OBJECTIVES OF THE REPORT

This report focuses on MEMS energy harvesting devices from both technology and market points of view.

Special attention has been given to the market drivers for adopting MEMS energy harvesting devices in different market segments, factoring the progress of competing technologies and cost constraints.

It appears that the numerous opportunities for energy harvesting devices must be analyzed carefully, taking into account all aspects of the final application from power consumption profiles to lifetime and size constraints. Applications screened cover automotive, medical, industrial machine monitoring and process control, home automation and defense.

The main developments in MEMS energy harvesting devices are described and compared to fuel cells and micro-batteries. The report also describes the challenges facing the current players and the current market trends and business models.

MAIN CHALLENGES  

Within an environmentally conscious world, MEMS Energy harvesting devices promise in principle a cleaner and almost perpetual solution to powering small systems avoiding the use and waste of polluting batteries.

Ever optimistic market projections are predicting billions of dollars in revenue for ubiquitous sensor networks in the next five to ten years and derive from these numbers large energy harvesting sales and volumes.

And indeed, MEMS energy harvesting devices have been a hot topic in MEMS R&D for some years with spectacular developments driven by DARPA programs within the Hi-MEMS cyborg insects.

The reality is that beyond the technological buzz, commercial applications are slowly starting to get to market for industrial applications and home automation appliances. This is driving the first volumes for energy harvesting applications, but not necessarily at the micro scale. Hot market segments in 2007 and 2008 such as tire pressure monitoring systems where batteries are currently the dominant solution have driven enormous efforts but the market dynamics have not made it possible to accept a premium price for alternative solutions.

We have focused our efforts in this report into a fine analysis of the market drivers for using MEMS energy harvesting devices, in comparison to micro batteries, micro fuel cells, or even solar cells. Different application fields from medical to home automation, industrial process control, machine monitoring or transportations have been analyzed in this report.

The challenges facing this technology were examined in a broad view, from a technology but also from a whole product point of view. There are needs for better power density but also for less power consuming electronics and wireless communications!

MARKET METRICS

Market acceptance of MEMS energy harvesting devices is a function of several parameters that are studied in the report.

These parameters include, but are not limited to: size, cost, amount of power generated versus amount of power needed by the system and projected lifetime for the energy harvesting device compared to the system parts lifetime.

A major factor to be taken into account is whether there is enough power harvested for a particular application from a particular environment, and whether the scavenged power needs to be stored. As piezoelectric MEMS energy harvesting devices can currently power sensor nodes requiring 60 uW according to the latest developments, a companion energy storage device would be necessary for most applications.

Commercial success will come from a full understanding of all aspects of the system to be powered and of the data receiver nodes.

Challenges include ultra low power electronics and wireless data transmissions rates and standards.

REPORT HIGHLIGHTS  

21 applications evaluated
Global overview across 7 fields: automotive, industrial, building & home automation, environment monitoring, military & aerospace, medical, consumer electronics
14 company profiles
180+ slides
Analysis of piezoelectric, capacitive, electromagnetic vibration energy harvesting and thin film thermal energy harvesting  
Review of the lastest developments in energy storage devices (microbatteries…), wireless communication technologies and wireless sensor networks

COMPANY PROFILES

Energy harvesting: main players and status

AdaptivEnergy, EnOcean, Holst Centre, Lumedyne Technologies, MEMS@MIT, Micropelt, Microstrain, Morgan Electro Ceramics, Piezo TAG, PMG Perpetuum, Thermo Life, TPL Micropower, Transense Technology, Visityre.

Who should buy

Energy harvesting device manufacturers, R&D centers & universities active in the energy harvesting field:

• Understand the system level technology trends and requirements for each application

• Evaluate the accessible market for your devices depending on performance and technology

• Support a strategic decision to enter, exit, or find a partner

• Have an exhaustive analysis of the competition on a broad range of energy harvesting fields

Low power sensor manufacturers, players in power management circuits, wireless communication or energy storage systems:

• Understand the system level technology trends and requirements for each application

• Evaluate the market potential of your product portfolio

• Prepare new business development strategies

• Support a strategic decision to enter, exit, or find a partner

Integrators of low-power modules:

• Define diversification strategies on new applications

• Get detailed profiles of key players (micropower generation) with description of the product technology & process  

Financial and strategic investors

• Understand the energy harvesting industry and the potential of each player: technology used and markets served

• Evaluate the partnership opportunities in the energy harvesting industry

Table of Content

Executive summary

Introduction, definitions & methodology

Introduction to micropower & energy harvesting technologies
– Principles of energy harvesting
– Principles of wireless sensor networks
– Focus on wireless communication technologies

Technology review – energy harvesting technologies
– Focus on vibration harvesting
– Focus on thermal harvesting
– Other types of energy harvesting

Technology review – energy storage technologies
– Energy harvesting – integration & operating mode
– Focus on microbatteries
– Current micro fuel cell technology

Applications of energy harvesting devices
– Drivers for energy harvesting devices
– Automotive applications

• Field overview
• TPMS application
• Cost considerations
• Power solutions for TPMS
• TPMS market
• Main players in the TPMS field

– Industrial applications

• Field overview
• Condition monitoring application
• Rotating machine and smart metering applications
• Power solutions for condition monitoring
• Main players in the condition monitoring field

– Building and home automation applications

• Field overview
• Building automation - Wireless switches application
• Power solutions for wireless switches
• Building automation - Wireless sensors application
• Power solutions for wireless switches & sensors
• Main players for wireless switches and sensors

– Environment monitoring applications

• Field overview
• Example of player: Crossbow Technology

– Military and aerospace applications

• Field overview
• Health and usage monitoring system application
• Power solutions for HUMS
• Main players in the HUMS field

– Medical applications

• Field overview
• Pacemaker application
• Power solution for pacemakers
• Wrist blood pressure measurement application
• Fingertip pulse oximeters application
• Home monitoring application
• Power solutions for home monitoring
• Cochlear implants application
• Power solutions for cochlear implants
• Monitoring of orthopedic surgery application
• Smart pills application

– Consumer electronics applications

• Field overview
• Power solutions for battery chargers
• Focus on fuel cells
• Chip thermal management application

Market opportunities for MEMS in energy harvesting applications
– Potential for MEMS in the automotive field
– Potential for MEMS in the industrial field
– Potential for MEMS in the building & home automation field
– Potential for MEMS in the environment monitoring field
– Potential for MEMS in the military & aerospace field
– Potential for MEMS in the medical field
– Potential for MEMS in the consumer electronics field

Conclusion