Replace Your Device Battery with Chewing Power? - East Idaho News
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Replace Your Device Battery with Chewing Power?

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gettY 091814 mouthcharger?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1411037395239File photo. iStock/Thinkstock(MONTREAL) — A pair of mechanical engineers in Canada says they are developing a wearable device that could one day take the place of batteries in Bluetooth headsets, earpieces and hearing aids.  All a person has to do to make it work is chew.

According to a report by the BBC, Dr. Aidin Delnavaz and Dr. Jeremie Voix at the École de Technologie Supérieure in Montreal have built a chin strap that harnesses energy from chewing and turns it into electricity.

The strap is made from a “smart” material that becomes electrically charged when stretched through the simple act of chewing.

When Dr. Delnavaz chewed gum for 60 seconds, they measured up to 18 microwatts of generated power. That’s not a lot of juice, but the duo believes that adding layers of the material will make it efficient enough to generate useful amounts of power.  Twenty layers of the material would have a total thickness of just six mm.

The pair acknowledges the device would never be able to recharge a smartphone, but they do envision it being used in situations where people are already wearing a strap, such as individuals who work with heavy machinery and wear helmets and earpieces, and soldiers who wear head protection and communicate using earpieces.


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