Customizable Energy Harvesting Development Kit

Microchip and Cymbet have combined forces to offer what is being called the world’s first customizable energy harvesting development kit. The XLP Kit uses Microchip’s PIC24F16KA102 microcontroller with eXtreme Low Power (XLP) technology and Cymbet’s EnerChip EH Eval-08 Energy Harvesting Board.  The EH board converts solar to electrical energy and stores it in an EnerChip solid-state, rechargeable energy-storage device. The kit allows users to evaluate a wide variety of system functions, including ZigBee and proprietary wireless connectivity without designing any hardware.

For more information on the XLP 16-bit Energy Harvesting Development Kit, click here.

Sensors Expo 2010 Exhibitors: MicroStrain Energy Harvesting

If you missed Sensors Expo or did not get a chance to check out all the exhibits, here is another of the interesting booths that I visited. Steve Arms from MicroStrain explains energy harvesting powered wireless sensing and the Sensors Expo 2010 Silver Award winning EH-Link. To see the video, click the arrow link below.

For more information about MicroStrain wireless energy harvesting solutions, click here.

Sensors Expo 2010 Exhibitors: Tellurex Corporation and Dexter Research

If you missed Sensors Expo or did not get a chance to check out all the exhibits, here is another of the interesting booths that I visited. Chuck Cauchy from Tellurex and Wayne Baer from Dexter Research explain each company’s role in developing an energy harvesting powered wireless sensor. To see the video, click the arrow link below.

For more information about Tellurex for thermoelectric solutions, click here.

For more information about Dexter Research for wireless sensing solutions, click here.

Energy Harvesting for Enthusiasts

Anyone who likes the idea of something for nothing has to be interested in energy harvesting, getting the energy to avoid reliance on traditional energy sources such as batteries, for free – once the initial hardware investment has been made. Today, in addition to solar, wind and falling or flowing water, vibration, RF, heat and other techniques are powering many products, especially sensor-based applications.

For industrial applications, one of the more intriguing energy harvesting techniques involves vibration. In a factory environment, the movement of rotating equipment provides a constant vibration source. A carefully designed system can use this low level of vibration and a piezoelectric energy harvesting transducer to power a sensor and its associated circuitry. Without the need to charge or replace a battery, the sensor can provide low maintenance feedback regarding the normal or abnormal operation of equipment for fault monitoring and downtime prevention. Several companies are involved in the development of the energy harvesting devices as well as other critical components in the ultra-low power consuming sensor circuits.

Those who are interested in more information may want to check out the Power Management: Energy Harvesting & Storage symposium (http://www.sensorsexpo.com/pre-conference-symposia/symposium-3-power-management-energy-harvesting-storage) at Sensors Expo, June 7 in Chicago, IL

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