Your body is a plant

Filed in archive Cool , Products , Technology on September 16, 2006

Something here reminds me to the movie Matrix- and that things come true.
An Infineon spin-off can produce Electric power from your body. The basic technology is called "Peltier Cooler" (see picture).

By applying electrical energy, thermal energy is pumped causing a temperature difference (Peltier cooler using the Peltier effect).

The same thing can be used for power generating:

Conversion of temperature differences into electrical energy (thermogenerator using the Seebeck effect).

The technology is pretty small and can be integrated into clothing. This way future wearable computing applications can be powered without any battery. Let your fantasy flow. They see applications in space too for astronauts walking in space using their own energy. It's easy as it is great too. But power is not endless available of course:

Thermogenerators are current sources which convert heat (temperature differences) into electrical energy. Each leg pair generates a certain voltage, so the number of leg pairs and the temperature difference give the possible voltage of the unit.

From an industry perspective it's thrilling too because the electronic industry uses semiconductor processes. This is where Computer and Electronics finally emerge.

The name of that company is MicroPelt. Shares available anywhere?