Energy Harvesting & Storage

Highlights of last week's IDTechEx conference, Energy Harvesting & Storage Europe in Berlin, part one.

Future Energy Solutions has released an exclusive design platform created to assess the feasibility of energy harvesting for customer applications.

Cortus announces the release of the latest member of their processor family: the energy efficient APS3R.

The new production site of EpiGaN was officially opened in the presence of Flemish Minister Mrs Ingrid Lieten and Limburg Governor Mr Herman Reynders. The company selected the Research Campus Hasselt as the ideal location for the volume production of their gallium nitride epitaxial material.

A team of scientists has found a cleverly designed double-walled nanostructure that lasts more than 6,000 cycles, far more than needed by electric vehicles or mobile electronics.

Using tiny solar-panel-like cells surgically placed underneath the retina, scientists at the Stanford University School of Medicine have devised a system that may someday restore sight to people who have lost vision because of certain types of degenerative eye diseases.

G24 Innovations (G24i), the manufacturer of next-generation Dye Sensitized Photo Electric Cells, has been awarded the prestigious IDTechEx prize for the 2012 Best Technical Development of an Energy Harvesting Device at the Energy Harvesting and Storage Europe 2012 conference and exhibition.

Villanova University and Unmanned Ocean Vehicles, Inc., in the USA have been developing the powertrain and harvesting for an unmanned surface boat using funding from the US Office of Naval Research.

On Tuesday the 15th of May in Berlin, Germany, IDTechEx recognised innovation once more with the Energy Harvesting & Storage and Wireless Sensor Networks & RTLS awards, in a ceremony that took place on the first day of the IDTechEx conference on the topic.

Scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have developed a way to generate power using harmless viruses that convert mechanical energy into electricity.

Wattshock recently exhibited their regenerative suspension retrofit shock. This component generates electricity from previously wasted kinetic energy in vehicles.

Scientists at Natcore Technology Inc using simple liquid bath processes, have created a black surface on a silicon wafer with an average reflectance in the visible and near-infrared region of the solar spectrum of 0.3%, making it the "blackest" silicon solar cell surface ever recorded.

SolarPrint Limited a leading developer of high performance indoor energy harvesting technology today announced that it is to showcase the world's first self powered wireless CO2, Temperature and Humidity sensor using SolarPrint's Dye Sensitised Solar cell ("DSSC") technology as part of a joint collaboration with Analog Devices Incorporated (ADI) and Gas Sensing Solutions Limited (GSS).

Researchers from the University are studying how to make electricity from electrodes coated in bacteria, and other living cells, using light or hydrogen as the fuel.

In April this year, the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) ratified a new standard - ISO/IEC 14543-3-10 - for wireless applications with ultra-low power consumption.

The Kidetic playground will address the relationship between energy, interaction and fun by creating electricity through play.

Micropelt has raised 6'5 Mio EURO for the roll-out and global expansion of its thin-film thermoelectric energy harvesting technology.

Energy harvesting ICs can convert an appropriate transducer's output into an electric current for a battery charger device.

The most transparent, lightweight and flexible material ever for conducting electricity has been invented by a team from the University of Exeter.

These naturally occurring, but mostly manufactured, piezoelectric materials are fast becoming a hot topic for exploration in energy harvesting, exhibiting 10 times as much voltage output compared with polycrystalline PZT(1) are utilized in applications where the emphasis is on high output and sensitivity.

Researchers are working to develop natural-fiber outdoor clothing that can charge MP3 devices, tablets, computers, GPS units and cell phones.

We-Bike in Belgium has created a desk which allows workers to exercise and power their gadgets all at the same time.

Researchers have used microscopic folds on the surface of photovoltaic material to significantly increase the power output of flexible, low-cost solar cells.

After its successful acquisition by Swiss-based Mikron Holding AG in March 2012, IMA Automation Berlin GmbH is now part of the Mikron Automation Division.

