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在各种先进快速充电技术迅猛发展的今天，「电量焦虑」仍然是一个可以引起共鸣的话题。

纵然市面上高能量密度、轻量化的新型电池层出不穷，可是仍然难以抵挡一个不争的事实：数码产品的迭代速度越来越快，性能越来越强，也越来越难以被「喂饱」。当代人类对于电量的需求已经超出想象。

微处理器的设计和制造已经登峰造极，苹果的 AirPods 就是这种小型化巅峰的典型代表。它具有精密复杂的实时音频处理器，具有无线流媒体连接功能，充电一次可以持续工作数小时。

然而，即使是如此小巧的电子设备，「电池」也竟是其内部最大的组件。无论是从物理设计还是用户体验的角度来讲，这都是一个不可忽视的设计灾难。

现在，「皮肤充电」技术的问世，很可能可以彻底解决「电量焦虑」的问题，让所有因「电量不足」造成的尴尬遭遇都成为过去式。

卡内基梅隆大学的 Andy Kong、Daehwa Kim 和 Chris Harrison 开发了一种名为「Power-over-Skin」的技术，它是一种通过人体内部的射频（RF，Radio Frequency）能量来为全身穿戴设备供电的创新方法。

它允许单个穿戴式发射器为多个小型、无电池的穿戴设备提供电力。这些设备可以分布在身体的不同部位，如戒指、耳环、增强现实（AR）眼镜等，它们可以通过人体传导电力，而无需直接接触或者电线连接。

通俗来讲，人体可以被建模为一个复杂的 RC 电路，而「Power-over-Skin」技术则以人体作为传导介质，利用人体的电容性，通过高频交流波（射频）在皮肤表面传导能量。

该技术能够实现从头到脚的远距离电力传输，并且已经通过一系列包括传输距离、穿透衣物的传输实验以及单个发射器与多个接收器的兼容性实验和研究活动进行了验证。

为了方便理解其中原理，举个简单的例子：

假设你要在一个房间（电源）里举办派对，但是你需要在另一个房间（你的设备，比如耳机等）里播放音乐。为了让音乐响起，你需要把音箱（能量）从电源房间搬动到播放音乐的房间。

在「Power-over-Skin」技术中，我们不会直接搬动音箱，而是使用一种特殊的音乐传递方式：我们可以通过一个巨大的扬声器（射频发射器）播放音乐，这个扬声器能够将音乐的振动（能量）通过空气（人体）传播到另一个房间中去。

关键在于，我们不需要在房间之间打洞（物理连接），也不需要电线来传递音乐。相反，我们仅仅利用房间本身（人体）来传递音乐的振动（能量）。

在技术验证过程中，研究人员使用「Power-over-Skin」驱动了一台小型计算器。

以及一台大型的 XR 设备。

显然，这种技术可以使得可穿戴电子设备摆脱传统电源的限制，进而使其变得更加轻便，舒适。

在选择射频技术作为开发方向之前，卡内基梅隆大学的研究人员还尝试了例如包括机械能收集、无线能量收集和无线功率传输技术在内的诸多可能性。然而，这些方法都有其局限性，例如能量收集的不一致性，以及无线功率传输的低效率问题等。

实际上，早在「Power-over-Skin」技术之前，就有众多国内外研究团队对于「皮肤充电」的其他技术可行性进行了探索。

加州理工学院的研究团队开发了一种能够通过生物燃料电池从汗液中收集能量的电子皮肤。不过，虽然这款设备的电量来源确实是「皮肤」，但它却没有完全摆脱电池的束缚。即使它使用的是高效的乳酸生物燃料电池（BFC）。

来自哈尔滨工业大学的科研小组开发了一种「柔性热电发电机」（FTEG），该装置可以将人体皮肤散发的热量，即体温，转化为电能，且能实时为 LED 灯供电。这项技术不需要额外配备电池，是真正意义上的「皮肤供电」。

目前，「皮肤充电」技术还难以大规模应用于实际产品当中。以「Power-over-Skin」为例，主要存在以下问题：

- 在较远的传输距离和复杂的身体位置上，尤其是对于需要持续供电的设备，供电功率比较有限；
- 在环境中可能受到其他电磁干扰的影响，在多设备共存的情况下，可能导致传输功率不稳定；
- 因电极与皮肤频繁接触而可能导致的皮肤过敏健康问题等。

负责「Power-over-Skin」技术的研发人员指出，当前开发过程中的主要性能指标是最大化接收器的功率，提高能量传输效率，以驱动更多类型的可穿戴设备，用于更加丰富的最终用途。

「Power-over-Skin」技术展示了将人体作为电源的潜力。这表明未来这项技术可助力包括健康监测设备、健身追踪器等新一代可穿戴智能设备，甚至高级假肢等医疗保健设备的轻量化、舒适化，极大地改善用户体验。

我们期待着「皮肤充电」技术尽快可以应用于手机等使用更加广泛的电子产品中。「电量焦虑」的解决，指日可待。

英文版:

In today's rapidly developing world of advanced fast charging technologies, "battery anxiety" is still a topic that resonates with many.

