Energy Harvesting with Wireless Sensor Node
ENERGY-HARVEST-RD
The Energy Harvesting Reference Design illustrates how to use an Si1xxx wireless microcontroller in an extremely low power wireless sensor application.
The wireless sensor node is powered by a solar cell array. The power that is produced by solar energy is stored in a thin film battery. The wireless microcontroller measures temperature, charge level on the thin battery and light level. This data is then sent wirelessly to a USB adapter that is connected to a PC. The PC runs a GUI that displays the information graphically.
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Documentation, Hardware and Software
Energy Harvesting Reference Design Software
The ENERGY-HARVEST-RD reference design includes software that is loaded on PC to display the quantities that are measured by the MCU in the wireless sensor node:
- Temperature (measured from the on-chip temperature sensor on the MCU)
- Light level (measured from the voltage across the solar array)
- Charge level (the amount of charge remaining in the battery)
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The Graphical User Interface (GUI) that is supplied with the ENERGY-HARVEST-RD reference design operates within Silicon Labs Wireless Development Suite (WDS) environment.
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Energy Harvesting Partners
Infinite Power Solutions provides the thin battery film used on the ENERGY-HARVEST-RD reference design.
Sanyo provides the solar cell array that powers the wireless sensor node used on the ENERGY-HARVEST-RD reference design.
Linear Technology provides the single-chip shunt battery system for integrated charger and battery pack protection used on the ENERGY-HARVEST-RD reference design.