Years ago, I had a kinetic watch. The battery was charged from everyday, normal movements: waling, driving, writing. You never had to worry about replacing the battery. If it stopped, all you had to do was shake it around. Since then, I have always wondered why that same concept could not be used in larger batteries, for cellphones or tablets. It turns out, it can.
This is the iMoveCharger. It incorporates some of the aspects of the kinetic or self-winding watches into a much bigger, more powerful device.
That ‘self-winding’ was accomplished by using a half-circle weight connected to a shaft. The weight always tried to stay level with gravity. The wearer’s movement caused the weight to be shifted. The weight would react by swinging back one way or another. Through some gears, that swinging motion wound the watch…We took that same principle, but instead of tying the weight to gears we connected it to the shaft of our miniaturized generator. Moving the device caused the weight to swing the generator’s rotor back and forth. This movement created electrical current because the magnets on the rotor are swept past stationary coils of wire. We take that electrical potential and convert it into charging voltage.1
The above image provides a good overview of how the charger works. The iMoveCharger has an internal battery that stores the energy produced from the generator. This battery can also be charged from an external source, essentially making this a sort-of value added external power source. As far as functionality and energy generation, the iMoveCharger creators insist that the charger generates enough energy on its own to charge an iPhone.
We calculate energy in joules. The average man walks about 7,100 steps a day while a woman walks about 5,200 steps a day. Based on our testing and calculations, this is enough motion to take a 5.35 watt hour battery (iPhone 5) from discharged to full charge.2
Though the Indiegogo campaign is currently about $10,000 short of the goal, the creators noted that since launching the campaign, they have received enough private investment to go ahead with production. With this private funding, the team has been able to create a much more efficient, and more durable design. This new design will retail for around $199. However, the campaign will honor all of the Indiegogo contributions, wherein the device is set as a $50 contribution reward.
