IIT Mandi Develops Prototype to Harness Human Body Heat for Charging Electronics

Efficient conversion of heat into electricity is being researched by scientists at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Mandi through the development of thermoelectric materials.

Recently, solar energy has received a lot of attention, but other alternative sources are equally promising, although less well known.

Ajay Soni, an assistant professor at IIT Mandi, is researching materials that can convert heat into electricity. This is completely different from solar energy.

The process does not require very large equipment or very hot, massive objects like the sun.

Sony said that many electronic devices can only be charged using human body heat.

Industrial processes and power generation often generate a huge amount of waste heat that is absorbed into the atmosphere, the IIT said. A group of Indian researchers is working on new materials that can utilize the waste heat produced by these processes and facilitate their use.

Materials that can convert waste heat into electrical energy are called refractory materials. An electrical potential is created by keeping one end of the material hot and the other end cold, resulting in a temperature gradient.

According to Sony, it has developed a prototype unit that can absorb heat from the human body and convert it into electricity. With this technology, mobile phones can be charged simply by holding them in the palm of your hand or keeping them in your pocket.

Likewise, a laptop can be charged simply by placing it on your lap without a charger, outlet or switch.

Sony said that the heat emitted by the human body is enough to charge these devices. All these devices have a small modular array. The unit installed inside the device charges the device by converting body heat into energy.

According to research, in addition to mobile phones and laptops, many other devices, such as wristwatches and headphones, can be charged with human heat.

Sony also said that he discovered during his research that the unit developed by his team can effectively convert the heat emitted by various devices other than the human body into electricity.

When the range hood heats up, it can generate electricity.

Sony said that there are many of these large devices that emit heat and that heat can be converted into electricity. Until now, it has been wasted as heat, and it is becoming a major cause of global warming.