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Energy Harvesting: Off-grid Renewable Power for Devices, Vehicles, Structures 2015-2025

Microwatts to 10kW: Electrodynamic, photovoltaic, thermoelectric, piezoelectric and others. Forecasts, companies and opportunities.


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Energy harvesting is a booming business at the level of watts to kilowatts and there is now reason to believe that lower power versions will also have considerable success over the coming decade. Electrical and electronic equipment needs less and less power and energy harvesting is producing more power, energy storage becoming more useful as well. This is underwritten by both strong demand for high power already and a recent flood of important new inventions that increase the power capability and versatility of many of the basic technologies of energy harvesting.
 
This unique report reflects the new reality that energy harvesting - creation of off-grid electricity where it is needed, using ambient energy - is now one subject from microwatts for wireless sensors to kilowatts for vehicles and buildings. This is because it increasingly involves the same technologies, locations and companies. Vehicles, for example, need everything from wireless sensors driven by local harvesting providing milliwatts to traction battery charging from harvesting that can reach many kilowatts. Some technologies previously only capable of signal power are now proving scalable to higher power. It is all one business now but, for the coming decade, the largest addressable value market lies in the range of one watt to 10 kW so this will receive particular attention.
 
Only a global up-to-date view makes sense in this fast-moving subject. Therefore the multilingual PhD level IDTechEx analysts have travelled intensively in 2015 to report the latest research and expert opinions and to analyse how the markets and technologies will move over the coming decade. Original IDTechEx tables and infographics pull together the analysis.
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Table of Contents
1.EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
1.1.Definition and characteristics
1.1.Examples of energy needs
1.1.Comparison of desirable features of the EH technologies
1.1.1.Definition
1.1.2.Characteristics
1.1.3.Exclusions
1.2.Low and high power is now one business
1.2.Maturity of different forms of energy harvesting
1.2.Typical power needs increasingly addressed by energy harvesting. Sensor-related in green. Personal devices and vehicles in red. Signalling in blue. Lighting and buildings in yellow.
1.3.Microsensor power budget
1.3.Hype curve for energy harvesting applications
1.3.Some technologies succeeding faster than others
1.4.Technological options
1.4.Overall trend - more electricity produced and less needed makes more EH use possible but a problem in the middle.
1.4.Options for switch activation by EH without batteries
1.5.Typical transducer power range of the main technical options for energy harvesting transducer arrays - electrodynamic, photovoltaic and thermoelectric - and some less important ones shown in grey
1.5.The successes of energy harvesting showing photovoltaic in red, electrodynamic in green, piezoelectric in red and thermoelectric in yellow.
1.5.EH is sometimes introduced then abandoned
1.6.The needs for EH in the future
1.6.Proliferation of actual and potential energy harvesting in land vehicles
1.6.Potential for improving energy harvesting efficiency
1.6.1.Main market drivers and applications
1.6.2.Power needs
1.7.Market overview
1.7.Proliferation of actual and potential energy harvesting in marine vehicles
1.7.Power density provided by different forms of energy harvesting with exceptionally useful superlatives in yellow. Other parameters are optimal at different levels depending on system design.
1.7.1.Largest value market by power
1.7.2.Examples of high volume needs by number
1.7.3.Difficult to value
1.7.4.Maturity of market by application
1.7.5.Success at all power levels but a problem sector
