Development platform for wireless sensor nodes

26th February 2018

Alice Matthews

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Datasheet

At embedded world (Nuremberg, 27th February to 1st March), Würth Elektronik and Analog Devices (ADI) are exhibiting 'Gleanergy' - the jointly developed energy harvesting demo kit. It will be on display both at the Analog Devices booth (4A-629), as well as on the Würth Elektronik booth (3-247). Since its launch, the development platform has opened up the possibility of using several sources of ambient energy to operate a wireless sensor node as a means of extending battery life.

The 'Gleanergy' demo kit – the name combines 'glean' and 'energy' – contains a thermogenerator, solar cells and an input for a piezoelectric generator. On the Energy Harvesting Power Board there is also a Li-ion rechargeable battery, a normal Li battery, ceramic capacitors and a super capacitor, as well as several switching controller ICs.

With the Gleanergy Kit, developers can test scenarios to run a battery-operated device with the aid of ambient energy sources for as long as possible without maintenance.

"We presume that the lifespan of the battery for an independent wireless sensor node can be extended up to 15 years if energy harvesting is used as the primary source of energy," explained Lorandt Fölkel FAE (Field Application Engineer) at Würth Elektronik.

The application board contains an ARM Cortex-M3 processor, a SmartMesh network interface and an E-Ink display for indicating the battery charge level, etc. It also includes two coulomb counters for measuring the energy of the microprocessor. A wireless module in the form of a USB dongle allows data to be transmitted from the sensors connected to the demo kit onto a PC and displayed.