Energy Harvesting

According to recent IDTechEx research on the topic of electrodynamic energy harvesting, almost 20 million devices will be sold in 2024 that will not be bicycle generators. Instead, they will be wireless switches, energy harvesters enabling wireless sensing in transport, industrial and building automation, devices that put the common alternator to work in market segments that there was previously no use for it.

The Japanese are working very hard on thermoelectric energy harvesting from tiny forms for use on hot running electronics components the 1.5 kW versions for use on furnace flues etc.

Thermoelectric, Piezoelectrics and Other Generators

Tablet and smart phone sales reached 116 million and 675 million units in 2012, exhibiting a year-to-year growth of 43 and 94%, respectively. In contrast, desktop sales have declined. The market message is clear: consumers are demanding fully portable devices. This translates into a large and growing market opportunity for energy storage devices.

In this article we will briefly look at implementations in the rail transit sector, and the kind of technologies that are making their way onto trains, railways and waysides in order to reduce power consumption, maintenance costs and reliability of train services.

Flexible portable electronics, in order to retain their versatility would benefit from harvesters and batteries or supercapacitors on plastic substrates.

2008 to 2010 saw huge enthusiasm and interest in the development of small energy harvesters.

IDTechEx has recently launched an online browser-based Market Intelligence Portal , bringing you in-depth market intelligence and independent analysis throughout the year.

The market for dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) is forecasted to slowly grow to over $130 million by 2023 according to market research company IDTechEx, as discussed extensively in the newly published report Dye Sensitized Solar Cells (DSSC/DSC) 2013-2023: Technologies, Markets, Players.

IDTechEx Research finds that the electroactive polymer (EAP) market will be US$ 245 million in 2013.