美国发明:利用空气为手机充电

Researchers believe they have discovered a device which may be able to power your phone and other electronic items from energy in the air. 研究人员们相信，他们已经研制出了一种新型的装置，可以利用空气中的能量为你的手机和其他的电子设备充电。

They have found that by harnessing energy from the air around us could potentially power wireless sensors, microprocessors and communications chips.

他们发现，存在于你我周围的空气里所具有的完全无公害的能量具有一种潜力，可以为无线传感设备，微型处理器以及通信电脑芯片补充电量。

These 'energy scavenging' devices could even be stored in places like our shoes and can be used by itself or with other generating technologies.

这样的“能量收集”设备可以被放置于任何的空间环境之下，甚至于是我们的鞋子之中，它能够自给自足补充电量，或者与其他的发电装置相连。

Manos Tentzeris, professor in the Georgia Tech School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, said: 'There is a large amount of electromagnetic energy all around us, but nobody has been able to tap into it.'

Manos Tentzeris教授就职于美国坐支亚洲工业大学的电气和计算机工程学院，他说：“在我们大家的周围便存在着大量的电磁能源，不过却从没有人能够将其很好的利用起来。”

If a battery or a solar-collector or battery package failed completely, scavenged energy could allow the system to transmit a wireless distress signal while also maintaining critical functionalities, according to a Georgia Tech statement.

据佐治亚理工学院所发表的一份申明称，一旦当电池、太阳能集热器、电池组失效或故障时，能量收集器便能发出提醒的求救型号，于此同时，保持着电器关键性的功能正常运转。

Mr Tentzeris and his team have used inkjet printers to combine sensors, antennas and energy scavenging capabilities on paper or flexible polymers.

Tentzeris教授和他的团队已经运用喷墨打印机的将传感器、天线和能源的搜寻捕捉的能效联合在了纸张或柔软的聚合物之上。

So far, the energy captured is minute - measured in microwatts and milliwatts, not megawatts - but is able to gather enough juice to power small sensors and RFID tags.

目前为止，该能量捕捉器的功效还十分之效，小到计量单位运用的是毫瓦，而不是兆瓦，不过当其收集到足够的能量时，它能够为小型的传感器和RFID装置补给电量。

For example, the researchers last week said they had managed to gather enough energy from a TV station a half-kilometre away to power a small temperature sensor.

例如，研究人员们在上周采集了一台电视机周围的电磁能量，并使用其为一台远在半公里之外的温度传感器提供电能、

They believe that self-powered, wireless paper-based sensors will soon be widely available at very low cost.

研究人员们相信，这种电量自给自足，无限的纸质传感器将在不久的将来被大范围的运用，并且还造价低廉。

Researchers hope that when it’s combined with advanced capacitor technology, the device could provide up to 50 milliwatts.

研究人员们希望，当这种设备与高级先进的能量捕捉技术联姻之后，设备可以提供的电量可以提升至50毫瓦。

These dual factors make them a natural environment for large numbers of wireless sensors capable of detecting potential threats such as explosives or smuggled nuclear material.

设备的特性也能够使其为用来监测例如爆炸物和走私核武器这样大规模的传感器提供先决条件。

Sensors on food could scan for chemicals that indicate spoilage and send out an alert when detected, increasing food safety.

当传感器被运动到了食品安全方面，他们能够扫描可能变质的化学物质，并且发出警告，从而提高了食品的安全。

It’s not exactly the dream of wireless power envisioned by Nikola Tesla, who proposed vast tower networks transmitting electric fields, but more akin to siphoning juice from someone else’s battery.

不过这与Nikola Tesla所提出的无线能量的设想的梦想还是有所区别的，他提出了架构一个巨大的电力传输网络，不过事实很可能是从某人的电池中“窃取”电量。

When the antenna receives a signal, the electromagnetic energy is converted from AC to DC.

当天线接收到信号时，电磁能量将从AC转换到DC。