The world is increasingly going wireless. Whether it’s cell phones, remotes, game controllers, or headsets, people hate being tied down and burdened by running a wire or two to get something to function. Nowhere is this becoming more apparent than in the realm of interior building components such a lighting controls, temperature sensors, occupancy sensors, etc.
While this move to wireless within building interiors often facilitates some sort of energy saving function, i.e. occupancy sensors turning lights off when people leave a room, the sensor itself does require an energy source; be it in the form of a battery or hardline connection. Though the amount of power to operate one or two of these sensors 24 hours a day 365 days a year may, in the relative grand scheme of things, seem trivial and insignificant, the total annual sum of power needed to operate hundreds if not thousands in a commercial high-rise can be fairly significant. Not to mention the amount of maintenance needed and toxic waste created when thousands of batteries are constantly being replaced.
German based company EnOcean has a solution to not only the wireless sensor woes, but virtually anything that uses a radio signal to transmit or receive data. They have developed, among other things, energy harvesting wireless/batteryless mini radio modules that get the energy they need to operate out of thin air…almost. What the sensors actually do is harness the more than needed amount of energy they need to operate from the ambient environment in which they’re installed. The batteryless radio modules convert ambient solar, thermal and motion energy into useable electrical energy that can power building network communications, remote controls, wireless sensors, you name it.
From EnOcean:
A wireless sensor is operated by the smallest amount of ambient energy. About 50 microjoules per action are sufficient, comparable to lifting 1 gram by 5 mm. For example, pressing the button of a TV remote control takes a multiple of this. A tiny magnet and coil system produces an electric voltage from finger pressure, for example, similar to the way power is generated by a dynamo for a bicycle light.
Vibration can also be converted into electric energy by using piezoelectric crystals. When the crystal is flexed, energy is generated. Small solar cells, like those in calculators, can also power a wireless sensor from EnOcean. A small energy accumulator (Goldcap), recharged during just one or two hours of light, sustains the operation overnight. A thermal converter, currently under development, makes use of temperature differences to generate voltage. Three to four degrees are sufficient for transmission, less than the difference in temperature between the air in a room and the surface of warm radiators or machine parts.
These are just a few examples of highly efficient, micro energy converters already marketed by EnOcean or in the process of development. Aside from the cost savings and environmental benefit of not having to deal with battery disposal (a frequent argument used against wireless technologies), EnOcean’s shorter radio transmission times actually reduce the amount of ambient radiation.
From EnOcean:
The prestigious ECOLOG Institute examined low-power wireless light switches using EnOcean technology. The result is surprising – the radiation given off by an EnOcean wireless switch is much less than that of a conventional wired switch. And why? The operation of a conventional switch produces a breakaway spark, in other words, a broadband radiation pulse directly on the switch. This disintegrates after traveling a short distance. However, it nearly always hits the person at the switch.
When a wireless switch with low-power electronic circuitry is operated, no breakaway spark is produced. Instead a relatively low-powered wireless signal is sent to a receiver for a thousandth of a second. The current is switched on at the receiver, which is nearly always a few metres away from the person, and the broadband radiation pulse (electrosmog) thus dissolves in the air. There is much less cabling in the wall, so lowfrequency 50/60 Hz radiation is also reduced. EnOcean wireless modules are all manufactured in line with the new European RoHS directive, forbidding the use of hazardous substances in electrical and electronic devices.
The Good: An easily retrofittable technology that accomplishes multiple tasks while having significant cost and environmental benefits.
The Bad: Building and construction sectors are notoriously slow to show widespread adoption of new technologies.
The Bottom-Line: An inventive and efficient solution to many of the practical, economical, and environmental problems facing most wireless technologies today.
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