This Body Heat-Powered Smartwatch Doesn’t Need Recharging
After getting off the ground through crowdfunding, Matrix Industries’ PowerWatch has begun shipping to initial backers while touting itself as the first smartwatch to be powered by body heat.
Matrix Industries used advanced thermoelectric generators that operate more efficiently than available power generators, more efficient boost conversion circuitry to power the electronics and charge the internal battery, and thermal design to harvest the small amount of available heat within a wearable form-factor.
“Of all the places on the human body to harvest heat, the outside of the wrist is one of the worst,” Matrix CEO Akram Boukai said in a statement. “The head, bottom of the feet and even the inside of the wrist produce much more heat. Yet even with this challenge, Matrix technology is still able to maintain a temperature difference to run the PowerWatch. Just imagine what this power source could do if applied to other parts of the body.”
Because the PowerWatch runs off of body heat, users do not have to recharge the watch. When the watch is not being worn, data is stored in memory and it goes to sleep, but when it is put back on, it powers up and picks up right where the user left off.
A power meter within the PowerWatch tells users how much electricity one’s body heat is producing. The watch also automatically adjusts to current time zone, tracks steps, calories and sleep. It is also water resistant up to 50 meters. The watch offers similar capabilities of many battery-powered fitness wearables.
“Research shows that the number one reason consumers stop using wearables is because they take them off to charge and forget that they exist,” Boukai said. “The PowerWatch was designed and built with the consumer top of mind, functioning the way we want our wearables to function, without any lapses for charging. By reducing or eliminating the need for recharging, the PowerWatch is the first wearable to offer consumers this uninterrupted ability.”
PowerWatch and the special edition PowerWatch Black Ops are expected to be made available for purchase this month on PowerWatch.com for $199 with premium PowerWatch X slated to ship before the end of the year.
