• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Sensor Tips

Sensor Product News, Tips, and learning resources for the Design Engineering Professional.

  • What’s Hot
    • Development Tools
    • Energy Harvesting
    • Market Research
    • Packaging
    • Sensor Fusion
    • Sensor-specific software
    • Signal Conditioning
    • Touch Sensing
    • Wireless
  • Motion Sensing
  • Vision systems
    • Smart cameras
    • Vision software
    • Lighting
    • Optics
  • Pressure
  • Speed
  • Temperature
  • Suppliers
  • Video
  • EE Learning Center

What’s new in solar energy harvesting for sensors?

August 20, 2018 By Randy Frank

At Sensors Expo 2018, Ben LeNail, Director of Business Development at Alta Devices, a maker of thin, flexible solar photovoltaic cells for energy harvesting, provided an update on the company’s technology, its applications and energy harvesting solutions for sensors. The company’s specialty photovoltaic cells are ultra-high efficiency devices. Alta Devices has held the world record for solar cell efficiency for five years.

Today, the company makes two products. The single junction, gallium arsenide (GaAs) has a conversion efficiency of almost 30% (28.9%). Their dual-junction product is almost 32%. The dual junction products are mainly sold for use in fixed wing drones to provide greater autonomy and longer flight time. However, the company is also starting to make inroads into automotive applications to put solar material on cars as well as putting solar strips on sensors and other Internet of Things (IoT) products that operate in low light and need more autonomy.

At the show, he displayed several energy harvesting solutions. The first was a solar-powered Bluetooth sensor that used a 2 cm x 5 cm solar cell to produce 220 mW of power. This level of power was also used for a solar-powered sensor tag. The power can be stored in a battery or supercapacitor. Another display showed a 2 cm x 2.5 cm solar cell that produced 110 mW for powering a fitness tracker.

The company’s Gen4 provides a 30% reduction in mass resulting in an areal (surface) density of 170 g/m2 for unencapsulated devices. Their goal is to provide customers with the best power-to-weight and power-to-area combination available on the market.

Filed Under: Energy Harvesting, Featured, Frequently Asked Question (FAQ), Wearable sensing technologies, Wireless Tagged With: Alta Devices

Primary Sidebar

DesignFast

Component Selection Made Simple.

Try it Today
design fast globle

Subscribe to our Newsletter

Randy Frank delivers weekly sensor industry news, sensor resources, new sensor product innovations and more.

Subscribe Today

DESIGN GUIDE LIBRARY

“motion

EE TRAINING CENTER CLASSROOMS

“ee

“ee

“ee

“ee

“ee

“ee

RSS Current EDABoard.com discussions

  • could calibre lvs do not check mosfet B term
  • Sign-Off MMMC setup in 65nm CMOS
  • 1k to 2kHz Frequency converter
  • Mahindra Inverter continuous beep sound and all led glowing except battery indicator
  • Charge injection simulation in cadence

RSS Current Electro-Tech-Online.com Discussions

  • Voltage Regulator 12 - 5volt
  • XOR Gate Circuit From Diodes
  • Positive and negative sides of voltage source
  • DIY Mini 12v Router UPS malfunction
  • 24v dc relays not de-energising


SensorTips Videos

RSS Featured White Papers

  • Implementing Position Sensors for Hazardous Areas & Safety
  • How New Rotary Sensor Technology Enables New Application Solutions
  • Magnetic sensor ensures safety features in depaneling machines

Footer

EE WORLD ONLINE NETWORK

  • DesignFast
  • EE World Online
  • EDA Board Forums
  • Electro Tech Online Forums
  • Microcontroller Tips
  • Analog IC Tips
  • Connector Tips
  • Power Electronic Tips
  • Test and Measurement Tips
  • Wire and Cable Tips
  • 5G Technology World

SENSOR TIPS

  • Subscribe to our newsletter
  • Advertise with us
  • Contact us
  • About us
Follow us on TwitterAdd us on FacebookFollow us on YouTube Follow us on Instagram

Copyright © 2022 · WTWH Media LLC and its licensors. All rights reserved.
The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of WTWH Media.

Privacy Policy