Watch powered by body heat

The Apple (AAPL) Watch has 18 hours of battery life, and a Fitbit Flex needs to be recharged every five days. Compared to traditional watches with batteries that last for years, smart wrist accessories are excruciatingly limited.

But Bay Area-startup Matrix Industries wants to free us from battery woes. Its first wearable is charged by body heat.

The PowerWatch uses thermoelectrics, a material which converts temperature differences into electricity. On a small scale, it's still a relatively nascent technology, but you'll find it in picnic coolers that plug into your car or seat coolers in luxury vehicles.

Here's how it works: When electron particles are heated and move from the side touching your body to the exposed watch face -- which tends to be cooler -- it creates a voltage difference that generates power. This charges the battery, so you don't need to connect it to a power source.

The power meter is prominently displayed as a ring around the watch, highlighting the changes in the battery level. We tested how the watch's prototype responded to body heat by power walking around a conference room. The battery level ticked up in response to the movement.

"When you exercise, your skin gets warmer, so you'll generate more power," Akram Boukai, Matrix Industries cofounder and CEO, told CNNMoney. "It's kind of motivational."

The PowerWatch is similar to other fitness trackers and includes calorie, sleep and step tracking. A companion app displays those stats and highlights many watts of power you've generated throughout the day.

While it doesn't have as many capabilities as the Apple Watch or a Fitbit, it's a way for the company to demonstrate how the tech could be incorporated into wearables in the future. Boukai and his team plan to take thermoelectric energy harvesting to healthcare, manufacturing and shipping industries.

For example, Boukai anticipates it will help patients with hearing aids avoid the need to constantly change their batteries. It could also assist those with pacemakers who have to replace their batteries every five to 10 years.

The process of pushing thermoelectrics into the size of a watch couldn't have happened five years ago. But improvements in microprocessors have made it possible to build something that fits on the wrist.

Larger wrists, that is. Matrix is launching its watch line for men first, starting November 14 for $99.99. The price will eventually jump to $170 when it hits retail stores late next year. The company plans to debut watches for women in the future.

The startup, which was founded in 2011, has raised $8.5 million from investors including Khosla Ventures, 3M Corporation and Sand Hill Angels.

**LINK**

The problem is, you have to keep it on in bed!

Brian

Typical CNN reporting, just quoting the manufacturer's marketing hype.

Russell

No good where the temperature gradient is zero!

TEGs (Thermo Electric Generators) have been around for donkey’s years, just not used for micro currents like watches, so I expect this area of use is either a technological innovation or another fad.

Self powered fans sitting on top of stoves is a common use of these devices and some have been used for extracting hot exhaust energy for charging batteries, before now.

So, as per Russell, clearly marketing hype but might work for some.- but i don’t expect they will catch on in the African/middle east/ Indian climates. Likely not much good for Inuits, either, unless they walk around with bare wrists.

No good where the temperature gradient is zero!

TEGs (Thermo Electric Generators) have been around for donkey’s years, just not used for micro currents like watches, so I expect this area of use is either a technological innovation or another fad.

Self powered fans sitting on top of stoves is a common use of these devices and some have been used for extracting hot exhaust energy for charging batteries, before now.

So, as per Russell, clearly marketing hype but might work for some.- but i don’t expect they will catch on in the African/middle east/ Indian climates. Likely not much good for Inuits, either, unless they walk around with bare wrists.

This would make a good theme for the 2018 Christmas Competition:

Two categories (a) Design, (b) Design & Build

... an "appropriate" device to mainain the going of this watch whilst not powered by heat from a living body.

MichaelG.

Begs the question ... WHY???

If it is to avoid battery changes, I have both a Seiko which charges itself with arm movement and a Citizen Eco-Drive which runs on ambient light. The latter is my 'daily wear' watch, was set to time some 7 or 8 years ago and is still within seconds of correct time. I used the Seiko similarly for the previous 10 years or so. Neither, of course, need battery changes.

Am I missing some glaringly obvious advantage in this latest Apple nonsense or has the Apple rip-off machine run out of ideas?

rgds

Bill

Bill, guess you don’t like Apple, but this watch is not Apple so you can buy it.

.

Perhaps only the fact that it's not an Apple device

MichaelG.

Ian beat me to it

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 01/02/2018 12:16:15

More to this than meets the eye. Forget watches, think 'Fitness Tracker'.

Whilst we older chaps sensibly avoid running about, many youngsters like to keep fit.

Fitness trackers take measurements like heart rate, speed, number of steps, distance travelled, calories consumed, body temperature, GPS position and time asleep. The devices wirelessly synchronise with a tablet, smart phone or computer to download the data.

All this takes much more power than a simple timekeeper. Keeping your fitness tracker charged is an issue. If this approach produces enough power, I expect it will be cheaper to make than a mechanical generator, and less fuss than recharging. All the wearer has to do is stay alive, which I find gets harder with every passing year. If my children ever give me a Fitness Tracker, it'll be because they're after their inheritance.

Dave

My watch simply needs a little knob twiddled for about 10 seconds every two days. Keeps time ok, good enough for catching a train.

TEGs are not a particularly efficient converter of heat energy to electrical. I’m not going to hold my breath while they decide on some real data of the consistent output. The delta-T is important.

Mine keeps stopping .......

A little more detail, here: **LINK**

https://www.matrixindustries.com/how-matrix-designed-the-powerwatch

MichaelG.

Two thoughts:

1 - I fail to see why it is dependent on improvements in microprocessor technology.

2 - I don't want a cold wrist!

Neil

Slightly off the watch isssue, but relevant I think.

I was in Aldi yesterday, on the shelf were some Stovetop Fans powered only by heat from the Stove using Thermoelectric Modules.

Link.

https://www.aldi.co.uk/workzone-stove-fan/p/072454062316400

Edited By V8Eng on 01/02/2018 15:37:45

Won't be much use soon, when the Government ban log burners and open coal fires (again)

John

.

Really ?

**LINK**

http://ambiqmicro.com/apollo-ultra-low-power-mcus/apollo1-mcu/

MichaelG.

"The process of pushing thermoelectrics into the size of a watch couldn't have happened five years ago. But improvements in microprocessors have made it possible to build something that fits on the wrist. "

True micro-power microprocessors aren't new - TI and Atmel were making them in the early 2000s.

I would say it's the ability to make a tiny, effective peltier that makes the difference.

.

How do they compare, in functionality and power consumption, with the Ambiq device ?

[ Not a trick-question ... I simply don't know ]

... Is someone telling us fibs ?

MichaelG.