Hyderabad: Fed up with the battery draining out every night, IIIT-Hyderabad student Sunil Kumar Maddikatla has designed a ‘zero power intelligent system’ (ZPIS) – a one-mm chip which will keep the phone charged up to six days.
The energy harvester component of ZPIS uses energy from body temperature, light and Wi-Fi signals, transforms it to electrical energy and stores it in a capacitor.
It is a hybrid model wherein the phone is charged using external sources and the ZPIS provides power while on the move.
Explaining its functioning, Mr Maddikatla said the phone is idle 70 per cent of the time. “During this state, as long as the Wi-Fi or light is on, the ZPIS will convert the energy to electricity and store it. “Efficiency levels vary between different sources,” he said. The heat that the cellphone generates can also be converted to electrical energy.
Mr Maddikatla, originally from Kurnool, runs the research and development start-up BlueSemi in VLSI domain, which works out of T-Hub. This chip would add to the cost of mobile device by Rs 100 to Rs 140. The device can also be used for Bluetooth and wearable devices.
Other components of the ZPIS include temperature sensor and a real-time clock. He said he ahd been in discussions with top mobile companies to embed the technology in phones and wearables. “We have filed six patents and three more are in the pipeline,” he said.
He is yet to complete his MTech thesis at the IIIT.
The 10-member start-up us running with seed fund and will be raising series A funding in the next quarter.
