Energy Harvesting & Storage

Thermoelectric energy harvesting is less popular than the three leading forms of energy harvesting - photovoltaics, electrodynamics and piezoelectrics.

Biorasis has developed a state-of-the-art implantable sensor that could replace the use of conventional finger-prick monitors for diabetics. The implantable sensor, which is rice grain-sized, is called Glucowizzard and could be injected into a patient's wrist to continuously monitor glucose levels for approximately a year. The Glucowizzard is solar powered.

A recent study reveals that thermocells based on carbon nanotube electrodes might eventually be used for generating electrical energy from heat discarded by chemical plants, automobiles and solar cell farms.

In February 2010, ITSUBO Advanced Materials Innovation Center and Hatanaka Electric announced a large area printed lithium polymer battery that can be reshaped as shown in the pictures. This is the statement:

The US Army has presented at IDTechEx conferences, pointing out that a US warfighter often has to carry more than the ancient Roman soldier. This is despite the fact that the ancient Roman soldier carried prefabricated fort parts and food, with no support staff. A major problem today is the batteries.

There is a new energy harvesting project that IDTechEx believes could lead to a basic hardware platform for the new printed flexible electronics, incorporated in many products in most applicational sectors from military to consumer packaged goods.

The conference of about 40 people "Lithium Battery Technology and System Development" in London 9 March 2010 was concerned with "breaking barriers for electric vehicles".

EnOcean GmbH, developer of batteryless wireless technology, has announced the market availability of its new Dolphin platform.

Synopsys, Inc. software and IP for semiconductor design, verification and manufacturing company, and the Belgian nanoelectronics research center, imec, have announced they have entered into a collaboration to use Synopsys TCAD (Technology Computer-Aided Design) finite-element method tools for characterizing and optimizing the reliability and electrical performance of through-silicon vias (TSVs).

New Energy researchers apply world's smallest working solar cells to transparent flexible plastic.

"Captain Electric and Battery Boy" refers to an ongoing research project that aims to develop electronic garments and wearable artifacts that harness power from the body and use that energy to power electronic components.

Imec and Altos Design Automation, Inc. has announced that they have entered into an agreement to set up a library re-characterization service based on Altos ultra-fast characterization tools.

Using arrays of long, thin silicon wires embedded in a polymer substrate, a team of scientists from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) has created a new type of flexible solar cell that enhances the absorption of sunlight and efficiently converts its photons into electrons.

Energy harvesting is the use of ambient energy to create electricity for small or mobile equipment and it started with such things as the bicycle dynamo and the piezoelectric gas lighter.

Enecsys appoints Bernd Kohlstruck as Vice President of Sales and Marketing - Europe and Managing Director of new Enecsys Europe GmbH

About 90 people from seven countries attended this fifth annual energy harvesting workshop in Roanoke, VA, USA, which serves as an excellent platform to air the latest technical progress with energy harvesters.

With recent research into creating self-powering devices, industrial designers are working on gadgets that can be powered sustainably by harvesting clean energy from the atmosphere.

One of the main issues in deploying solar, wind and electric-car technologies involves efficiently storing energy. With that in mind, scientists at international science and technology enterprise Battelle are in the early stages of developing a technology that addresses storage needs affordably. The supercapacitor technology developed on Battelle's Columbus campus is projected to capture and store large amounts of electricity for extended time periods and also release the energy quickly.

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) - self organising, self healing networks of small "nodes" - have huge potential across industrial, military and other many other sectors. While appreciable sales have now been established, major progress depends on standards and achieving twenty year life.

Echoflex Solutions is proud to introduce the EEK200C Evaluation Kit. For only $149, integrators and OEMs can explore the breadth and performance of EnOcean wireless energy harvesting technologies within the context of their own buildings.

Arveni, based in France, claim to have developed the world's first batteryless device powering a bidirectional radio. This has been developed to power an infrared remote control. The device uses a powerful piezoelectric microgenerator, which delivers up to 90mW (for the first transmission in infrared).

IDTechEx CEO Raghu Das recently interviewed Graham Martin, the Chairman and CEO of EnOcean Alliance.

An artificial foot that recycles energy otherwise wasted in between steps could make it easier for amputees to walk, its developers say.

Onyx Solar has collaborated with Butech, tiling specialist Porcelanosa's subsidiary focused on materials and constructive systems development, in the creation of the first photovoltaic pavement which is expected to come out into the market by the end of the year.

Anantha Chandrakasan, MIT's Joseph F. and Nancy P. Keithley Professor of Electrical Engineering and director of the MIT Microsystems Technology Laboratories, and Yogesh Ramadass (PhD '09) believe they have figured out how to avoid doctors getting beneath a patient's skin to replace batteries for implanted biomedical monitoring or treatment systems.

