Energy Harvester Based on Quantum Thermodynamics to Power Quartz Watches
QuantumDrive, LLC has signed an exclusive license with Face International Corporation for the use of Face®'s patented Evercell™ thermal energy harvesting devices in self-powered quartz watches. Evercell™ power cells will provide continuous power to quartz watches for their entire lives, eliminating the need for batteries. This is the first license to the technology that Face® has granted.
"This will be a game-changing development for the quartz watch industry as it eliminates the most unpleasant part of the quartz ownership experience — looking at your watch only to find its battery is dead and having to spend the time, energy and money to have the battery replaced every couple of years," stated Stefan Popov, Managing Partner of QuantumDrive™. "Down the line, it is conceivable that Evercell™ can play a role in the rapidly growing smart watch market as well."
Evercell™-powered quartz watches could be on the market in 2020 or 2021. One-of-a-kind thermal energy harvester Evercell™ is a passive-structure, semiconductor-based thermal energy harvester that exploits principles of quantum physics to produce a small, continuous flow of electric power in virtually any setting (enough to power a quartz watch, for example). It consumes no fuel, has no moving parts, contains no toxic materials, and requires no exposure to other stimuli, including motion, pressure, RF or electromagnetic energy.
Evercell™ power cells are very thin (a millimeter or less), lightweight and have no need for measurable thermal gradients, making them greatly superior to currently established solutions. An Evercell™ demonstrator built in October 2016 is still running with its output undiminished.
Face® CTO Mr. Clark Boyd, the inventor of Evercell™, recently reported the findings of sophisticated materials analyses of Evercell™ power cells. These studies established beyond any doubt that Evercell™ contains no materials that could possibly result in chemical reactions. In other words, Evercell™ cannot be a battery and its performance can only be explained by the designs and concepts disclosed in Face®'s issued United States patents.
Evercell™ addresses critical limitation of energy harvesting
When currently available energy harvesters are considered as a power source for watches, it comes down to choosing what to compromise on.
Unlike Evercell™, conventional thermal energy harvesters require both significant thermal gradients and the use of a bulky heatsink for operation. If adequate thermal gradients are not available, that can interfere with the operations of the watch. Furthermore, for wearables such as watches, bulky solutions are sub-optimal because they greatly limit the form factors of the consumer product.
Another technology currently in widespread use is photovoltaic harvesters, but light is not always available and without it, these watches only hold enough charge for several months. Evercell™, on the other hand, requires no compromise and solves all the deficiencies of current solutions, both in terms of size and in energy availability, making it a superior solution for quartz watches of all shapes and sizes.
