• The tiniest energy harvesting sensor system developed

  • tiniest_energy_harvesting_sensor.jpg Energy harvesting technology gets smaller and tinier with this miniscule energy-harvesting sensor system developed at the University of Michigan. This system is 1000 times smaller than the ones that we use commercially today. It measures around 2.5 to 3.5 by 1 millimeters and has its solar cells, battery and processor all contained in that tiny frame. These sensors are highly efficient, performance wise and cost wise and will find their places in homes, office buildings and bridge monitoring devices. Using the ARM Cortex-M3 processor, this system uses 2,000 times less power in sleep mode than the commercial; ones used today.


    The only problem the system faces is battery wear out, though the battery is predicted to last many years. It spends most of its time in sleep mode and wakes every few minutes for measurements with a power consumption of less than 1 nanowatt.
    Let’s see how well this little wonder changes the way sensor systems are built in future.
    [Physorg]

    Posted in Topics:Alternative Energy, Tags: , on February 9, 2010