Low power might not get us off the couch to mow the lawn or clean the gutters. But when it comes to modern electronic design, low power is doing an increasing share of the work everywhere.
The development of ultra-low-power microprocessors and energy-harvesting techniques have given rise to a wealth of applications previously not possible because of the absence of conventional power sources.
When operating in autonomous mode, sensors can be placed in remote or hard-to-access areas to monitor and warn of building and bridge stresses, air pollution, forest fires, pending landslides, worn bearings, and wing vibration. They can capture milliwatts of energy from light, vibration, thermal, or biological sources.
You don't have to look much further than your cellphone to see how the technology has evolved. Mobile phones morphed from wireless analog phones to handheld computers as users demanded more energy-consuming features—and designers responded.
Don't expect a slowdown because the market has its own power game going. The forecast for energy harvesting is project to only increase in the coming years according to industry analysts. This growth is attributed to applications for energy harvesters that are expected to be used in smart-city1 projects that connect thousands of buildings and roads for environmental monitoring.
Whether planning portable battery-powered devices or the desire to improve the energy efficiency of larger ones, this means design engineers should consider incorporating energy harvesting techniques into their products.
In this week's New Tech Tuesdays, we'll look at energy-harvesting devices from Texas Instruments, Kyocera, and Würth Elektronik.
Texas Instruments' DRV5032 Hall Effect Switch Sensor is designed to optimize miniaturization and portability for the building automation and personal electronics markets. The ultra-low-power switch sensor is available in multiple magnetic thresholds, sampling rates, output drivers, and packages to accommodate various applications. Switch-type Hall-effect sensors can optimize and enable several functions in personal electronics devices, from rotary encoding in smart locks and shades to position detection in phones, tablets, and notebooks. By incorporating an internal oscillator, the device samples a magnetic field and updates the output at a rate of 20Hz, or 5Hz for the lowest current consumption.
Kyocera AVX TCJ Capacitors feature a conductive polymer electrode to reduce ignition failure mode. The tantalum solid electrolytic chip capacitors, which exhibit low equivalent series resistance (ESR), are for general use in commercial, industrial, networking, and other applications. They're used for smartphones, tablets, notebooks, LCD TVs, and power supplies.
The Würth Elektronik Energy Harvesting Solution To-Go Kit helps developers add energy harvesting, energy management, and storage to their applications. The kit includes an energy harvesting board and an Energy Micro Giant Gecko Starter Kit. The energy harvesting board has four Linear Technology voltage converters optimized for solar, electromagnetic, piezoelectric, and thermal power sources. The board offers two integrated energy sources to immediately start testing:
The Giant Gecko kit features the EFM32 Giant Gecko MCU, an energy-friendly microcontroller with a comprehensive feature set.
The development of ultra-low-power MCUs has created a rapidly expanding energy harvesting market. This wave has given rise to low-power wireless sensors that are turning up seemingly everywhere. Expect this to continue throughout consumer, industrial, and medical markets, creating new applications that we can only begin to imagine.
1. "Energy Harvesting Mechanisms in a Smart City—A Review" by Akin-Ponnle, Ajibike Eunice and Carvalho, Nuno Borges is licensed under CC BY 4.0.
Tommy Cummings is a freelance writer/editor based in Texas. He's had a journalism career that has spanned more than 40 years. He contributes to Texas Monthly and Oklahoma Today magazines. He's also worked at The Dallas Morning News, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, San Francisco Chronicle, and others. Tommy covered the dot-com boom in Silicon Valley and has been a digital content and audience engagement editor at news outlets. Tommy worked at Mouser Electronics from 2018 to 2021 as a technical content and product content specialist.