Energy Harvesting: How We’ll Build The Internet Of .

Energy Harvesting: How We’ll Build theInternet of Perpetual ThingsRight now, we’re on the cusp of a technology revolution thatthreatens to dwarf the scale of all Internet connectivity to date.Gartner believes that by 2020, there will be roughly 26 billionInternet-connected devices and they’ll be flush with sensorsto power wearables, industrial equipment, energy monitors,telematics systems, home appliances and more.1ABOUT JABILBuilt on a foundation of empoweredemployees in over 90 plants in 23 countries,Jabil strives to be the world’s leading globalmanufacturing solutions partner.Jabil’s unique combination of globalexpertise, ingenuity, analytics and financialperformance has contributed to the successof the world’s most well known brands.

The fact that nearly everything in the built environment,including our automobiles, will be connected to theInternet means that we’ll increasingly rely upon themfor information, service and even financial transactions.In fact, the Internet of Things could not exist withoutthe wireless sensor networks that connect them.Moreover, as we devise ways to minimize network powerrequirements, physical size and reliability, we’ll eventrust embedding these networks in our bodies. However,wireless sensor networks, like all electronic devices,require power to operate and batteries have not keptpace with the rapid evolution of the rest of the Internetof Things technologies. That’s why energy harvestingis becoming such an important part of the Internet ofThings ecosystem.As Erik Brynjolfsson & Andrew McAfee point out in their2014 book, The Second Machine Age, humanity is trulyon the cusp of a dramatically changing world thanks totechnology. Batteries have failed to keep pace.“As Moore’s Law works over time onprocessors, memory, sensors, and manyother elements of computer hardware(a notable exception is batteries, whichhaven’t improved their performance at anexponential rate because they’re essentiallychemical devices, not digital ones), it doesmore than just make computing devicesfaster, cheaper, smaller, and lighter. It alsoallows them to do things that previouslyseemed out of reach.”True to Moore’s Law, electronics continue to experiencedramatic performance increases while operating withultra low power requirements. Add in the powerconserving wireless connection protocols like IPV6 andit means a better battery isn’t the only solution. Now,many inexpensive wireless sensor networks requireonly tiny amounts of power, opening the floodgates forenergy harvesting.2 The result? We’ll create affordableenergy harvesting-powered Internet of Thingsnetworks everywhere, including inside our bodies.Best of all, energy harvesting will free us from wiresas well as battery constraints and disposal. After all,environmental and economic costs of changing andmaintaining batteries for portable devices continue todrive adoption of energy harvesting technology. Evenmore compelling, the largest forecasted growth in theInternet of Things is for small devices that consumemicrowatts to milliwatts of power, propelling the IoTmarket to its full market potential.Energy harvesting isn’t a new idea. We’ve knownabout harvesting energy from light (photovoltaics)since the 19th century when Alexandre-EdmondBecquerel observed the photoelectric effect in 1839.3Currently, the most common commercial ambientenergy harvesting sources that increasingly replaceor charge batteries include electrodynamics,photovoltaics, piezoelectrics, radio frequency andthermovoltaics.

How Energy Harvesting TechnologiesPower the Internet of ThingsPiezoelectric energy harvestingCertain types of materials, including certain crystals, ceramics and even bone, DNA and some proteins accumulateelectric charge when mechanical stresses are applied. By manipulating this physical characteristic of certain materials,it is possible to harness enough energy to power small wearable sensor-laden devices without the need for batteries.PIEZOELECTRIC FLOOR TILESKey Piezoelectric energy harvesting applicationsPiezoelectric floor tilesSpecially designed tiles connected to the Internet not only scavenge kinetic energy generated by people’s footsteps inhigh traffic areas like airports, malls and city walkways. They also use wireless communications to connect directly tosocial media while using generated power for lighting and signage.4

Medical DevicesCar tire pressure sensorsResearchers at the American University of Cairodeveloped energy harvesting technology to power awireless sensor network attached inside the tires tocontinuously monitor the pressure and send alerts to adriver’s smartphone.5Futuristic energy harvesting tiresA flexible piezoelectric implant thatharnesses energy from the body’snatural motions has been developedby researchers in the US and China.The team hopes that one day this typeof device will power medical implants.Preliminary tests show promise thatthis implant could harvest enoughenergy from a beating heart to powera cardiac pacemaker.7Goodyear is working on an energy harvesting tireconcept that uses piezoelectrics to harvest energy fromthe impact of the tires meeting the road during driving.However, what makes this concept truly novel is thatit will also use thermoelectric and light harvestingtechnologies to scavenge heat from the road and lightfrom the sun, even while parked.6

