Energy Harvesting & Micro Batteries: Market Forces and Demand Characteristics, Third Edition

Published by	Darnell Group, Inc.
Published	November, 2009	Product code	104179
Content info	72 Pages
Price	US $ 2700 PDF By E-mail (Multi-user corporate license)

Introduction
Press Release
Related Reports

Energy Harvesting & Micro Batteries: Market Forces and Demand Characteristics, Third Edition published by Darnell Group, Inc. in November, 2009. This report consists of 72 Pages and the price starts from US $ 2700.

Introduction

Abstract

Topics covered include:

Commercialization Status
Application Trends
Power Levels
Energy Storage Trends
Energy Harvesting Technologies
Packaging and Materials
Value Proposition and Cost Analysis
Standards Update
nanoPower Forum: A Review of Key Developments

Energy harvesting has been "emerging" for several years, but the technology is now poised to break out commercially, driven by developments in areas that are, themselves, emerging applications. The market got its initial acceptance in wireless building automation and control, with deployments in Europe. These opportunities spread to North America, where home automation and control technologies were added to the mix. Wireless sensor mesh networks provided challenges that energy harvesting could meet, particularly where battery use was limited or problematic. Energy efficiency, the Smart Grid, radio frequency ID, and thin-film batteries all helped to advance energy harvesting solutions.

Darnell has identified the following drivers for ultra-low-power:

Bi-directionality, including data rates and range.
Network security, primarily data integrity.
Real time monitoring.
Environmental regulations.
Remote communication with "host" system.
Proliferation of sensor mesh networks.

Evidence exists that the "crossover" from the "Introduction" phase to the "Growth" phase will take place in the 2009/10 timeframe. The appearance of third-generation products often signals the crossover into the Growth phase. Based on the timeline and company activity of EnOcean Alliance members and over 200 other organizations and companies, energy harvesting is poised for commercial adoption, with market share increasing. The time it will spend in the Growth phase is hard to predict at this point, but this phase is marked by rapid acceleration in sales and significant gains in market share, overall. It will present a good opportunity for makers of energy harvesting solutions.

Introduction 4
Commercialization Status 7
Application Trends 9
- Home Automation 9
- Building Automation 12
- Industrial Process 14
- Environmental Monitoring 17
- Automated Meter Reading 19
- Medical 22
- Military/Aerospace and Related 24
- Automotive 27
- Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) 29
- Other Trends 31
Power Levels 32
Energy Storage Trends 37
- Thin-film Batteries 39
- Primary Batteries 40
- Rechargeable Batteries 41
- Supercapacitors/Ultracapacitors 41
- Energy Storage Comparison 43
- Self-Discharge 46
Energy Harvesting Technologies 47
- Photovoltaic 49
- Thermoelectric 49
- Mechanical Vibration 50
- Radio Frequency 52
- Other Trends 53
Packaging and Materials 54
Value Proposition & Cost Analysis 57
Standards Update 61

Appendix A - nanoPower Forum Shows Road to Commercialization: A Review of Key Developments 65
Appendix B - EnOcean Alliance Members and Representative Installations 69

Table 1 - Selected Applications and Power Requirements 33
Table 2 - Energy Harvesting Functions and Power Levels 33
Table 3 - Energy Harvesting Technologies and Power Levels 35
Table 4 - Energy Storage Devices, Self-Discharge Rates 46
Table 5 - Selected Power Sources and Applications 48
Table 6 - Energy Harvesting Systems, Power and Cost 59
Table 7 - Energy Harvesting Installation Cost Savings 60
Table 8 - Inventory Management Cost Options, Wired vs Wireless Automation Investment 60

Figure 1 - Product Life Cycle Curve for Energy Harvesting Technologies 8
Figure 2 - Nokia Home Control Center Device 11
Figure 3 - Piezoelectric Power Generating Floors 14
Figure 4 - FisherR Wireless Position Monitors 16
Figure 5 - Voltree Sensor Node 18
Figure 6 - SecureMesh"! Powerline Repeater 22
Figure 7 - Body Area Networks, Data Rate vs Power Levels 24
Figure 8 - Bell M412 Test Flight 26
Figure 9 - Pico Cube Architecture 28
Figure 10 - Power Consumption and Data Rates 34
Figure 11 - Portable versus Energy Harvesting 36
Figure 12 - Thin-film Lithium Battery for Implantable Medical Device 39
Figure 13 - Freescale "Hive Node" 43
Figure 14 - Energy Storage Devices, Cycle Life 44
Figure 15 - Energy Storage Devices, Specific Energy Density (Wh/kg) 44
Figure 16 - Energy Storage Devices, Specific Power Density (W/kg) 45
Figure 17 - TE-Power NODE Thermoelectric Sensor System 50
Figure 18 - JTRA-e5mini Power Supply 51
Figure 19 - System-in-Package Microsensor 57
Figure 20 - Typical Forecast for Average Sale Prices for WSN Nodes for Commercial Buildings 59
Figure 21 - Issues with Primary Batteries in Wireless Sensor Networks 61

Press Release

Energy Harvesting & Micro Batteries: Market Forces and Demand Characteristics, Third Edition -- Darnell Group

December 1st, 2009

Darnell Group has determined that the "crossover" from the "Introduction" phase to the "Growth" phase for energy harvesting and related micro battery products will take place in the 2009/10 timeframe. As that happens, the market share of energy-harvesting-powered devices will grow rapidly compared with traditional wired or battery-powered wireless alternatives. Profitability of energy harvesting and microbattery companies will increase, and within a short time, the industry will begin to experience consolidation and mergers, according to the latest report from Darnell Group titled: "Energy Harvesting & Micro Batteries: Market Forces and Demand Characteristics, Third Edition"

A detailed quantitative analysis of the relative costs of wired systems, battery-powered wireless systems and energy-harvesting-powered wireless systems is a key part of this third-edition analysis. The installed cost savings are consistent for both smaller and larger wireless versus wired systems. Smaller systems do not have as many nodes, however, so they do not have as many batteries to replace. Therefore, the cost savings for a smaller system are good, but battery replacement is less of an issue. In a large system, however, the number of nodes increases significantly, along with the number of batteries. This presents a good business case for energy harvesting, where the cost of battery replacement is added to the installed cost savings.

Energy harvesting is most known as a "battery-less" technology, with the advantage of providing power where batteries are a significant problem. However, it is also being touted as a "complementary" power source in conjunction with microbatteries. In many applications, energy harvesting will be exploited to run devices when they can, but will then store excess energy for later use. For example, most ambient energy harvesting transducers do not provide adequate peak power or the power reliability needed to perpetually power micro-electronic applications requiring autonomy, such as wireless sensor nodes, active RFID and RTLS tags, consumer wireless remote controls or security systems. As a result, microbatteries and supercapacitors will present concurrent market opportunities with energy harvesting solutions.