Do you know that RF signals such as Bluetooth, WiFi and cell signals, transmitted are actually more than your device needs and bulk of them are wasted energy? To be honest, we have absolutely no idea, but apparently, it is a fact and an Ohio-based startup, Nikola Labs, has developed an iPhone case that extends your phone’s battery life by harvesting wasted radio frequency energy from the said sources. The group presented their product at TechCrunch Disrupt New York and in the words of Nikola Labs’ CEO, Will Zell, “the response was overwhelming,” which prompted the outfit to develop a case to fit the popular Android phone, Galaxy S6.
The case is based on a patent-pending technology created by Dr. Chi-Chih Chen’s research team at Ohio State University ElectroScience Laboratory. The underlying technology, which is now made to fit into a specially designed smartphone case, captures the wasted RF energy and converts them into DC power and reintroduce it back into the phone via the case’s built-in lightning connector. Unlike regular portable battery or battery case, Nikola phone case has no actual battery onboard; instead it constantly puts the harvested energy back to the phone, supplying it with electricity and thereby slowing the rate at which the phone’s internal battery discharges and it does so without affecting data transmission rates or call quality.
Since it has no battery onboard, it allows the case to be significantly slimmer than typical battery cases. Speaking of case, it does what a good smartphone case does: all round protection provided by the high-strength polycarbonate body, while offering access to all ports and buttons. The smartphone case is just a start. Nikola Labs plans to release a full system of products including routers that are fully optimized to provide RF-to-DC charging solutions. Future technologies from Nikola Labs will be able to charge the battery instead of just slowing down the discharge.
Nikola Labs’ energy-harvesting smartphone case can be pre-ordered through its ongoing Kickstarter campaign, where $99 will secured yourself one for January 2016 delivery. However, as with any Kickstarter campaign, the product will only materialize if the campaign makes its set funding goal which, in this case, was a rather lofty $135,000.
submitted via TIP US page.