1.8.Technology success by type
1.8.Proliferation of actual and potential energy harvesting in airborne vehicles
1.8.Good features and challenges of the four most important EH technologies in order of importance
1.8.1.By numbers and potential
1.8.2.Examples of successes and technologies used
1.8.3.High adoption begins with vehicles
1.9.Electric and other vehicles
1.9.Solar traction power
1.9.Proliferation of electrodynamic harvesting options.
1.10.Global market for energy harvesting transducers (units million) 2015-2025 rounded
1.10.EH system diagram
1.10.EH systems
1.10.1.Anatomy
1.10.2.Transducer options compared for key applications
1.10.3.Winners and losers
1.11.Nature of technological options by intermittent power generated
1.11.Some options compared for harvesting movement
1.11.Global market for energy harvesting transducers (unit price dollars) 2015-2025
1.12.Global market for energy harvesting transducers (market value billion dollars) 2015-2025 rounded
1.12.Technology focus of 200 organisations developing the different leading energy harvesting technologies
1.12.Hype curve for EH technologies
1.13.Detailed parameters by technology
1.13.Global market value of the four leading energy harvesting technologies in 2015 and 2025
1.13.Timeline 2016-2025 with those advances most greatly impacting market size shown in yellow.
1.14.Electrodynamics for Energy Harvesting units millions 2015-2025, dominant numbers in 2025 in yellow.
1.14.Hype curve for EH transducer technologies
1.14.Multiple energy harvesting
1.14.1.Strong need
1.14.2.Huge scope for multi-mode electrodynamics
1.14.3.Multi-mode end game is structural electronics?
1.15.Market forecast 2015-2025
1.15.Multiple energy harvesting
1.15.Electrodynamic EH for regenerative braking in electric vehicles 2015-2025 number thousand
1.15.1.Forecasts by technology
1.15.2.Market for power conditioning
1.15.3.Technology timeline 2016-2025
1.16.Detailed technology sector forecasts 2015-2025
1.16.HPP structure
1.16.Electrodynamic EH for regenerative braking in electric vehicles 2015-2025 notional unit value dollars given that these motors and generators double as other functions
1.16.1.Electrodynamic
1.16.2.Photovoltaic
1.16.3.Thermoelectrics
1.16.4.Piezoelectrics
1.17.Territorial differences
1.17.HPP envisaged application in buildings
1.17.Notional total market value for electrodynamic EH for regenerative braking in electric vehicles 2015-2025 $ billion rounded
1.17.1.Emphasis
1.17.2.Leading continents and countries
1.18.Energy harvesting, wireless charging and plug-in 2025
1.18.Envisaged marine application of HPP
1.18.Electrodynamic harvesting alternators in conventional internal combustion engined vehicles, number, notional unit value $ and value market $ billion 2015-2025
1.19.Electrodynamic harvesting Other, mainly energy harvesting shock absorbers, number, notional unit value $ and value market $ billion 2015-2025
1.19.Piezo/pyroelectric stretchable energy harvester
1.19.Electric vehicle end game: free non-stop road travel
1.20.Main contributors to EH transducer sales 2015-2025. The technologies supplied by many large companies taking substantial orders are highlighted in green.
1.20.Photovoltaics for Energy Harvesting MW peak million 2015-2025
1.21.Thermoelectrics for Energy Harvesting units thousand 2015-2025
1.21.Energy harvesting organisations by continent
1.22.Organisations active in energy harvesting by country, numbers rounded
1.22.Thermoelectrics for Energy Harvesting units value dollars 2015-2025
1.23.Thermoelectrics for Energy Harvesting total value thousands of dollars 2015-2025
1.24.Piezoelectrics for Energy Harvesting units thousand 2015-2025
1.25.Piezoelectrics for Energy Harvesting unit value dollars 2015-2025
1.26.Piezoelectrics for Energy Harvesting total value thousands of dollars 2015-2025 rounded
1.27.Some highlights of global effort on energy harvesting
1.28.Power end game 2025 with winners shown in green. Areas with some activity but not dominant are shown clear.
2.INTRODUCTION
2.1.Overview
