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Energy Harvesting and Storage for Electronic Devices 2010-2020

Updated October 2010
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Energy harvesting is the use of ambient energy to power small electronic or electrical devices. This report looks at the full range of energy harvesting technologies, covering technical progress, applications, performance criteria still to be met, and ten year forecasts. It covers progress with energy storage devices - such as supercapacitors and batteries. Details of suppliers and universities around the world are given along with appraisal of the market for these devices and opportunities for developers. Ten year forecasts by application and technology are given.
 
Energy harvesting, otherwise known as power harvesting or energy scavenging, uses ambient energy to power small electronic or electrical devices. That includes photovoltaics, thermovoltaics, piezoelectrics and electrodynamics, among other options, which are now being used in a wide variety of applications. The technology has reached a tipping point, because the necessary lower power electronics and more efficient energy gathering and storage are now sufficiently affordable, reliable and longer lived for a huge number of applications to be practicable. From wind-up laptops for Africa, wireless light switches working from the power of your finger and wireless sensors in oil fields monitoring equipment power by vibration - these are all in use now with many more applications emerging.
 
For the first time, this unique report looks at the global situation. It covers the progress of more than 200 organizations in 22 countries and gives detailed case studies. Market forecasts are provided for everything from self-sufficient wristwatches to mobile phones that will never need a charger and light switches and controls that have no wiring and no batteries when fitted in buildings to wireless sensors power from the environment they are placed in.
 
However, there are further mountains to climb in order to achieve self powered wireless sensors monitoring forest fires, pollution spillages and even inside the human body and in the concrete of buildings. These applications will become commonplace one day. Even devices with maintenance-free life of hundreds of years can now be envisaged. Meanwhile, bionic man containing maintenance free, self-powered devices for his lifetime is an objective for the next few years. IDTechEx find that in 2010 the total market for energy harvesting devices, including everything from wristwatches to wireless sensors, is $605 million, rising to $4.4 billion in 2020.
 
How do these things work? Which technologies have the most potential now and in the future? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each? Which countries have the most active programs and why? What are the leading universities, developers, manufacturers and other players up to? What alliances exist? What are the timelines for success? All these questions and more are answered in this report.
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Table of Contents
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
1.INTRODUCTION
1.1.What is energy harvesting?
1.1.Energy harvesting compared with alternatives
1.1.Power requirements of small electronic products including Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) and the types of battery employed
1.2.Ten year improvement in electronics, photovoltaics and batteries
1.2.What it is not
1.3.Energy harvesting compared with alternatives
1.4.Power requirements of different devices
1.5.Harvesting options to meet these requirements
1.6.Battery advances fail to keep up - implications
1.7.Some key enablers for the future - printed electronics, smart substrates, MEMS
1.7.1.Printed and thin film
1.7.2.Smart substrates
1.7.3.MEMS
1.8.Report from IDTechEx Energy Harvesting & Storage USA event
