Energy Harvesting (EH) Solutions for Electronic Products

Energy Harvesting (EH) Solutions for Electronic Products

Energy Harvesting (EH) Solutions for Electronic Products
ART/077CP
20100101 - 20111031
11991

Dr Enboa Wu
The deliverables of this project are listed as follows: 1. Production-ready sample(s) of wireless–related applications based on EH technologies including (1) batteryless TPMS with IP-protected power management algorithm, and (2) self-powered condition monitoring floor and/or intelligent insole. 2. Document of characterization and reliability methodologies in qualifying the EH-based system and results. 3. At least 4 EH-related IPs/patents (e.g. energy storage circuit, power management algorithm, system design of wireless sensor with EH, etc). 4. Energy harvesting market intelligence survey on selected application targets. 5. A licensable and serviceable EH-based platform for TPMS application to provide (1) EH design and modelling capabilities; (2) storage circuitry design; (3) advanced packaging solutions for EH; (4) system integration & implementation; (5) characterization and reliability tests. 6. Development of tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS) for heavy vehicle applications with the following specifications: a. System-in-Package with pressure sensor for high pressure range (~100psi). b. Advanced antenna system for heavy vehicle (10 ~ 12m). c. Demonstration system of TPMS for heavy vehicle, including the display unit, receiver, wireless sensing modules, antenna system.
Akrometrix [Sponsor] Freescale Semiconductor Ltd. [Sponsor] Fu Zhou Danlaw Xi Chen Electronic Tech. Co. Ltd. [Sponsor] Intel China Ltd.

Nowadays, low-power electronic products have been widely advocated in various applications, such as consumer electronics, wearable electronics, automotive electronics, etc. Nevertheless, these applications all share similar demands upon the electronic devices, namely, low power, small form-factor, low cost, high reliability and ultimately even self-powered. As a matter of fact, the total global market potential for self-powered devices in sensing and other applications is indeed very attractive, which is expected to grow from 13.5 million units in 2008 to 164.1 million units in 2013 [Darnell Research, 2007]. The primary objective of this project is to support the local industries to implement self-powered devices to enhance their products’ competitiveness. The platform technologies to be developed in this project include energy harvester design, energy storage circuitry design, and system implementation. Piezoelectric-based materials such as Lead(Pb)-Zirconate-Titanate (PZT) and/or Polyvinylidene Fluoride (PVDF) will be considered in this project to convert mechanical energy (e.g. vibration, deformation, etc.) into electrical energy. Our target is to provide a one-stop platform for our industries to implement production-ready, low-cost and reliable energy harvester systems into their products. This project will use the tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS), energy scavenging floor, and/or sensor-based intelligent insole as the product demonstration vehicles since the market demands and growths of them are well defined.