2.1.Challenges and drivers of some EH applicational sectors
2.1.Some classical applications with the type of transducer and energy storage typically chosen
2.1.1.Applicational sectors
2.1.2.System design: transducer, power conditioning, energy storage
2.2.The environmental argument
2.2.Typical energy harvesting system
2.2.Some types of energy to harvest with examples of harvesting technology, applications, developers and suppliers
2.3.Examples of the primary motivation to use energy harvesting by type of device
2.3.Examples of companies and technologies in such systems
2.3.What is needed
2.4.Technologies compared
2.4.Konarka vision of ubiquitous energy harvesting
2.4.Microsensor power budget
2.4.1.Parametric
2.4.2.The favourite technologies
2.5.Vibration, pressure and pulse harvesting
2.5.Power requirements of small electronic products
2.5.Power density provided by different forms of energy harvesting. Best volumetric and gravimetric energy density.
2.5.1.Technologies competing
2.6.Energy harvesting exotica in 2015
2.6.Comparison of the power density ranges of different energy technologies
2.6.1.Self-powered camera
2.6.2.EH elastic tape - many options now
2.6.3.Harvesting all energy from electromagnetic waves?
2.6.4.Harnessing multiple electromagnetic energy
2.6.5.Smart window harvesting wind and rain energy
2.6.6.Super-efficient wave energy
2.6.7.Harvesting bird and moth wings
2.6.8.Energy harvesting to power life on Mars
2.7.Significance of printing
2.7.The performance of the favourite energy harvesting technologies. Technologies with no moving parts are shown in red. Thermoelectric not so good when it needs fins
2.8.Some applications of vibrational and pulse EH with a few rotational electrodynamic versions for comparison on right
2.8.Combined harvesting and storage including flywheels
2.9.The hyper-stretchable harvester
2.10.Full absorption antenna
2.11.Printed piezoelectrics & pyroelectrics and printed thermoelectrics
2.12.Flywheels compared with other energy storage
2.13.Flybrid parallel hybrid flywheel
2.14.Battery progress
3.ELECTRODYNAMIC HARVESTING
3.1.Definition and scope
3.1.Oshkosh hybrid truck
3.1.Some modes of electrodynamic energy harvesting with related processes highlighted in green
3.2.Examples of actual electrodynamic harvesting by type, sub type and manufacturer with comment. Those in volume production now are in yellow, within five years in grey, those with much development but no volume production in blue an
3.2.Electraflyer Trike
3.2.Many modes and applications compared
3.2.1.Options by medium
3.2.2.Examples compared
3.3.Flywheels
3.3.Electraflyer uncowled
3.4.Volvo Flywheel KERS components
3.4.Active regenerative suspension: Levant Power
3.5.Aerial power generation
3.5.Volvo flywheel KERS system layout
3.6.Magneto Marelli electrical KERS Motor Generator Unit
3.6.Regenerative braking
3.6.1.Principle
3.6.2.Forklift
3.7.Energy harvesting shock absorbers
3.7.The Marelli system
3.7.1.Linear shock absorbers
3.7.2.Wattshocks
3.7.3.Rotary shock absorbers
3.8.Airborne Wind Energy AWE
3.8.Williams Formula One KERS flywheel
3.9.GenShock prototype held by Humvee coil spring where it is installed
3.10.Hydraulic energy harvesting from Levant Power
3.11.Levant Power GenShock energy harvesting shock absorber
3.12.Kitegen kite providing supplementary power to a ship
3.13.Ocean Empire LSV concept with electricity from kites, waves and sun
3.14.Simplest scheme for vehicle regenerative braking
3.15.Nissan Lithium-ion forklift with regenerative braking
3.16.Power potential of energy harvesting shock absorbers
3.17.Energy harvesting shock absorbers being progressed by the State University of New York
3.18.Tufts University and Electric Truck energy harvesting shock absorbers
3.19.Wattshocks electricity generating shock absorber
3.20.Wattshocks publicity
3.21.AWE Conference
3.22.Google Makani AWE
3.23.Principle of TwingTec autonomous rigid kite-aircraft
3.24.EnerKite proposition
3.25.Ampyx introduction
3.26.Ampyx business proposition
3.27.E-kite ground control
4.PHOTOVOLTAIC HARVESTING
4.1.Photovoltaic
