Energy Harvesting Technology

BY CHIDINMA NWOSU

The key role to ambient energy harvesting systems is energy storage. Energy storage ensures systems to continue operating during times of insufficient ambient energy. Instruments are often used to store and manage stored energy in order to generate that 1-on-1 correlation between when they are up and running and when there is ambient energy to harvest.   

Energy harvest diagram

These devices support instant-on capabilities due to the system not needing to harvest any energy from the system. Some well-liked storage gadgets for energy harvesting applications are thin-film micro-energy storage devices, super capacitors, lithium-ion polymer batteries, high capacity batteries and capacitors. Thin-film energy storage cells, such as Cymbet EnerChip Thin-Film Batteries, often support high charge or discharge cycles. Capacitors, like Panasonic Electric Double Layer Gold Capacitors, are usually used to support applications that need energy spikes. Batteries are often first choice when it comes to applications in need of a constant amount of energy supply.  

For more information on energy harvest technologies, visit mouser.com.