Even with the constant emergence of high-energy density, lightweight new batteries on the market, it's still difficult to ignore an undeniable fact: the iteration speed of digital products is increasing, performance is getting stronger, and they are becoming harder to "satisfy". The demand for battery power by modern humans has exceeded imagination.

The design and manufacturing of microprocessors have reached their peak with Apple's AirPods being a prime example of this miniaturization peak. It features a highly complex real-time audio processor, wireless streaming capabilities, and can work for several hours on a single charge.

However, even with such compact electronic devices, the "battery" is actually the largest component inside. Whether from a physical design or user experience perspective, this is an undeniable design disaster.

Now, the introduction of "Skin Charging" technology may completely solve the problem of "battery anxiety" and make all the embarrassing encounters caused by "insufficient battery" a thing of the past.

Researchers Andy Kong, Daehwa Kim, and Chris Harrison from Carnegie Mellon University have developed a technology called "Power-over-Skin", which is an innovative method of providing power to full-body wearable devices through Radio Frequency (RF) energy inside the human body.

It allows a single wearable transmitter to power multiple small, battery-free wearable devices. These devices can be distributed in different parts of the body, such as rings, earrings, augmented reality (AR) glasses, etc., and they can conduct electricity through the human body without the need for direct contact or wire connections.

In simple terms, the human body can be modeled as a complex RC circuit, and the "Power-over-Skin" technology utilizes the human body as a conduction medium, leveraging the body's capacitance to transmit energy on the skin surface through high-frequency alternating waves (RF).

This technology achieves long-distance power transmission from head to toe and has been validated through a series of experiments including transmission distance, transmission through clothing, compatibility of a single transmitter with multiple receivers, and research activities.

To better understand the principle, consider a simple example:

If you want to host a party in one room (power source), but you need to play music in another room (your device, like headphones). To make the music play, you would need to move the speaker (power) from the power room to the room where the music is being played.

In the "Power-over-Skin" technology, instead of physically moving the speaker, we use a special way to deliver music: we can play music through a large speaker (RF transmitter) that can transmit the vibration of the music (energy) through the air (human body) to the room where the music is being played.

The key point is that we don't need to make holes between rooms (physical connection) or use wires to transmit music. Instead, we simply use the rooms themselves (the human body) to transmit the vibration of the music (energy).

During the technology validation process, researchers used "Power-over-Skin" to power a small calculator.

And a large XR device.

Clearly, this technology can allow wearable electronic devices to break free from the limitations of traditional power sources, making them more lightweight and comfortable.

Before choosing RF technology as the development direction, researchers at Carnegie Mellon University explored various possibilities including mechanical energy harvesting, wireless energy harvesting, and wireless power transmission technologies. However, these methods have limitations such as inconsistency in energy collection and low efficiency in wireless power transmission.

In fact, even before the "Power-over-Skin" technology, many domestic and foreign research teams had explored the feasibility of other "skin charging" technologies.

A research team from the California Institute of Technology developed an electronic skin that can collect energy from sweat using a biofuel cell. However, although the energy source of this device is indeed the "skin", it is still not completely free from the constraints of batteries, even though it uses efficient lactic acid biofuel cells (BFC).

A research group from Harbin Institute of Technology developed a "Flexible Thermoelectric Generator" (FTEG), which can convert the heat emitted by human skin, i.e., body temperature, into electricity and can power LED lights in real-time. This technology does not require additional batteries and is a truly "skin-powered" device.

Currently, "skin charging" technology is still difficult to be widely applied in actual products. For example, with "Power-over-Skin", there are the following issues:

• Limited power supply for devices that require continuous power, especially in longer transmission distances and complex body positions.
• Possible interference from other electromagnetic sources in the environment, which may lead to unstable transmission power.
• Potential skin allergies and health issues that may arise from frequent contact of electrodes with the skin.

The developers of "Power-over-Skin" technology point out that the main performance indicators in the current development process are to maximize the power of the receiver, improve energy transmission efficiency, to drive more types of wearable devices for richer end uses.

"Power-over-Skin" technology demonstrates the potential of using the human body as a power source. This indicates that in the future, this technology could enable lightweight and comfortable next-generation wearable smart devices, including health monitoring devices, fitness trackers, and even advanced prostheses, significantly improving the user experience.

We look forward to the "skin charging" technology being applied to more widely used electronic products such as smartphones. The solution to "battery anxiety" is within reach.

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你的下一代可穿戴设备，可能不再需要电池
#你的下一代可穿戴设备可能不再需要电池

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