Energy Storage

MECs provide unrivalled charge acceptance and design simplicity to enable highly efficient, ultra low power, ambient energy harvesting systems to perpetually charge the MEC and provide maintenance free, autonomously powered micro-systems.

Cathleen Macher, Technical Analyst at IDTechEx, looks at the global progress of carbon nanotubes (CNT).

Having started by looking at piezoelectrics and faced with what it saw as their present day limitations of reliability and sometimes high internal resistance, Perpetuum follows the more proven route of electrodynamic harvesting.

IDTechEx finds that consumer applications are and will remain the greatest market for energy harvesting on small devices by value.

World's smallest, high capacity, rechargeable thin battery enters the market.

Next-generation, ultra-thin rechargeable batteries for micro devices such as smart cards, portable sensors and RFID tags could be used in energy harvesting applications suggest IDTechEx.

A Swedish research centre has been established for intelligent pharmaceutical packaging, smart foods packaging, hospital logistics and patient care.

Is a problem looming in the electronics industry due to some estimates that the demand for lithium will increase three to seven times by 2012?

Laminar batteries are usually having success only where the need for thinness and flexibility is extreme. IDTechEx interview companies at Printed Electronics World USA to find out more.

Vibration energy harvesting is receiving a considerable amount of interest as a means for powering wireless sensor nodes. It is the simple notion that mechanical vibration can be transformed into useful electrical power.

Researchers have developed a new type of small-scale electric power generator able to produce alternating current through the cyclical stretching and releasing of zinc oxide wires encapsulated in a flexible plastic substrate with two ends bonded.

How Printed Electronics is changing consumer goods and services - highlights from the forthcoming Printed Electronics USA event

IDTechEx finalises its report on the Intellipak conference held on 5 November in Sweden

prelonic build first display - battery modules: fully printed, on one substrate and low-cost. Focused to mass production processes these prototypes will be the base of the starting business in 2009.

IDTechEx report on the Intellipak conference held in Sweden on 5 November that was mainly in Swedish and partly in English with just over 40 attending and excellent content.

Energy harvesting, otherwise known as energy scavenging is needed to boost and eventually replace the batteries in printed and other low cost and miniature electronics, particularly in order to extend their life in use.

IDTechEx's technology analyst Dr Harry Zervos attended GRAPH EXPO 2008 and reports on the innovative technologies that could benefit from the merging of electronics and printing.

IDTechEx has just issued a report on the hot topic of Wireless Sensor Networks WSN, also known as Ubiquitous Sensor Networks USN. The report is called Wireless Sensor Networks.

Cymbet Corporation has developed a breakthrough in battery technology with the introduction of the EnerChip™ CC CBC3112 and CBC3150 thin-film batteries with integrated battery management.

The new IDTechEx masterclass, called "Creating new products with printed electronics," will explore the needs by industry sector and appraise the technologies and timelines.