EnOcean Wireless Sensors Don't Need Batteries (Video)

Posted by Roblimo on Monday January 12, 2015 @09:03AM from the almost-like-heinlein's-gramps-schneider-in-magic-inc. dept.

'The EnOcean technology is an energy harvesting wireless technology used primarily in building automation systems; but is also applied to other applications in industry, transportation, logistics and smart homes,' says Wikipedia. There's also a Siemans spinoff company called EnOcean, and today's video is an interview with its president, Jim O'Callaghan. But EnOcean technology is the real star here. The idea is that energy-efficient sensors can be powered by energy harvesting, i.e. drawing energy from their surroundings, including such low-level sources as light, temperature changes, and pressure, which can be the pressure of your finger on a switch or even changes in barometric pressure. The EnOcean Alliance has a professionally-produced video that describes their technology and notes that self-powered wireless sensors not only save energy but save miles of wire between sensor nodes and controllers, which means it's possible to install more sensors sensing more parameters than in the past. (Alternate Video Link)

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Energy Harvesting is old by k2backhoe · 2015-01-12 17:22 · Score: 3, Interesting

I have an 80+ year old Atmos torsion pendulum mantel clock. It never needs winding, it harvests energy from atmospheric pressure changes (or temperature changes). Air pressure in a sealed can will run the clock for a week on just a 2F degree swing in ambient temperature.