A demonstration platform from UK firm Trameto could accelerate the design of micro-power management for IoT devices powered by energy harvesters.

Trameto makes power management semiconductors for energy harvesting (EH PMICs). The demonstration platform lets engineers quickly evaluate how micro-energy harvesting can reduce or eliminate the use of batteries in IoT devices such as sensors and the wireless modules to which they may be connected.

It is based on Trameto’s OptiJouletechnology and uses an engineering sample of the TM2040, a four-input, smart EH PMIC. Up to four harvesters of the same or mixed types can be connected to any of its inputs without additional interface components, providing a simple, effective and economical way to cut battery dependency in wireless IoT applications.

The demonstration platform includes two photovoltaic harvesters, a piezoelectric harvester with a DC motor to generate vibration for it, two thermoelectric generators, and a heater and heatsinks to provide a stimulus for the thermoelectric generators. Each harvester produces microjoules to millijoules of energy and connects to the main platform using plugin daughterboards.

Each of the TM2040’s inputs will adapt autonomously to the type of harvester connected to it. The chip then optimises each harvester’s output using patented circuits that also dynamically combine the maximum available energy from all the connected harvesters. The optimised output delivers a controlled charge to an energy-storage component, which is then automatically switched via the EH PMIC to power an IoT device with a 1.8V DC regulated supply at up to 15mA.

The platform comes with a Windows application to display harvested power and TM2040 status information from the platform via a simple graphical user interface.

“Energy harvesting can only be economically realised for IoT applications if every available source of energy can be exploited,” said Huw Davies, CEO of Trameto. “The TM2040 OptiJoule EH PMIC is the only power management device able to do this economically, replacing up to four traditional PMICs and eliminating the cost and complexity of the interface components that are often needed for some energy harvesters. This demonstration platform provides the easiest way for engineers to explore the opportunities to power their devices using a range of energy harvesting technologies.”

A single-input version of the autonomously adaptable PMIC is also available.

Trameto has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme.