Turn-key energy harvesting/PMIC module for IoT devices

16 February, 2021

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Miniaturization and micro-devices company Xidas has introduced what it says is the industry’s first plug & play, universal energy harvesting and power management module for IoT devices.

The EHM-UNIV, says the company, is a small surface-mount energy harvesting and power management module that eliminates the need for engineers to purchase energy harvesting evaluation modules and determine how to engineer power management ICs into their application. The module is designed to capture small amounts of harvested energy from sources such as photovoltaic cells, piezoelectric, electro-mechanical, and thermoelectric generators, and continuously trickle charge storage elements like rechargeable Li-Ion batteries, thin-film batteries, or conventional capacitors.

The module, says the company, simply allows an IoT device developer to connect their energy harvesting generator into the device and their supercapacitor/battery to the output – no engineering required.

“There are multiple power management ICs for energy harvesting from great companies,” says David Ambrose, Director of engineering, “but they all require significant external power engineering to determine how to condition the energy harvesting generator input, protect the IC and then manage and protect the outputs, either directly or via a supercapacitor or rechargeable battery. At Xidas, we have done the engineering, packaged it in a small SIP module. We feel it should be as simple as selecting your solar, thermal, electromechanical vibration or piezoelectric generators, plugging them into an energy harvesting module and hooking it up to the output.”

The EHM-UNIV comes equipped with built-in rectification circuitry, enabling users to easily choose whether to connect an AC or DC energy harvesting source; active overvoltage protection for the energy harvesting circuitry; and a tunable regulated output or unregulated system output conditioned for powering virtually all wireless IoT sensors. The module also has a wide operating temperature range from -40°C to +85°C, and significant power monitoring for IoT battery feedback.

Specifications

Startup Threshold w/ RHB1530 battery	380 mV
Maximum Input Voltage (VIN)	3.6 V
Configurable Regulated Output (VREG)	1.5 V to 3.6 V
High current system voltage output (VSYS)	up to 1 A (protected by resettable fuse)
Operating quiescent current	510 nA
Sleeping quiescent current	390 nA
Operating junction temperature range	-40°C to 125°C
Storage temperature range	-65°C to 150°C

Input

The EHM-UNIV-1 combines a state-of-the-art power management integrated circuit (PMIC) with supporting circuitry that reduces the number of required external components, and thus development cost. The signal conditioning provides direct input for DC input sources (e.g. photovoltaic cells) or built-in rectification circuitry for AC sources (e.g. electromagnetic transducers). This input conditioning and PMIC allow for energy harvesting from signals as low as 380mV.

Output

The EHM-UNIV-1 provides two independent output voltages: a tunable regulated output voltage (VREG) as well as an unregulated system voltage (VSYS), proportional to the energy storage level. VREG stems from a low drop-out regulator with up to 150mA, whose output voltage can be set to nine distinct levels by a single external resistor, across the range from 1.5V to 3.6V. The system output voltage allows for even higher output current (up to 1A) , protected by a resettable fuse. This output becomes ideal for wireless devices that require higher surges in current when transmitting or receiving, such as Wifi or cellular.

Pricing for the module is $45 (10-99 qty).

more information: Xidas

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