2.APPLICATIONS AND POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS
2.1.Aerospace and military
2.1.Temperature monitoring on high speed trains
2.2.Huge number of potential WSN applications in the SNCF system
2.2.Industrial
2.2.1.Standards - EnOcean Alliance vs ZigBee
2.2.2.Real Time Locating Systems
2.2.3.Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN)
2.2.4.Aircraft, engines and machinery
2.3.Consumer
2.3.Evolution of a few of the feasible features for e-labels and e-packaging
2.3.1.Mobile phones, wristwatches, radio, lamps etc
2.3.2.E-Labels, E-Packaging, E-signage, E-posters
2.4.Healthcare
2.5.Third World
2.6.Environmental
3.HARVESTING-TOLERANT ELECTRONICS, DIRECT USE OF POWER, STORAGE OPTIONS
3.1.Harvesting tolerant electronics and direct use of power
3.1.Battery assisted passive RFID label recording time-temperature profile of food, blood etc in transit
3.1.1.Progress with harvesting tolerant electronics
3.2.New battery options
3.2.Smart Dust WSN node concept with thick film battery and solar cells
3.2.1.Smart Dust
3.2.2.Lithium laminar batteries
3.2.3.Planar Energy Devices
3.2.4.Cymbet Corporation - integrated battery management
3.2.5.Infinite Power Solutions
3.2.6.Transparent printed organic batteries
3.2.7.Biobatteries do their own harvesting
3.2.8.Battery that incorporates energy harvesting - FlexEl
3.2.9.Technion Israel Institute of Science
3.2.10.Need for shape standards for laminar batteries
3.3.Alternatives to batteries
3.3.New Planar Energy Devices high capacity laminar battery
3.3.1.Supercapacitors
3.3.2.Supercapacitors and Supercabatteries
3.3.3.Supercabatteries
3.3.4.Mini fuel cells
3.4.World's first thin-film battery with integrated battery management
3.5.Infinite Power solutions produce thin, lithium based rechargeable batteries
3.6.Flexible battery that charges in one minute
3.7.Comparison of an electrostatic capacitor, an electrolytic capacitor and an EDLC
3.8.Comparison of an EDLC with an asymmetric supercapacitor sometimes painfully called a bacitor or supercabattery
4.LIGHT HARVESTING FOR SMALL DEVICES
4.1.Comparison of pn junction and electrophotochemical photovoltaics.
4.1.Comparison of options
4.1.NREL adjudication of efficiencies under standard conditions
4.1.1.Important parameters
4.1.2.Principles of operation
4.1.3.Options for the future
4.1.4.Many types of photovoltaics needed for harvesting
4.2.Limits of cSi and aSi technologies
4.2.The main options for photovoltaics beyond conventional silicon compared
4.2.International Space Station
4.3.Number of organisations developing printed and potentially printed electronics worldwide
4.3.CdTe cost advantage
4.3.Limits of CdTe
4.4.GaAsGe multilayers
4.4.Efficiency of laminar organic photovoltaics and DSSC
4.4.Some candidates for the different photovoltaic requirements
4.5.Spectrolab roadmap for multilayer cells
4.5.DSSC
4.6.CIGS
4.6.DSSC design principle
4.7.HRTEM plane view BF image of germanium quantum dots in titania matrix
4.7.Organic
4.8.Nanosilicon ink
4.8.The CIGS flexible photovoltaics of Odersun AG of Germany is used for energy harvesting to mobile phones on the bag of Bagjack of Germany
4.9.CIGS construction
4.9.Nantennas
4.10.Other options
4.10.The CIGS panels from Global Solar Energy
4.10.1.Nanowire solar cells
4.11.Wide web organic photovoltaic production line of Konarka announced late 2008.
4.12.Operating principle of a popular form of organic photovoltaics
4.13.Module stack for photovoltaics
4.14.INL nantennas on film
4.15.Nanowire solar cells left by Canadian researchers and right by Konarka in the USA
5.MOVEMENT HARVESTING
5.1.Vibration harvesting
5.1.Power paving
5.2.Microscope image shows the fibers that are part of the microfiber nanogenerator. The top one is coated with gold
5.2.Movement harvesting options
5.2.1.Piezoelectric - conventional, ZnO and polymer
5.2.2.Electrostatic
5.2.3.Magnetostrictive
5.2.4.Energy harvesting electronics
5.3.Schematic shows how pairs of fibers would generate electrical current.
