(December 11, 2015) A
pair of socks embedded with miniaturised microbial fuel cells (MFCs) and
fuelled with urine pumped by the wearer's footsteps has powered a wireless
transmitter to send a signal to a PC. This is the first self-sufficient system
powered by a wearable energy generator based on microbial fuel cell technology.
The scientific paper, 'Self-sufficient Wireless Transmitter
Powered by Foot-pumped Urine Operating Wearable MFC' is published in
Bioinspiration and Biomimetics.
The paper describes a lab-based experiment led by Professor
Ioannis Ieropoulos, of the Bristol BioEnergy Centre at the University of the
West of England (UWE Bristol). The Bristol BioEnergy Centre is based in Bristol
Robotics Laboratory, a collaborative partnership between the University of the
West of England (UWE Bristol) and the University of Bristol.
Soft MFCs embedded within a pair of socks was supplied with
fresh urine, circulated by the human operator walking. Normally,
continuous-flow MFCs would rely on a mains powered pump to circulate the urine
over the microbial fuel cells, but this experiment relied solely on human activity.
The manual pump was based on a simple fish circulatory system and the action of
walking caused the urine to pass over the MFCs and generate energy. Soft tubes,
placed under the heels, ensured frequent fluid push–pull by walking. The
wearable MFC system successfully ran a wireless transmission board, which was
able to send a message every two minutes to the PC-controlled receiver module.