Thermoelectric energy harvestingMaterials that accumulate electric charge when there is a temperature difference across them (when one side iswarmer/cooler than the other) can produce a steady voltage across the material, which can be used to rechargebatteries or power low-energy devices.Thermoelectric generators (TEGs) find an increasing number of applications as the proliferation of wireless sensornetworks are being deployed in situations where autonomous operation is required. Because TEGs don’t rely onsunlight or movement and easily tolerate extreme temperatures, they’re perfect for powering wireless sensor networksin hostile environments such as space. Nevertheless, they’re also useful for monitoring hostile, remote and extremeearth-bound settings that employ smart metering or require structural monitoring.8

Radio FrequencyEnergy HarvestingTechnology ConvergenceHarvesting energy from the environment, solar orotherwise, typically produces energy on the microwatt tomilliwatt scale -- not enough to power a smartphone butplenty for some Internet of Things applications thanksto the convergence of other key low-power innovations.Recent innovations in companion technologies likeultra low-power Wireless Sensor Networks, IoT-specificnetwork protocols and standards and low-powerintegrated circuits mean that the microwatt scale ofenergy produced through energy harvesting is nowenough to power some systems. Market predictionscertainly project rapid growth.Radio frequency energy emitted byTV signals, wireless radio networksand cell phone towers can beharvested using a power generatingcircuit linked to a receiving antenna.This free flowing energy can becaptured and converted into usableDC voltage. Commonly, at distancesup to 100 meters, the sensing devicewirelessly sends a radio frequency toa harvesting device to supply enoughpower to control communications.9“I think wireless power isthe best solution because our devices are already builtto transfer information usingelectromagnetic waves andso just adding the capabilityto do power through thatsame antenna, form factor andhousing is attractive. We arealready using electromagneticsignals for communications soif we use it for power as well,everything can be consistent.10-Joshua Smith, associate professorat the University of Washingtonand former principal investigatorat Intel Research SeattleAccording to Yole Développment, the energy harvestingmodule market alone is predicted to be worth 45million next year, growing to 227 million by 2017 withthe building automation and industrial applicationsclaiming the largest segment of this market.12IDTechEx market researchers estimate that the totalmarket for energy-harvesting devices will rise to 2.6billion by 2024.13Available Energy from Energy HarvestingSources11Min (mW)Max (mW)10 1 0.1 0.01 0 LightIndoorsLightOutdoorsVibrationalThermal(@20º Cgradient)Energy Harvesting SourceRF &Inductive

The Internet of Things IncreasinglyDepends on Energy HarvestingRight now, energy harvesting industrial automationand the built environment are important industriescontributing to growth in energy harvesting (EH)powered wireless sensor network applications.For example, Perpetuum supplies Southeast Railwayswith EH powered wireless to monitor the wear of wheelbearings on 148 trains, harvesting between 10 -15milliwatts of continuous power while the trains operate.Furthermore, Perpetuum partners with GE, Emerson andHoneywell for industrial EH solutions.Energy harvesting is probably most widely deployed bythe EnOcean Alliance, which is dedicated to providingautomation solutions for sustainable buildings.14EnOcean technology provides tiny bursts of UHF signal tooperate wireless, battery-free building controls.“In Japan, the market demandfor energy harvesting wirelesssolutions is very high.Maintenance-free and flexibleproducts perfectly meet severalrequirements of the Japaneseeconomic and social development.The fields of application rangefrom energy efficiency measures inbuildings and industry to assistancesystems for an aging society, moresafety and comfort in homes ormonitoring of precious resources.In all scenarios, battery lesssolutions provide the necessarydata and control intelligence.”15- Kazuyoshi Itagaki, Sales ManagerJapan, EnOcean GmbHAccording to EnOcean, adding EHinto the built environment throughwireless switches and occupancy,temperature and climatic sensors canlead to a 15 percent cost savings in newconstruction, 70 percent cost savingsin retrofits, and 40 percent energysavings.16Schneider Electric started using energyharvesting technology for wirelesssensors triggered and powered by heatoutages on such things as copper powerbusbars.17 Finally, applications to thesmart grid, transportation, our cities,homes and even our water suppliesmeans that energy harvesting will beapplied to the very infrastructures thatmake our lifestyles possible.

Emerging EnergyHarvestingTechnology forWearablesResearchers at the Sungkyunkwan University inSouth Korea reported in the journal ACS Nanothat they’ve developed the first durable, flexibleEH cloth to harnesses human movements.This technology is very promising not onlybecause it can recharge existing batteries andsupercapacitors, but also because researchersin China report energy conversion efficienciesbetween 50 and 85 percent.As a result, this new technology will extendthe possibilities of commercial and medicalapplications. For example, the researchers notethat it could enable small, lightweight devicesthat could function as robotic skin.The emerging technology behind this energyharvesting fabric is called “triboelectricnanogenerators,” or TNGs. TNG fabric uses asilvery textile coated with nanorods and siliconbased organic material to harvest energy fromeveryday motion. By layering four pieces of thecloth and applying pressure to the textile, theresearchers found that the material immediatelypowered light-emitting diodes (LEDs), a liquidcrystal display and a vehicle’s keyless entryremote and worked for more than 12,000 cycles.18