5.3.Electroactive polymers
5.4.MEMS
5.4.Piezo eel
5.5.Capacitive biomimetic energy harvesting
5.5.Electrodynamic
5.5.1.Generation of electricity
5.5.2.Harvesting from the human heart
5.5.3.Bridge monitoring
5.5.4.Wind up foetal heart rate monitor
5.6.Midé energy harvesting electronics
5.7.Artificial Muscle business plan
5.8.Artificial Muscle's actuator
5.9.MEMS by a dust mite that is less than one millimeter across
5.10.Examples of electrodynamic harvesting
5.11.Heart harvester
6.HEAT HARVESTING
6.1.The thermoelectric materials with highest figure of merit
6.1.Thermoelectrics
6.1.1.Thermoelectric construction
6.1.2.Advantages of thermoelectrics
6.1.3.Automotive Thermoelectric Generation (ATEG)
6.1.4.Heat pumps
6.2.Operating principle of the Seiko Thermic wristwatch
6.3.The thermoelectric device in the Seiko Thermic watch with 104 elements each measuring 80X80X600 micrometers
7.OTHER HARVESTING OPTIONS
7.1.Electromagnetic field harnessing
7.2.Microbial and other fuel cells
7.3.Multiple energy harvesting
8.PROFILES OF OVER 200 PARTICIPANTS IN 22 COUNTRIES
8.1.Active Business Company GmbH
8.1.Profiled organisations by continent
8.2.Profiled organisations by country
8.2.AdaptivEnergy
8.3.AdHoc Electronics
8.3.Number in sample by intended sector of end use
8.4.Number of cases by type of harvesting
8.4.Advanced Cerametrics
8.5.Agency for Defense Development
8.5.AdaptivEnergy's Joule-Thief energy-harvesting module
8.6.Transparent photovoltaic film
8.6.AIST Tsukuba
8.7.Alabama A.&M. University
8.7.Arveni piezoelectric batteryless remote control
8.8.Advertisement for Citizen Eco-Drive
8.8.Alps Electric
8.9.Alvi Technologies
8.9.CNSA moon orbiting satellite with solar cells
8.10.Self-powered Wireless Sensor Technology from EnOcean
8.10.Ambient Research
8.11.AmbioSystems LLC
8.11.Solar powered wireless sensor node
8.12.Solar powered ESA satellites
8.12.Applied Digital Solutions
8.13.Argonne National Laboratory
8.13.Electrical lanterns, torches etc charged by hand cranking.
8.14.Freeplay wind up radio in Africa
8.14.Arizona State University
8.15.Arveni
8.15.Solar sail
8.16.Light in Africa
8.16.Australian National University - Department of Engineering
8.17.BAE Systems
8.17.Hi-Tech Wealth's S116 clamshell solar phone
8.18.Nantennas
8.18.Biberach University of Applied Sciences
8.19.bk-electronic GmbH
8.19.Bulk nantennas
8.20.Human sensor networks
8.20.BootUp GmbH
8.21.BSC Computer GmbH
8.21.ISRO moon satellite
8.22.Sensor monitoring rock net using energy of net movement and solar cells
8.22.California Institute of Technology
8.23.California Institute of Technology/Jet Propulsion Laboratory
8.23.JAXA moon project
8.24."Ibuki" GOSAT greenhouse gas monitoring satellite
8.24.California State University - Northridge
8.25.Carnegie Mellon University
8.25.KCF Harvesting Sensor Demonstration Pack
8.26.Flux density of a microgenerator
8.26.CEA (Atomic Energy Commission of France)
8.27.Chinese University of Hong Kong
8.27.3D drawing of the Pedal Light
8.28.WSN deployment
8.28.Chungbuk National University
8.29.Citizen Holding Co Ltd
8.29.Micropelt thermoelectric harvester in action
8.30.Helicopter vibration harvester
8.30.China National Space Administration
8.31.Clarkson University
8.31.Bell model 412 helicopter
8.32.Solar-powered wireless G-Link seismic sensor on the Corinth Bridge in Greece.
8.32.Cymtox Ltd
8.33.DigiTower Cologne
8.33.Multiple solar-powered nodes monitor strain and vibration at key locations on the Goldstar Bridge over the Thames River in New London, Conn
8.34.MicroStrain Wireless sensor and data acquisition system. Source: MicroStrain Inc
8.34.Distech Controls
8.35.Drexel University
8.35.Volture vibration harvester
8.36.Another version of Volture
8.36.East Japan Railway Company
8.37.EchoFlex Solutions
8.37.International Space Station
8.38.Solar panels for the Hubble telescope
8.38.EDF R&D
8.39.Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI)
8.39.Schematic representations of a PN-couple used as TEC (left) based on the Peltier effect or TEG (right) based on the Seebeck effect.
