Pushing forward with innovation
17 January 2012
I’ve always found energy harvesting a fascinating subject. The main premise behind the technology is to extract energy from the environment and convert it into electrical energy…
Examples of the energies we can use include vibration, heat and solar power. This energy is then used to power applications. One of the chief applications should be remote sensing.
To have finely grained control, we need constant and accurate feedback. Many environments are not suitable for wired technology, and may also be in small spaces where there is no room for battery or other power supplies. Energy harvesting allows us to draw enough energy from the environment to power a sensor, a power circuit, a microcontroller and a wireless technology like Zigbee.
The market is expected to be massive in the next few years for this technology. I received the paper below on the prospects of energy harvesting and I though I’d share it in this column. The paper is from by Dr. Harry Zervos, a Technology Analyst from IDTechEx;
2011 turned out to be a very interesting year for energy harvesting, full of scientific advances, technology breakthroughs and new product developments. IDTechEx predicts that the trend is set to continue, with further developments expected in 2012, along with expansion of commercialisation, efforts which will push energy harvesting adoption forward.
It's not just energy harvesters that are getting better though. It's also power consumption requirements that are coming down and what better example than Intel's Claremont, showcased in September 2011, a concept processor that was demonstrated to run light workloads on solar power by dropping power consumption to under 10mw. "It may not become a commercial product, but the research could be integrated into future processors and other circuitry" Justin Rattner, CTO of Intel said at the time.
At the other end of the spectrum, energy harvesters are drastically improving also. In only a few years, piezoelectric harvesters moved on from harvesting power of the order of μW to devices demonstrated in 2008 harvesting miliwatts.
An even more recent example was showcased at Energy Harvesting 2011 in Boston last November when research work from the National Institute of Aerospace (NIA) in the USA was presented on the development of high energy efficiency piezoelectric energy harvesters.
Focusing on basic scientific principles that demonstrated how the "33" (longitudinal) excitation mode on piezoelectric harvesters is characterised by 3 times higher energy conversion efficiency than the "31" (transverse) excitation mode, the NIA researchers described the design and construction of a hybrid piezoelectric energy harvesting transducer that can harvest 4 times more energy than a tradition "31" harvester.
Further work at the NIA is focusing on optimising these devices with numerical piezoelectric harvesters being developed that can harvest up to 1W of power with work on these devices expected to be published in 2012.
Innovate and commercialise
What makes the energy harvesting space feel more vibrant is the fact that it's not just the research and development part of the chain that's alive with innovation. Concepts and laboratory prototypes are not the only devices coming out of research teams. End user pull is increasing, leading to increased interest in the capabilities of energy harvesters and the bespoke performance they can provide in very specific operating environments.
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