I’d like to make a PSU that can try out a whole bunch of charging strategies:
‘Instant’ charging.
Instant = seconds to minutes.
Scavenging
Getting energy from light, heat, wireless, movement, RF, and anything else that seems interesting.
Objectives
An anchor node running 24×7 with no maintenance required.
A wearable that can either scavenge power, or needs a few seconds recharging each day.
Can this be tried out with a single desktop prototype?
mgl says:
There's a lot of useful stuff for me to follow up on there. Thanks.
I was thinking of making a single PCB with jumpers for trying different options.
David Carkeek says:
Instant charging isn't possible yet with a battery. A supercap can charge very quickly but its energy density can't compare with a battery.
Solid State batteries? Maybe some news here: International Rechargeable Battery Expo "Battery Japan"
https://www.batteryjapan.jp/en-gb.html
Energy from light seems to be the low-hanging fruit. I went to a session last year that yielded useful information. I need to dig it up.
Scavenging stray RF is worth looking into, but unlikely to yield much with a small antenna.
Body heat is promising.
https://tecteg.com/best-teg-module-design-for-micro-scavenging-heat-from-the-human-body/
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/bb3f/2a7ed678a0abaef96b32ad72341dc02a848f.pdf
https://www.hindawi.com/journals/isrn/2011/785380/
https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/7409541
https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8419634
Body movement
https://lmts.epfl.ch/lmts-research/enviromems/page-129693-en-html/
Body heat power supplies
https://tecteg.com/product/body-heat-micro-scavenger/
https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8600958
A single design isn't going to be suitable for all of the possibilities. A single PCB can have multiple designs; the PCB can be scored so the individual power supply layouts can be separated.