4.1.Kopf Solarshiff pure electric solar powered lake boats in Germany and the UK for up to 150 people
4.1.Comparison of pn junction and photoelectrochemical photovoltaics
4.1.1.Flexible, conformal, transparent, UV, IR
4.1.2.Technological options
4.1.3.Principles of operation
4.1.4.Options for flexible PV
4.1.5.Many types of photovoltaics needed for harvesting
4.1.6.Spray on power for electric vehicles and more
4.2.Powerweave harvesting and storage e-fiber/ e-textile
4.2.NREL adjudication of efficiencies under standard conditions
4.2.The main options for photovoltaics beyond conventional silicon compared
4.3.Powerweave
5.THERMOELECTRIC HARVESTING
5.1.The Seebeck and Peltier effects
5.1.Representation of the Peltier (left) and the Seebeck (right) effect
5.2.A general overview of the sequential manufacturing steps required in the construction of thermoelectric generators
5.2.Designing for thermoelectric applications
5.3.Thin film thermoelectric generators
5.3.Generic schematic of thermoelectric energy harvesting system
5.4.Figure of merit for some thermoelectric material systems
5.4.Material choices
5.5.Organic thermoelectrics - PEDOT:PSS, not just a transparent conductor
5.5.Orientation map from a skutterudite sample
5.6.Power Density and Sensitivity plotted for a variety of TEGs at a ΔT=30K
5.6.Other processing techniques
5.7.Manufacturing of flexible thermoelectric generators
5.7.% of Carnot efficiency for thermogenerators for different material systems
5.8.Bulk Bi2Te3 sample consolidated from nanostructured powders that were formed by gas atomization, then hot pressed together
5.8.AIST technology details
5.9.Automotive applications
5.9.Calculated figure-of-merit ZT for doped PbSe at various hole concentrations (main plot) and electron concentrations (inset)
5.9.1.BMW
5.9.2.Ford
5.9.3.Volkswagen
5.9.4.Challenges of Thermoelectrics for Vehicles
5.10.Wireless sensing
5.10.Experimental ZT values for PbSe
5.10.1.TE-qNODE
5.10.2.TE-CORE
5.10.3.EverGen PowerStrap
5.10.4.WiTemp
5.10.5.GE- Logimesh
5.11.Aerospace
5.11.The skutterudite crystal lattice structure
5.12.A sample of skutterudite ore
5.12.Wearable/implantable thermoelectrics
5.13.Building and home automation
5.13.Polyhedral morphology of a ZrNiSn single crystal
5.14.Atomic force micrograph of nanowire-polymer composite films of varying composition, and schematic of highly conductive interfacial phase
5.14.Other applications
5.14.1.Micropelt-MSX
5.14.2.PowerPot™
5.15.Solar TEG
5.15.A typical thermoelectric element
5.16.Schematic of the inside of a typical thermoelectric element
5.17.Sputtered thermoelectric material on wafer substrate
5.18.Detail of thermocouple legs. (3.3mmx3.3mm area containing 540 thermocouples, 140mV/K)
5.19.Electrochemically deposited Bi2Te3 legs with high aspect ratios
5.20.The fabrication method of the CNT-polymer composite material (top), and an electron microscope image of its surface (lower)
5.21.A flexible thermoelectric conversion film fabricated by using a printing process (left) and its electrical power-generation ability (right). A temperature difference created by placing a hand on the film installed on the 10 °C pla
5.22.Energy losses in a vehicle
5.23.Opportunities to harvest waste energy
5.24.Ford Fusion, BMW X6 and Chevrolet Suburban. US Department of Energy thermoelectric generator programs
5.25.Pictures from the BMW thermogenerator developments, as part of EfficientDynamics
5.26.Ford's anticipate 500W power output from their thermogenerator
5.27.The complete TEG designed by Amerigon
5.28.High and medium temperature TE engines
5.29.The Micropelt-Schneider TE-qNODE
5.30.The TE-qNODE in operation, attached to busbars
5.31.The TE Core from Micropelt
5.32.The EverGen PowerStrap from Marlow
5.33.EverGen PowerStrap performance graphs
5.34.EverGen exchangers can vary in sizes from a few cubic inches to several cubic feet. Pictured also, a schematic of a TEG exchanger's main components
5.35.ABB's WiTemp wireless temperature transmitter
5.36.GE's wireless sensor with Perpetua's Powerpuck
5.37.Logimesh's Logimote, developed in collaboration with Marlow
