The Journal of mHealth Vol 1 Issue 6 (Dec 2014) | Page 12
Industry News
New Wrist-Mounted Medical
Monitor Boasts Two-Year
Battery Life
A smart band, the Assure, designed for remote medical
monitoring has been showcased for the first time at the
Innovate UK 2014 event held in London during November.
The most noteworthy feature of the new device, developed by Cambridge-based Acticheck, is a battery life that
provides power for two years without recharging. This
challenges a key drawback of existing wearable devices
which typically require daily or weekly recharging.
Acticheck founder and general manager Karl Gibbs
explains: 'The biggest problem with smart wearable
devices is that they need recharging regularly.
'By minimising processes within the wristband, and without compromising on quality, style or function, we have
managed to create a device with a battery life of two years
- that is unparalleled in this market.'
Acticheck is currently moving to secure patents for its battery
management technology.
The device is intended for use in remote monitoring of the
elderly, patients with serious long-term medical conditions or
lone workers. It continuously analyses a series of physiological
data, including body temperature and pulse, with its on-board
sensors. It will send an automatic notification via an in-home
base station or smartphone to care providers when these move
beyond accepted parameters. This represents an improvement
on existing systems that typically require the wearer to actively
press a button.
Gibbs adds: 'Assure negates the need for bulky, unattractive
pendant alarms and gives wearers the confidence to celebrate
their independence both inside and outside of their home.'
The device is set for commercial release in the spring of 2015.
Acticheck has committed that it will sell for less than £200
[€253] for its first two years on the market. n
New Method of Vibration for
Energy Generation
Scientists at the VTT Technical Research
Centre in Finland have devised a new
way of generating energy using mechanical vibrations. They have found a way
to harvest the vibrational energy which
occurs naturally when two surfaces with
different work functions are connected
via electrodes. It’s a potential power
source for wearables and other lowpower electronics.
Work function is the amount of energy
needed to remove an electron from a
solid and it determines, for example, the photoelectric effect. When
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December 2014
two conducting bodies with different
work functions are connected to each
other electrically, they accumulate opposite charges. Moving of these bodies with
respect to each other generates energy
because of the attractive electrostatic
force between the opposite charges. In
VTT's experiment the energy generated
by this motion was converted into useful electrical power by connecting the
bodies to an external circuit. This new
energy conversion technique also works
with semiconductors, say the researchers.
To date, the bulk of research into small
energy harvesters that turn mechanical
vibration into electricity has focused on
piezoelectric and electrostatic devices.
Unlike these devices, VTT's technique
does not require an integrated battery,
electrets or piezo materials.
VTT estimates that the new electricity
generation technology could be introduced on an industrial scale within three
to six years.
The research was published in the journal Scientific Reports. n