A team of scientists from University of Colorado Denver has developed a novel energy system that increases the amount of energy harvested from microbial fuel cells (MFCs) by more than 70 times.

Less than 3 weeks remain before the 4th instalment of the IDTechEx European conference on energy harvesting, WSN and RTLS, taking place in Berlin on the 15th and 16th of May. Just before the event opens its doors to its attendees, Dr Harry Zervos, technology analyst with IDTechEx, interviewed some of the main speakers on their involvement with energy harvesting and wireless sensing and the reasons why their integration is becoming increasingly important in a wide range of applications.

SCL Elements Inc., developer of CAN2GO® controllers, and Tridium Inc., developer of the Niagara Framework®, announced the integration capability of EnOcean and ZigBee technologies into Niagara based building automation systems.

Low cost solar cells could reach a record-breaking 40 percent efficiency following an early stage breakthrough by a University of Sydney researcher and his German partners.

On Wednesday 25 April you are invited to join IDTechEx for a free webinar, where Raghu Das will discuss: Energy Harvesting and Wireless Sensor Networks: Markets, Challenges & Opportunities 2012-2022.

It is possible to extend the length of time a battery-like enzyme can store energy from seconds to hours.

Researchers are developing a technique that uses nanotechnology to harvest energy from hot pipes or engine components to potentially recover energy wasted in factories, power plants and cars.

Starting with more humble killer applications such as meter reading in buildings, WSN will grow rapidly from $0.58 billion in 2012 to $2.4 billion in 2022 according to IDTechEx research.

As the potential for the further improvement of lithium-ion batteries is nearly exhausted, experts are now turning to a new and promising power storage device: lithium-sulfur batteries.

The Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology (CIST) recently revealed three new energy harvesting creations at an exhibition in Taiwan.

First ISO/IEC wireless standard optimized for solutions with ultra-low power consumption and energy harvesting.

3M has a new battery innovation that could enable gadgets to run for 40 percent longer once charged.

Once again the question arises: What can new technologies bring to the table and how can they compete?

The team's human motion energy harvester is contained within clothing to generate energy from human movement.

A team of physicists reports that they have nailed down the source of the interference inhibiting the rapid flow of electrons through graphene-based devices and found a way to suppress it.

EnOcean has announced the appointment of Matthias Poppel as Chief Operation Officer.

The A.H.A.B. (Adaptive Hand Assistive Brace) helps individuals with limited dexterity and wrist movement to increase their productivity and efficiency with electronic devices and writing utensils.

Chemists have now developed a way to make porous metal films with up to 1,000 times the electrical conductivity offered by previous methods.

Bertrand Piccard and André Borschberg's solar airplane will attempt, for the first time ever, to fly over 2,500 km without using a drop of fuel, finally landing in Morocco.

Butterfly wings may rank among the most delicate structures in nature, but they have given researchers powerful inspiration for developing better solar technology.

According to research at Linköping University, batteries of biological waste products from pulp mills could provide the solution for energy storage.

Tohoku University has announced that it has developed a magnesium fuel cell that generates electricity using salt water as an electrolyte, instead of a chemical alkali, and in partnership with Furukawa Battery Company hopes to commercialize it within the year.

Researchers at UCLA have used a standard LightScribe DVD optical drive to produce electrodes composed of an expanded network of graphene — a one-atom-thick layer of graphitic carbon — that shows excellent mechanical and electrical properties as well as exceptionally high surface area.

A promising alternative to traditional silicon-based solar cells, carbon nanotubes are cheaper to make and more efficient to use than their energy-sapping, silicon counterparts.

DecaWave has announced ex-Intel VP Jim O'Hara as Chairman of the company. DecaWave has also announced that it has successfully raised a further funding round of €6m from private investors in the US and Europe. This brings the total invested in DecaWave to €12.4m.

Researchers at The University of Texas at Dallas and Virginia Tech have created an undersea vehicle inspired by the common jellyfish that runs on renewable energy and could be used in ocean rescue and surveillance missions.