5.38.A drawing of a general purpose heat source (GPHS)-RTG used for Galileo, Ulysses, Cassini-Huygens and New Horizons space probes
5.39.One of the Cassini spacecraft's three RTGs, photographed before installation
5.40.Labelled cutaway view of the Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator
5.41.Nuclear-powered pace maker, Source: Los Alamos National Laboratory
5.42.Power emanating from various parts of the human body
5.43.The en:key products: A thermoelectric powered radiator valve and solar powered central control unit for home automation applications
5.44.The sentinel, a window positioning sensor developed by the Fraunhofer institute in Germany
5.45.Thermoelectric Energy harvesting on hot water/gas pipes
5.46.MSX-Micropelt cooking sensor
5.47.PowerPot with basic USB charger se
5.48.Backside of the PowerPot™, showing the flame resistant cable and connector
5.49.MIT solar TEG
6.PIEZOELECTRIC HARVESTING
6.1.Technology options
6.1.Some piezoelectric options compared
6.1.Comparison of some piezoelectric EH technology options
6.2.Materials
6.2.1.Classic PZT
6.2.2.Piezo polymers
6.2.3.Piezo-composites
6.2.4.Research frontiers
6.3.Unusual capabilities
7.ELECTROSTATIC, MAGNETOSTRICTIVE, RECTENNA, OTHER
7.1.Electrostatic / capacitive
7.1.Principle of electrostatic EH
7.2.LED lit by electret electrostatic EH made experimentally by THINK in the UK in 2015, excited by shaking
7.2.Magnetostrictive Option Bursts on the Scene
7.3.Nantenna-diode rectenna arrays
7.3.Experimental configurations for electrostatic vibration harvesters
7.3.1.Idaho State Laboratory, University of Missouri, University of Colorado, Microcontinuum
7.3.2.University of Maryland
7.4.Thermoacoustic
7.4.Villari effect
7.5.One watt LED array powered by a single strike on a magnetostrictive material
7.5.Not quite energy harvesting: microbial fuel cells, directed RF, betavoltaics
7.6.Tire pressure monitoring and signalling using magnetostrictive harvesting of shocks
7.7.Oscilla Power magnetostrictive wave generator
7.8.Rectenna, nantenna-diode pairs for energy harvesting of light
7.9.RFR harvesting of ambient emissions
7.10.Infrared rectenna harvesting
7.11.Microbial fuel cell concept for producing both electricity and hydrogen for fuel cell electric vehicles etc.
8.MULTI-MODE ENERGY HARVESTING
8.1.Forms of multi-mode energy harvesting
9.EXAMPLES OF IDTECHEX INTERVIEWS AND EH RESEARCH IN 2015
9.1.Agusta Westland Italy
9.1.BEHA aircraft
9.2.Solar facilities
9.2.Enerbee France
9.3.Eight19 UK
9.3.BMS for microTEGs
9.4.Two way thermoelectrics
9.4.Faradair Aerospace UK
9.5.Fraunhofer IIS Germany
9.5.Wrist health monitor using heat difference.
9.6.Field tests on railway waggons to record vibration spectrum
9.6.Fraunhofer IZM Germany
9.7.Green GT Switzerland
9.7.SystemsOval Wheel Counter with Self-powered COM-Link
9.8.Shaker electrodynamic harvester for displays and wireless sensors
9.8.IFEVS Italy
9.9.Jabil USA
9.9.Sensor with microcontroller
9.10.Self-powered Window Monitoring System
9.10.Komatsu KELK Japan
9.11.LG Chem Korea
9.11.Racing car enabled by Green GT
9.12.Green GT 400kW fuel cell powered racer
9.12.Marlow USA
9.13.Medtronic USA
9.13.IFEVS arguments
9.14.View of fuel cell vehicles and their hydrogen
9.14.Pavegen UK
9.15.Piezotech France
9.15.Uniques of thermoelectric harvesting
9.16.RMT range and positioning
9.16.RMT Russia and TEC Microsystems Germany
9.17.Sogang University Korea
9.17.Ground spikes as energy harvesting powered transmitters
9.18.Example given of multi-mode harvesting to come.
9.18.Thhink Wireless Technologies UK
9.19.Witt Energy UK
9.19.Thhink electret harvester LED demo.
9.20.Thhink Technologies electret harvester datasheet.
9.20.Examples of recent research
9.21.Witt presentation at IDTechEx event Berlin April 2015 - extracts
APPENDIX 1 RECENT PROGRESS IN MEMS ELECTRET GENERATOR FOR ENERGY HARVESTING
IDTECHEX RESEARCH REPORTS AND CONSULTING
TABLES
FIGURES
 

Report Statistics

Pages 246
Tables 38
Figures 149
Forecasts to 2025
 
 
 
 

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