Renesas Electronics has developed an energy-harvesting embedded controller that can eliminate the need to use batteries in IoT devices. The controller operates at up to 32MHz (64MHz in boost mode) with 20 μA/MHz active current and only 150 nA deep standby current. With such a low power requirement, this opens up the opportunity for sourcing energy from light or heat. This technology allows maintenance-free connected IoT sensing devices with endpoint intelligence for applications in industrial, business, residential, agricultural, healthcare, and public infrastructure, as well as health and fitness apparel, shoes, wearables, smart watches, and drones. Renesas has begun supplying the new embedded controller to beta customers with a configurable Energy Harvest Controller (EHC) function that connects directly to ambient energy sources such as solar, vibration, or piezoelectric. Mass production is scheduled to start from October 2019.
Direct Current Bidirectional converters are a key technology for energy storage because they can have multiple streams of DC power at varying voltages. Typically, these need to be integrated into a single current with a nominal voltage.
View Patent Forecast®
Top Corporations
News and Insights
Data Visualization
Direct Current Bidirectional converters are a key technology for energy storage because they can have multiple streams of DC power at varying voltages. Typically, these need to be integrated into a single current with a nominal voltage.