New Industry Products

Cymbet Launches Universal Energy Harvesting Power Management Unit

June 16, 2010 by Jeff Shepard

Cymbet Corp. announced that it has launched the EnerChip™ Energy Processor, a universal energy harvesting power management unit for ultra-low power energy harvesting-based systems. The company states that the EnerChip EP CBC915 is the first device to work universally across all energy harvesting transducer technologies including photovoltaic, thermoelectric, piezoelectric and electromagnetic.

The EnerChip EP uses patent-pending advanced Maximum Peak Power Tracking technology that constantly matches any energy harvesting transducer input impedance. It is designed to provide optimal power management for EnerChip CBC050 rechargeable energy storage devices. The EnerChip EP has user selectable modes and communicates with microcontrollers to create "energy aware" products. It is the first true end-to-end system-level approach to implementing energy harvesting-based designs.

There are many new applications that could use energy harvesting techniques for powering systems. Unfortunately, utilizing "free" ambient energy in ultra low power systems is a very complex design challenge. The EnerChip EP is said to solve these issues by implementing an intelligent integrated approach to energy harvesting power management. The EnerChip EP coupled with EnerChip rechargeable energy storage devices are a key enabler for"zero power" devices.

"Our customers will benefit from the many new energy harvesting power management features included in the EnerChip EP," said Bill Priesmeyer, CEO of Cymbet. "Designers can use any type of energy harvesting transducer, measure input power, manage EnerChip energy storage devices, and create a highly efficient ’energy aware’ system while utilizing an ultra low quiescent current power management solution."

Priesmeyer added, "Cymbet is the leader in the development of solid-state rechargeable energy storage technology. EnerChips last for the life of the product and store energy for energy harvesting-based systems found in a wide range of industries including: industrial controls, consumer electronics, hand-held wireless devices, medical, military and energy efficient intelligent building control systems. The EnerChip EP is the perfect power management compliment to our rechargeable micro-energy storage devices."