With electric cars increasingly employing energy harvesting in shock absorbers, regenerative braking, thermoelectrics on hybrid engine and exhaust and photovoltaics on the roof, attention is turning to two wheel electric vehicles, starting with regenerative braking in electric motorcycles. Some new e-motorcycles are even hybrids, potentially employing all these things. Indeed, the rapid advances in the rechargeable batteries for two wheelers - lead acid plus some NiMH and lithium but with zinc air now a serious prospect - wil lead to advances in rechargeable batteries used for energy harvesting in non-vehicle applications. Two wheel electric vehicles (EV) have a bright future with sales already a magnitude higher than the numbers for any other type of EV. IDTechEx forecasts for 2010 and 2014 are as follows. They show 32% growth of value market partly because the average unit price actually rises. This is because the larger, more powerful two wheelers and the new designer versions start to sell in volume and therefore the mix changes.

Trophos Energy is successfully harvesting energy from soil, sediment and wastewater and, with the use of innovative power management electronics, is converting dirt into a useful source of clean reliable power.

IBM announced it has built a solar cell - where the key layer that absorbs most of the light for conversion into electricity, is made entirely of readily-available elements - that set a new world record for efficiency and holds potential for enabling solar cell technology to produce more energy at a lower cost.

In research that gives literal meaning to the term "power suit," University of California, Berkeley, engineers have created energy-scavenging nanofibers that could one day be woven into clothing and textiles.

A 9-cubic millimeter solar-powered sensor system developed at the University of Michigan is the smallest that can harvest energy from its surroundings to operate nearly perpetually. The U-M system's processor, solar cells, and battery are all contained in its tiny frame, which measures 2.5 by 3.5 by 1 millimeters. It is 1,000 times smaller than comparable commercial counterparts.

At this week's International Solid State Circuit Conference, imec and its research partners Renesas Technology Corp. and M4S presented a complete transceiver with RF, baseband and data converter circuits in 40nm low-power CMOS.

EnOcean is sponsoring US speed skater and four-time Olympian, Catherine Raney-Norman. The sponsorship celebrates the achievements of a US speed skating record holder and contributes to her continued success in the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver.

Experts say that the energy in winds miles above the earth is sufficient to provide the world's energy needs. One company working towards harnessing this energy is Kite Gen Research, based in Italy.

At yesterday's International Solid State Circuit Conference, Imec and Holst Centre reported an ultra-low power 8 bit analog to digital convertor (ADC) consuming only 30fJ energy per conversion step.

At yesterday's International Solid State Circuit Conference (ISSCC), Holst Centre, Imec and TNO presented a dual-gate-based organic RFID chip with record data rate and lowest reported operating voltage.

At yesterday's International Solid State Circuit Conference, imec and Holst Centre reported a 2.4GHz/915MHz wake-up receiver which consumes only 51µW power.

At this week's International Solid State Circuit Conference, Imec and Holst Centre present their newest breakthroughs in ultra-low power design for wireless communications and wireless sensor networks, 3D design and inorganic electronics with an impressive number of contributions including 10 reviewed publications and 6 contributions to tutorials and workshops.

Researchers at UC Berkeley have infected tobacco plants with a genetically engineered virus to produce artificial photovoltaic and photochemical cells, chromophores, which they claim can be extracted and dissolved into a solution to create spray on solar cells.

Columbia University's Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science has been awarded $2.8 million from the Department of Energy (DOE) to develop energy-efficient computer chips.

At yesterday's International Solid State Circuit Conference, imec and Holst Centre report an analog-signal processor ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit) - in short ASP - that reduces the overall power consumption of an ambulatory heart activity signal monitoring systems by more than 5 times.

In January this year, Katie Spotz aged 22 from the USA embarked on a 2500 mile journey from Dakar in Senegal on the west coast of Africa to Cayenne in the French Guiana.

Perpetua Power Source Technologies, Inc. (Perpetua) has announced that it has been awarded a Small Business Innovation Research contract from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to develop and demonstrate a wearable thermoelectric generator solution that is capable of powering wireless sensors by harvesting available energy from body heat.

The Dero ZAP is a solar powered, wifi connected, radio frequency identification system (RFID) that records the number of times a commuter arrives by bike, then transmits the data via wifi to a central website that administrators can access to create reports for payroll.

Power-generating rubber films developed by Princeton University engineers could harness natural body movements such as breathing and walking to power pacemakers, mobile phones and other electronic devices.

Cymbet Corporation has announced that it has successfully completed the final phase of its third round of private equity financing, raising $31 million.

A group of four students in an engineering sciences class at Harvard University have come up with the idea for sOccket - the energy harvesting soccer ball. SOccket is a fun, portable energy-harvesting power source in the form of a soccer ball.

Energy harvesting is being widely considered and used for electric vehicles. The burgeoning electric vehicle EV industry cannot be understood by simply looking at cars. The complete market value is, and will remain, about double the market for cars.

Amerigon designs, develops and markets products based on efficient thermoelectric device technologies, and Amerigon subsidiary, BSST is advancing the use of thermoelectrics in the area of power generation.

The ICARE Project is a non-profit undertaking whose aim is to take a tour around the world, starting in May 2010 and ending in October 2011, to learn about CO2 compensation initiatives in foreign countries. Over the course of a year, two reporters will travel in a special solar- and wind-powered vehicle.

Successfully applying thermoelectric devices to capture energy from environmental thermal differences requires as much art as theory. TXL Group's Thermoelectric Generation Developer's Kit provides all the tools needed for a successful deployment.