Brother shows generators that can replace AA, AAA batteries
updated 12:40 pm EDT, Fri July 16, 2010
Brother develops AA-, AAA-shaped generators
Brother Industries has developed tiny generators that can take the place of AA and AAA batteries and create electricity from vibrations. Dubbed the Vibration-powered Generating Battery, the invention can generate power by being shaken, even when installed in the gadget it's meant to power. This development will slow down the need to replace and dispose of toxic batteries in everyday devices such as remote controls or wireless computer peripherals.
The generator is ideally suited for devices that don't require a constant draw of power, and have a power consumption of about 100mW or less, Brother said. The battery shaped case contains an electromagnetic induction generator and an electric double layer capacitor rated at about 500mF. The average output of the AA generator is between 10mW and 180mW, at a frequency of between 4 and 8Hz.
The Vibration-powered Generating Battery will be shown off at the Techno-frontier 2010 exhibition in Japan starting on July 21. [via Tech-On]
