Any time you turn on a light at home or in the office, you are expending energy. But what if flipping the light switch meant producing energy too?
We usually think of solar, or photovoltaic (PV), cells fixed to roofs, converting sunlight into electricity, but bringing that technology indoors could further boost the energy efficiency of buildings and energize swaths of wireless smart technologies such as smoke alarms, cameras and temperature sensors, also called Internet of Things (IoT) devices. Now, a study from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) suggests that a straightforward approach for capturing light indoors may be within reach. NIST researchers tested the indoor charging ability of small modular PV devices made of different materials and then hooked up the lowest efficiency module -- composed of silicon -- to a wireless temperature sensor.
The team's results, published in the journal Energy Science & Engineering, demonstrate that the silicon module, absorbing only light from an LED, supplied more power than the sensor consumed in operation. This outcome suggests that the device could run continuously while lights remain on, which would do away with the need for someone to manually exchange or recharge the battery.
"People in the field have assumed it's possible to power IoT devices with PV modules in the long term, but we haven't really seen the data to support that before now, so this is kind of a first step to say that we can pull it off," said Andrew Shore, a NIST mechanical engineer and lead author of the study.
Continue reading: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/08/210819102700.htm
We usually think of solar, or photovoltaic (PV), cells fixed to roofs, converting sunlight into electricity, but bringing that technology indoors could further boost the energy efficiency of buildings and energize swaths of wireless smart technologies such as smoke alarms, cameras and temperature sensors, also called Internet of Things (IoT) devices. Now, a study from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) suggests that a straightforward approach for capturing light indoors may be within reach. NIST researchers tested the indoor charging ability of small modular PV devices made of different materials and then hooked up the lowest efficiency module -- composed of silicon -- to a wireless temperature sensor.
The team's results, published in the journal Energy Science & Engineering, demonstrate that the silicon module, absorbing only light from an LED, supplied more power than the sensor consumed in operation. This outcome suggests that the device could run continuously while lights remain on, which would do away with the need for someone to manually exchange or recharge the battery.
"People in the field have assumed it's possible to power IoT devices with PV modules in the long term, but we haven't really seen the data to support that before now, so this is kind of a first step to say that we can pull it off," said Andrew Shore, a NIST mechanical engineer and lead author of the study.
Continue reading: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/08/210819102700.htm
