In Nokia’s own words, what we’re looking at is a “piezoelectric kinetic energy harvester.” Working along the same principles as kinetic wristwatches have done for a long time already, Nokia’s idea is to capture the energy generated by the phone’s movements and to refashion it into beautiful, clean-as-a-whistle electric power. By allowing the heavier internal components to move on rails within the phone as part of a “force-transferring assembly,” the Espoo think tank has figured out a way to capitalize on all the small forces of acceleration and rotation that we subject our phones to on a daily basis. It would seem overly ambitious to expect this to replace the trusty old charger, but we give credit to Nokia for even thinking about it. Check out some schematics of how this would work after the break.

It’s still in concept form at the moment, but America’s own Adele Peters just might have a winner with Corky. This obviously cork-based mouse relies on “piezoelectric elements to generate energy every time you click or move it around on your desk,” meaning that nary a battery would ever be used to power it. In case that’s not sustainable enough for you, the whole thing is made from easily recyclable materials, so it shouldn’t mar Ma Earth when it gets tossed at the end of its useful life. Too bad that design has been trumped forty times over by more ergonomic options , but hey, there’s always v2.0. Conceptual Corky mouse gets charged through motion, doubles as a wine stopper originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Feb 2010 22:02:00 EST.

Folks have long been using piezoelectric devices to harvest energy in everything from dance floors to parking lots , but a group of European researchers have now shown off some novel uses for the technology at the recent International Electron Devices Meeting that could see even more of the self-sufficient devices put to use. Their big breakthrough is that they’ve managed to shrink a piezoelectric device down to “micromachine” size, which was apparently possible in part as a result of using aluminum nitride instead of lead zirconate titanate as the piezoelectric material, thereby making the devices easier to manufacture. Their first such device is a wireless temperature sensor, which is not only extremely tiny, but is able to function autonomously by harvesting energy from vibrations and transmit temperature information to a base station at 15 second intervals. Of course, the researchers say that is just the beginning, and they see similar devices eventually being used in everything from tire-pressure monitoring systems to predictive maintenance of any moving or rotating machine parts. Researchers develop tiny, autonomous piezoelectric energy harvester originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 02 Jan 2010 07:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds .

This Dragon Skin armor has been knocking about since 2007, but now that piezoelectrics and intelligence have been thrown into the mix we couldn’t stop ourselves from taking a peek at it. The armor’s strength is derived from a reptilian arrangement of overlapping ceramic and titanium composite discs, which simultaneously block incoming rounds and dissipate the impact to a wider area. What’s interesting about the new design is the two piezoelectric sensors attached to each end — one of them transfers a low voltage of power through the armor in the form of vibration, which the other picks up, and the reported energy loss is interpreted as armor degradation. Gnarlier still is the ability of these sensors to generate electricity from bullet impacts, which can then themselves give you an indication of what sort of bullet hit you.

The Arduino board has been the engine of many wild and wacky projects over the years, from bakery tweeting to various musical instruments . For its next trick, our man Steve Hoefer has taken his microcontroller and, along with a piezoelectric speaker, a gear reduction motor, and some PVC pipe, programmed it to listen for a preset sequence of knocks — a secret knock, if you will — and unlock the deadbolt upon hearing the right combination. Although this might not be the security system you want to put in place for your home, this definitely looks like a fun weekend project. Check out the read link for instructions and schematics, but not before you see the video of the thing in action. It’s after the break

The leaked photo of the Storm 2 ’s internal board got our juices flowing — and our curiosity piqued — but this latest set of photos really takes it up a notch. In addition to showing the rest of the device inside and out, we’ve got a handful of new pictures showing off that piezoelectronic technology doing its thing. Basically, as we understand it, those four “buttons” which are pictured are more like sensors than buttons. When the device is on, they communicate with the screen and presses on the screen can simulate that familiar “click” that Storm users know all too well.

Remember that piezoelectric road prototype we saw late last year? Looks like someone (besides us) thought it was a good idea. According to The Daily Mail , a Sainsbury’s supermarket in Gloucester, UK (you’ve never been there), has installed kinetic plates in the parking lot that use the weight of shopper’s cars to pump a series of hydraulic pipes, which in turn drive a generator. The system is said to generate up to 30kw of green energy an hour — or enough to power the store’s checkouts. And if that weren’t enough, the store is also harvesting rainwater and heating it (during the summer, at least) with solar panels.

Sensitive Object, a French startup best known for its louche, Gitanes-smoking engineers and its love of cocktail jazz, has just announced the development of Anywhere MultiTouch, a Windows 7-compliant platform that brings touch sensitivity to glass, aluminum, and plastic, through the use of piezoelectric sensors. This product is an extension of the company’s ReverSys technology, which recognizes the precise location where an object is touched through soundwaves, with the new platform throwing in handwriting recognition and palm rejection for good measure. It looks like multitouch has finally been freed from the tyranny of the display, with developers now able to incorporate actions along the whole device. Excited?

It’s been nearly three years since the Onyx tickled our imagination, but Pilotfish is looking to completely melt our brains with its latest concept . The Munich-based industrial design firm has just introduced its Ondo music editing mobile, which is half cellphone, half music mixer and thoroughly amazing. In theory, the phone would boast a small mixing panel, three removable recording sticks with internal memory and a bendable center to give music lovers the ability to insert pitch bends and relieve stress. Essentially, the trio of OLED-infused sticks serves two purposes: when installed, they’re the main phone panel, and when removed, they can be clipped onto instruments for recording purposes. Afterwards, they can be swapped with other Ondo owners or edited on the fly right on the device itself.

Did that headline get your blood pumping? Good. In the future you’ll make a great battery. This is because, in the future, scientists seem to think that piezoelectric nanowires could find a nice home inside our blood vessels. There, they’d use the energy created by blood flow to power our gadgets, pacemakers, or any number of other people-powered devices future inventors can think up. That sounds great in theory, but I assume that, like with most things I put in my body today that sound great and feel good, it will probably cause cancer or something.