Harvest Time
If you've been following my series you will know that I am looking for unusual places to harvest energy.
How about using a smartphone?
I think this is a novel concept.
The video above shows the STK3700 being powered by NFC energy harvesting.
The board at the top is an NFC Transceiver which is emulating a Smartphone.
The board on right is an energy harvesting NFC Token which is connected to the STK3700.
Roughly up to 100mW which is quite respectable.
I've used an NFC development kit for the demonstration but all it takes is one 8 pin IC, a coil of wire and a few chip capacitors to accomplish the desired result (and NFC enable smartphone).
One idea I have for this is powering bicycle LED lights from your smartphone.
Just turn on NFC on your smartphone then insert it into a bike mounted cradle and voila! - a power source for your bike lights.
The cradle is also acts as protector for your smartphone whilst riding.
(Note: Don't forget to take the smartphone off when you get off your bike).
Another is powering an IR remote control using your smartphone.