8.40.Nextreme thermoelectric generator
8.40.Eltako GmbH
8.41.Ember Corporation
8.41.eTEC Module and Die
8.42.Morph concept
8.42.Encrea srl
8.43.Energie Agentur
8.43.Flexible & Changing Design
8.44.Concept device based on reduce, reuse recycle envisages many forms of energy harvesting
8.44.Engenuity Systems
8.45.EnOcean GmbH
8.45.Carrying strap provides power to the sensor unit
8.46.An optical image of an electronic device in a complex deformation mode
8.46.European Space Agency
8.47.Exergen
8.47.NTT DOCOMO concept phone with energy harvesting
8.48.Pavegen Systems Limited is looking for ways to tap into the energy of moving crowds
8.48.Fast Trak Ltd
8.49.Fatih University
8.49.Heart energy harvesting
8.50.Perpetuum vibration harvester
8.50.Ferro Solutions, Inc.
8.51.Fraunhofer Institut Integrierte Schaltungen
8.51.PowerFilm literature
8.52.PulseSwitch Systems makes piezoelectric wireless switches that do not need a battery
8.52.Freeplay Foundation
8.53.G24 Innovations
8.53.Seiko Thermic wristwatch
8.54.Knee-Mounted Device Generates Electricity While You Walk
8.54.Ganssle Group
8.55.Georgia Institute of Technology
8.55.Tissot Autoquartz
8.56.Heart harvester developed at Southampton University Hospital
8.56.GreenPeak Technologies
8.57.Harvard University
8.57.Compromise between power density and energy density
8.58.Thin film batteries with supercapacitors were efficient for energy storage
8.58.High Merit Thermoelectrics
8.59.Hi-Tech Wealth
8.59.Two other battery formats
8.60.Syngenta sensor
8.60.Holst Centre
8.61.Honeywell
8.61.Trophos BES Power Management & Application Architecture
8.62.Transmitter left and implanted receiver right for inductively powered implantable dropped foot stimulator for stroke victims
8.62.Idaho National Laboratory
8.63.IMEC
8.63.PicoBeacon, the first fully self-contained wireless transmitter powered solely by solar energy
8.64.Surveillance bat
8.64.Imperial College
8.65.India Space Research Organisation
8.65.Sensor head on COM-BAT
8.66.A solar bag that is powerful enough to charge a laptop
8.66.Ingenieurbüro Zink GmbH
8.67.INGLAS Innovative Glassysteme GmbH & Co. KG
8.68.INSYS Electronics
8.69.IntAct
8.70.Intel
8.71.ITRI (Industrial Technology Research Institute)
8.72.Jager Direkt GmbH & Co
8.73.Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency
8.74.Kanazawa University
8.75.KCF Technologies Inc
8.76.KIB Projekt GmbH
8.77.Kinetron BV
8.78.Kobe University
8.79.Konarka
8.80.Kookmin University,
8.81.Korea Electronics Company
8.82.Korea Institute of Science and Technology
8.83.Korea University
8.84.KVL Comp Ltd.
8.85.Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
8.86.Lebônê Solutions
8.87.LessWire, LLC
8.88.Leviton
8.89.LonMark International
8.90.Masco
8.91.Massachusetts Institute of Technology
8.92.MEMSCAP SA
8.93.Michigan Technological University
8.94.Microdul AG
8.95.Micropelt GmbH
8.96.MicroStrain Inc.,
8.97.Midé Technology Corporation
8.98.MINIWIZ Sustainable Energy Dev. Ltd
8.99.Mitsubishi Corporation
8.100.MK Electric (a Honeywell Business)
8.101.Moritani and Co Ltd
8.102.Nanosonic Inc
8.103.NASA
8.104.National Physical Laboratory
8.105.National Semiconductor
8.106.National Taiwan University,
8.107.National Tsing Hua University
8.108.Network Rail Infrastructure Ltd
8.109.Newcastle University
8.110.Nextreme
8.111.Nokia Cambridge UK Research Centre
8.112.North Carolina State University
8.113.Northrop Grumman
8.114.Northeastern University
8.115.Northwestern University
8.116.Nova Mems
8.117.NTT DOCOMO
8.118.Oak Ridge National Laboratory
8.119.Ohio State University
8.120.Omnio
8.121.Omron Corporation
8.122.Orkit Building Intelligence
8.123.Osram
8.124.Osram Silvania
8.125.Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
8.126.Pavegen
8.127.PEHA
8.128.Pennsylvania State University
8.129.Perpetua
8.130.Perpetuum Ltd
8.131.PowerFilm, Inc.
