Artificial control of microbial life: Towards a urine fuelled robot
Artificial control of microbial life: Towards a urine fuelled robot
This study describes the ongoing work with a Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC) stack, which will power the latest version of self-sustainable robots – EcoBot-IV – that uses human urine as the fuel. This paper reports on the dynamic electrical control, power management and hydraulic arrangement of the stack and the effects that these elements have on the rate of energy extraction and consequent shift in metabolism of the microbial 'engine'. We demonstrate that a peripheral system that is manually controlled, can optimise energy extraction from the MFC stack and decrease super-capacitor (1.5F) charging times by 33%. Furthermore, it is shown that connecting MFCs in different cascade configurations can result in varying power outputs and metabolic activity in MFCs, and could dictate the way that urine is supplied to the bacteria.
Papaharalabos, George
39e5655a-6ce5-45f8-ac06-aaeb0a81d4f3
Greenman, John
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Stinchcombe, Andrew
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Melhuish, Chris
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Ieropoulos, Ioannis
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1 September 2014
Papaharalabos, George
39e5655a-6ce5-45f8-ac06-aaeb0a81d4f3
Greenman, John
eb3d9b82-7cac-4442-9301-f34884ae4a16
Stinchcombe, Andrew
f215f495-0b45-4233-9e5f-828fd6989e6b
Melhuish, Chris
c52dcc8b-1e36-425e-80df-9d05d2b21893
Ieropoulos, Ioannis
6c580270-3e08-430a-9f49-7fbe869daf13
Papaharalabos, George, Greenman, John, Stinchcombe, Andrew, Melhuish, Chris and Ieropoulos, Ioannis
(2014)
Artificial control of microbial life: Towards a urine fuelled robot.
The 14th International Conference on the Synthesis and Simulation of Living Systems..
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Conference or Workshop Item
(Paper)
Abstract
This study describes the ongoing work with a Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC) stack, which will power the latest version of self-sustainable robots – EcoBot-IV – that uses human urine as the fuel. This paper reports on the dynamic electrical control, power management and hydraulic arrangement of the stack and the effects that these elements have on the rate of energy extraction and consequent shift in metabolism of the microbial 'engine'. We demonstrate that a peripheral system that is manually controlled, can optimise energy extraction from the MFC stack and decrease super-capacitor (1.5F) charging times by 33%. Furthermore, it is shown that connecting MFCs in different cascade configurations can result in varying power outputs and metabolic activity in MFCs, and could dictate the way that urine is supplied to the bacteria.
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Published date: 1 September 2014
Venue - Dates:
The 14th International Conference on the Synthesis and Simulation of Living Systems., 2014-09-01
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Local EPrints ID: 454767
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/454767
PURE UUID: 51bd69ea-f1a1-4243-b8a7-00d11c95be34
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Date deposited: 22 Feb 2022 17:43
Last modified: 23 Feb 2022 02:59
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Contributors
Author:
George Papaharalabos
Author:
John Greenman
Author:
Andrew Stinchcombe
Author:
Chris Melhuish
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