A Charger for an Organic Edible Rechargeable Battery
Board Location: #122
Discipline: Technology and Engineering
Subcategory: Electrical Engineering
Session: 4
Thomas Kalach - University of South Florida
Co-Author(s): Valerio F. Annese, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Milan, ItalyWilliam Serrano-Garcia, Advanced Materials Bio & Integration Research (AMBIR) Laboratory, Department of Electrical Engineering, University of South FloridaMario Caironi, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Milan, ItalySylvia Thomas, Advanced Materials Bio & Integration Research (AMBIR) Laboratory, Department of Electrical Engineering, University of South Florida,
The creation of an edible battery is a step towards revolutionizing non-invasive procedures within the medical field. The ability to obtain ingestible devices which are rechargeable is a major advantage for scientists and doctors. Additionally, the ability to charge and discharge the battery while connected to a charger can be essential for manipulating characteristics of various situations. Instead of using a potentiostat to provide the necessary charge for the edible battery, a portable charger designed specifically for the edible battery has been created. The charger is composed of three components; a microcontroller, an external circuit, and a 3D-printed holder to encompass all components. The entire charger platform itself is around the size of a slim TV remote and uses a magnetic connection which comes into direct contact with the battery’s electrodes, providing a path for power to flow into the battery in order to charge. The charger also can be utilized with the user-interactive application which was created to manipulate and set desired current and voltage level maximums. The default settings are set to charge until 0.8 V at a current of 100 µA. Exploiting this charger and its functions will be essential for the in-field utilization of the edible battery and revolutionizing the non-invasive procedures within the medical field.
Funder Acknowledgement(s): NSF, IRES BEAMS
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Sylvia Thomas, sylvia@usf.edu
Role: All of this research was conducted by myself.