodox but effective engineering solutions to notch up the overall performance of TEGs and broadening their application base. First, nanotechnology's influence in TEGs' development will be introduced, followed by a discussion on how the introduction of mechanically reconfigurable devices can shape up the emerging spectrum of novel TEG technologies. The technology-driven age we are currently in, have brought great advantages to establish a more comfortable and smarter living and it is leading the way for an even faster-growing development in all areas of science and engineering, but at the same time it brings an incredibly fast growing demand for energy. Current and future energy consumption mandate the need for alternative energy sources, with reduced environmental impact. Readily available solar and wind energies have lead the way as alternative energy sources to environmentally challenging fossil fuels.1 Moreover, thanks to more recent developments in thermoelectric (TE) materials and devices, the possibility of making a better use of the widely abundant and normally wasted thermal energy, has becoming a popular and feasible alternative.2 More importantly, thermal waste has become a very important and environmentallyfriendly source of otherwise wasted energy.3,4 There has been already an important set of studies covering the mechanism involved during the conversion from thermal to electric energy. [5][6][7][8] Such studies have been the starting point to develop and optimize novel TE materials with the resourceful aid of uprising nanotechnologies. 9,10 In this review, we will first shortly introduce some important basic concepts and relations about thermoelectrics, as well as some of the current efforts to use nanotechnologies and nano-materials to improve performance and viability. Next, we will focus on identifying innovative devices, novel engineering approach...

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“…The integration of RFID and WSN allows higher system performance and new promising applications, such as the new paradigm of the Internet of Things (IoT), which is noticeably gaining space in the scenario of modern wireless communications, novel medical applications, and wearable systems, among others [1][2][3].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Read Range Enhancement of a Sensing RFID Tag by Photovoltaic Panel

et al. 2017

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An RFID tag with energy harvesting and sensing capabilities is presented in this paper. This RFID tag is based on an integrated circuit (SL900A) that incorporates a sensor front-end interface capable of measuring voltages, currents, resistances, and capacitances. The aim of this work is to improve the communication distance from the reader to the tag using energy harvesting techniques. Once the energy source and harvester are chosen according to the environment of work, the conditioning circuit for energy management has to be appropriately designed with respect to the nature of the transductor. As a proof of concept, a photovoltaic panel is used in this work to collect the energy from the environment that is managed by a DC-DC converter and stored in a capacitor acting as battery. Such energy is used to support the power system of the tag, giving autonomy to the device and allowing data logging. In particular, the developed tag monitors the ambient temperature and the power voltage. It would be possible to add external sensors without changing the architecture. An increase in the read range of more than 200% is demonstrated. This feature is especially interesting in environments where the access could be difficult.

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Wearable thermoelectric generator for harvesting human body heat energy

Cited by 204 publications

References 20 publications

Monitoring of Vital Signs with Flexible and Wearable Medical Devices

Monitoring of Vital Signs with Flexible and Wearable Medical Devices

Review—Micro and Nano-Engineering Enabled New Generation of Thermoelectric Generator Devices and Applications

Read Range Enhancement of a Sensing RFID Tag by Photovoltaic Panel

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