UK Sensors Expertise Featured in Mission to Silicon Valley
21/11/2013 Innovate UK
The Energy Harvesting Special Interest Group (SIG), a network of organisations and individuals interested in the application of energy harvesting technologies, is pleased to announce the start of its Energy Harvesting Mission to Santa Clara in the US.The Nanotechnology Knowledge Transfer Network (NanoKTN) will be leading the Mission of UK companies including: CPI - the UK's National Centre for Printable Electronics, GSS - producers of market leading carbon dioxide sensors, Ilika Technologies - an inventor, tester and selector of materials in the laboratory that can be scaled up for everyday commercial use, and the University of Bath's Prof Chris Bowen who is developing bistable composites with piezoelectric generators.
The mission's primary function will be participation in IDTechEx's annual 'Energy Harvesting and Storage USA 2013' conference and exhibition in Santa Clara, USA. This event also coincides with the co-located Plastic Electronics, Graphene and Supercapacitors conferences. It is expected that over 1,800 delegates and 100 exhibitors will attend the conference and the venue, Santa Clara (Bay Area) is known for technology development with several large multinational companies expected to attend.
Dr Alec Reader, Director of the NanoKTN, comments, "Energy harvesting applications have been highlighted by the UK Government as an area of key importance for innovation and growth for the UK with many disparate industry sectors expected to benefit from energy harvesting technologies. Demand for increased functionality, usability and reliability is a problem for conventional battery-powered devices and energy harvesting has the potential to provide a solution to substantially extend battery life, or eliminate its usage altogether. As a result, the market opportunity for this technology in domestic and overseas markets is vast and we hope that the mission will provide the UK delegates with a major networking opportunity and platform to engage with key personnel and groups from the US."
Energy harvesting solutions can be found in several applications where autonomous or battery augmented operation is required such as in harsh or inaccessible environments. These technologies can also be combined with novel lower power sensor technology to provide monitoring of infrastructure at much reduced cost. The typical sectors that are looking to exploit these technologies are in the monitoring of bridges, buildings, asset tracking and public monuments to reduce the energy consumption of heating or monitor airborne pollution and monitor structural movements long term. It is also useful in the chemical and process industries where autonomous wireless monitoring is crucial to increase safety monitoring by decoupling form the main energy supply. The challenge is to engineer good solutions that are optimised to the application in question.
Energy harvesting is an emerging sector in the UK from academic research, University spin-outs and established industry, both technology providers and users. Centres of academic excellence have innovated many key developments in the energy harvesting field. In addition, the UK has commercial equipment and device developers and service providers who cover the range of methods to make new materials and devices possible, featuring design of products, novel sensors, chip design, software and wireless networks as key strengths. Spin-out companies are successfully developing devices for harvesting mechanical strain and vibration, heat, light and solar energy and incorporating these into systems.
For further information about the Energy Harvesting SIG, please visit Stand Q05 at Energy Harvesting and Storage USA this week, or visit the website:Â connect.innovateuk.org/web/eh1.
Established by the Technology Strategy Board, the NanoKTN is managed by Centre for Process Innovation Ltd, a leading technology development and consulting company.
For more information, please contact:
Technology Strategy Board
Block A, North Star House
North Star Avenue
Swindon
Wilts
SN2 1UE
Tel: +44 (0)1793 442700
Email: nick.sheppard@tsb.gov.uk
Web: www.innovateuk.org
Print this articleShare article:
Process and Control Today are not responsible for the content of submitted or externally produced articles and images. Click here to email us about any errors or omissions contained within this article.