First it was “look, Ma, no wires”. Now it’s “look, Ma, no batteries”. Well, e-peas’ energy harvesting PMICs are really shaking up the IoT as we know it…
And ipXchange comes to its third and final interview with e-peas at Embedded World 2024. This time, Bruno shows us the next step to take after proving that energy harvesting can support your application, via e-peas’ various evaluation boards.
e-peas created a typical real-world design, together with partners Murata, Semtech, and Dracula Technologies, to demonstrate how an energy harvesting system managed by e-peas’ AEM10920 PMIC (Power Management Integrated Circuit) can be built into a flattened miniature PCB with LoRaWAN capabilities.
In the demo, four of these IoT end nodes are dotted around the show and transmitting data to a Semtech gateway for live updates. This is all done without the use of primary batteries and running solely on ambient light hitting Dracula Technologies’ energy harvester.
These LoRaWAN transmitters can send data over several hundred metres, making a similar system ideal for applications such as livestock tracking and smart building monitoring. Bruno also shows us just how much data is being fed to a web server, such as temperature, sample rate, and location.
Eamon then reminds us how e-peas PMICs not only enable data to be transferred while the IoT end nodes harvest energy, but they also manage the storage and delivery of that energy for use when there is no light to harvest.
This means that solar-powered IoT end nodes can operate in total darkness for a duration determined by the PMIC settings and the capacity of the storage element. This can be days or more if required.
e-peas currently offers 17 different PMICs to combine with devices from around 15 storage element and energy harvester partners, in addition to several ultra-low-power wireless SoC partners. This means that if you want to remove batteries from even a wirelessly connected product, you should look to e-peas for a solution. The e-peas team will even help customers to consolidate the design and save time to market by getting things right the first time.
e-peas supports energy harvesting from photovoltaic, thermoelectric, rf (electromagnetic), and kinetic pulse energy harvesters – the latter is demonstrated in Bruno’s Bluetooth doorbell that uses the physical click of the button to power the circuit!
Head to the board page below to learn more about e-peas’ latest AEM10920 photovoltaic energy harvesting PMIC for wireless applications, and if you want to ditch batteries for good, apply to evaluate this technology today.
Keep designing!
Fascinated by a world without batteries? Check out ipXchange’s other energy harvesting content from Embedded World 2024:
Next-level green IoT with recyclable PV cells?! | Dracula Technologies
When Ambiq meets energy harvesting – Live demo!