8.132.PROBARE Thomas Rieder e.K.
8.133.PulseSwitch Systems
8.134.Purdue University
8.135.PYRECAP/HYCOSYS
8.136.Regulvar
8.137.Rockwell Automation
8.138.Rutherford Appleton Laboratory,
8.139.Sagentia
8.140.Sandia National Laboratory,
8.141.Satellite Services Ltd
8.142.SAT System- und Anlagentechnik Herbert GmbH
8.143.Sauter
8.144.Schulte Elektrotechnik GmbH & Co. KG
8.145.Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna
8.146.Seiko
8.147.SELEX Galileo
8.148.SensorDynamics AG
8.149.Sentilla Corporation
8.150.Servodan A/S
8.151.Shanghai Jiao Tong University
8.152.Siemens Building Technologies GmbH & Co
8.153.Simon Fraser University
8.154.Smart Material Corp.
8.155.SMH
8.156.Solid State Research inc
8.157.Sony
8.158.Southampton University Hospital
8.159.SPAWAR
8.160.Spectrolab Inc
8.161.State University of New Jersey
8.162.Steinbeis Transferzentrum für Embedded Design und Networking
8.163.steute Schaltgeräte GmbH & Co. KG
8.164.Swiss Federal Institute of Technology
8.165.Syngenta Sensors UIC
8.166.Tambient
8.167.Technical University of Ilmenau,
8.168.Technograph Microcircuits Ltd
8.169.Texas Instruments
8.170.ThermoKon Sensortechnik
8.171.Thermolife Energy Corporation
8.172.The Technology Partnership
8.173.TIMA Laboratory
8.174.Tokyo Institute of Technology
8.175.Trophos Energy
8.176.TRW Conekt
8.177.Tyndall National Institute
8.178.Unitronic AG Zentrale
8.179.University of Berlin
8.180.University of Bristol
8.181.University of California Berkeley
8.182.University of California Los Angeles
8.183.University of Edinburgh
8.184.University of Florida
8.185.University of Freiburg - IMTEK
8.186.University of Idaho
8.187.University of Michigan
8.188.University of Neuchatel
8.189.University of Oxford
8.190.University of Pittsburgh
8.191.University of Princeton
8.192.University of Sheffield
8.193.University of Southampton
8.194.University of Tokyo
8.195.Uppsala University
8.196.US Army Research Laboratory
8.197.Vicos
8.198.Virginia Tech
8.199.Voltaic Systems Inc
8.200.WAGO Kontakttechnik GmbH & Co. KG
8.201.Washington State University
8.202.Wieland Electric GmbH
8.203.Wireless Industrial Technologies
8.204.Yale University,
8.205.Yonsei University,
8.206.ZMD AG
9.MARKET FORECASTS
9.1.Some high volume addressable global markets for energy harvesting for small devices
9.1.Forecasts 2010-2020 for energy harvesting markets
9.1.Energy harvesting for small devices, renewable energy replacing power stations and what comes between.
9.1.1.Addressable markets and price sensitivity
9.1.2.IDTechEx energy harvesting forecasts 2010-2020, 2030
9.1.3.Timeline for widespread deployment of energy harvesting
9.1.4.Example of a supplier's adoption roadmap
9.1.5.Which technologies win?
9.2.Ambient power available for volume markets
9.2.Global market number million
9.2.Wireless sensor networks 2010-2020
9.3.IDTechEx forecast for 2030
9.3.Global market unit value dollars
9.3.Addressable market for high priced energy harvesting
9.4.Electronic products selling in billions yearly and their pricing
9.4.Global market total value millions of dollars
9.4.Bicycle dynamo market
9.5.Consumer market number million
9.5.Global market for energy harvesting
9.6.Consumer market for energy harvesting
9.6.Consumer market unit value dollars
9.7.Consumer market total value millions of dollars
9.7.Industrial, healthcare and other non- consumer markets for energy harvesting
9.8.Wristwatches
9.8.Industrial, healthcare and other non-consumer markets number million
9.9.Industrial, healthcare and other non-consumer markets unit value dollars
9.9.Bicycle dynamo
9.10.Laptops and e-books
9.10.Industrial, healthcare and other non-consumer markets total value millions of dollars
9.11.Consumer market number by sector
9.11.Mobile phones
9.12.Other portable consumer electronics~
9.12.Consumer market total value by sector
9.13.Consumer market value by technology 2020
9.13.Wireless sensor mesh networks
9.14.Other Industrial^
9.14.Other market value by technology 2020
9.15.Total market value by technology 2020
9.15.Military and aerospace+ excluding WSN
9.16.Healthcare#
9.16.Meter reading nodes number million 2010-2020
9.17.Meter reading nodes unit value dollars 2010-2020
9.17.Other+
9.18.Consumer vs other market value by technology 2020
9.18.Meter reading nodes total value dollars 2010-2020
9.19.Other nodes number million 2010-2020
9.19.Consumer market value in $ million by application and technology 2020
9.20.Other market in $ million by application and technology in 2020
9.20.Other nodes unit value dollars 2010-2020
9.21.Other nodes total value dollars 2010-2020
9.21.IDTechEx forecast of market % value share of total photovoltaic market by technology excluding conventional crystalline silicon
9.22.Timeline for widespread deployment of energy harvesting
9.22.Total node value billion dollars 2010-2020
9.23.WSN systems and software excluding nodes billion dollars 2010-2020
9.23.Division of value sales between the technologies in 2020
9.24.Percentage value share of the global market for energy harvesting across large areas such as vehicles and railway stations (eg regenerative braking, shock absorbers, exhaust heat) in 2020
9.24.Total WSN market million dollars 2010-2020
9.25.WSN and ZigBee node numbers million 2010, 2020, 2030
9.25.IDTechEx Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) Forecast 2010-2020 with Real Time Locating Systems RTLS for comparison
9.26.WSN and ZigBee node numbers million 2010, 2020, 2030 and market drivers
9.26.Average number of nodes per system 2010, 2020, 2030
9.27.Number of systems 2010, 2020, 2030
9.27.Average number of nodes per system 2010, 2020, 2030
9.28.Number of systems 2010, 2020, 2030
9.28.WSN node price dollars 2010, 2020, 2030
9.29.WSN node total value $ million 2010, 2020, 2030
9.29.WSN node price dollars 2010, 2020, 2030 and cost reduction factors
9.30.WSN node total value $ million 2010, 2020, 2030
9.30.WSN systems and software excluding nodes $ million 2010, 2020, 2030
9.31.Total WSN market value $ million 2010, 2020, 2030
9.31.WSN systems and software excluding nodes $ million 2010, 2020, 2030
9.32.Total WSN market value $ million 2010, 2020, 2030
9.32.Global bicycle and car production millions
APPENDIX 1: IDTECHEX PUBLICATIONS AND CONSULTANCY
APPENDIX 2: WIRELESS SENSOR NETWORKS
APPENDIX 3: PERMANENT POWER FOR WIRELESS SENSORS - WHITE PAPER FROM CYMBET
TABLES
FIGURES
 

Report Statistics

Pages 357
Tables 61
Figures 162
Companies 200+
Forecasts to 2020
 
 
 
 

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