Report on the UK Energy Harvesting Mission to Japan

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1 Report on the UK Energy Harvesting Mission to Japan August 2013

2 Techno- Frontier 2013 EH SIG Mission 2 Energy Harvesting SIG Mission to Japan participated in the Techno- Frontier 2013 exhibition and the UK Japan EH Workshop. Technologies 3 Information about Energy Harvesting technologies spotted at Techno- Frontier 2013, Tokyo, Japan. EH SIG News 5 Read about how to join EH SIG on _CONNECT and our new events including the mission to the US. Energy Harvesting at Techno- Frontier 2013 Energy harvesting trends from the leading technology show in Japan Techno- Frontier 2013 took place in Tokyo at one of the city s largest exhibition venues Tokyo Big Sight from 17 th of July till 20 th of July Techno- Frontier 2013 included exhibitions such as MOTORTECH JAPAN, POWER SYSTEM JAPAN, EMC JAPAN, THERMAL ENGINEERING, ENERGY HARVESTING, which are known as "the one and only," "can't miss" in Japan. Hence all serious Japanese players in the field of energy harvesting were there which provided the UK delegation with an excellent opportunity to take a snapshot of the current status of technology development and adoption in Japan. At the Energy Harvesting Exhibition companies showed some well- known technologies such as dye sensitized solar cells, piezo, inductive and thermo- electric harvesters as well as some new ones including the electret MEMS energy harvester. Though the technology development seems to be gathering pace, companies are still struggling to find killer applications, which would boost the scale of manufacturing and allow wider adoption of energy harvesters as a replacement of batteries. Sensing in the built environment is slightly ahead of other sectors on the adoption curve driven by the energy saving opportunities. A number of companies have demonstrated wireless lighting switches powered by piezo harvesters.

3 UK Energy Harvesting Mission to Japan July 2013 The mission has been organised by the Energy Harvesting SIG with support from the Technology Strategy Board to investigate the status of energy harvesting technologies adoption and to establish links with companies and academics in Japan. UK Energy Harvesting Mission to Japan 2013 The Energy Harvesting Special Interest Group (EH SIG), part of the Technology Strategy Board s successful knowledge transfer programme, took a group of UK companies and universities on the UK Energy Harvesting Mission to Japan. The programme included participation in the Techno- Frontier 2013, a key exhibition, where leading businesses gather to showcase and view the latest technologies. Asia is clearly the centre of the world s electronics industry. Japan, being the leading nation in electronics devices production, has the power to attract the latest technologies, leading companies and prominent buyers, not only from inside Japan but also from Taiwan, Korea, and China and other nations. Japan has also recently stepped up its efforts to become a leading energy harvesting technology provider. The UK Energy Harvesting Mission to Japan offered a unique opportunity not only to promote the UK s expertise in energy harvesting but also to forge valuable trade, science and innovation links with Japanese and Asian businesses and researchers including those involved in Japan's Energy Harvesting Consortium. Members of the UK delegation included Gas Sensing Solutions Ltd, Ronsek Innovation Ltd, Thhink Wireless Ltd, Imperial College London and the University of Hull. More than 200 visitors attended the UK s stand at the Techno- Frontier 2013, which allowed the delegates to make useful contacts with Japanese companies. On the 20 th of July 2013 the UK mission attended the 2 nd UK- Japan Energy Harvesting Workshop at the University of Tokyo where the delegates from Gas Sensing Solutions, Ronsek, ICL and Hull had an opportunity to present in front of more than 50 delegates representing Japanese companies and academics.

4 1 2 Review of Energy Harvesting Technologies EH SIG Alex Efimov A number of exciting energy harvesting technologies was presented at Techno- Frontier 2013 but this report will focus on the Electret Energy Harvester and Thermal Electric Generators. The Electret Energy Harvester has been m entioned earlier: the technology promoted by the Electret Alliance attracted a lot of attention at the exhibition. The principle of operation for the Electret Energy Harvester is based on the electrostatic induction and schematically depicted by the image below. CYTOP (Asahi Glass Co., Ltd.), which is a MEMS- friendly amorphous perfluoro- polymer, is at the core of the harvester design because of its ability to sustain a very high surface charge density as a stable electret material. Researchers at the University of Tokyo further improved the polymer electret

5 (Continued) material based on CYTOP, and demonstrated that up to 0.69 mw power can be obtained at an oscillation frequency as low as 20 Hz with the amplitude of 1.2 mmp- p. The micro electret generator designed at the University of Tokyo is composed of a silicon proof substrate mass supported with parylene high- aspect- ratio springs. Patterned electrets and electrodes are formed both on the silicon mass and the bottom pyrex substrate. The gap between the substrates is defined with a PDMS layer. The use of parylene springs allowed improving the design to make it efficient in a broader range of vibration frequencies potentially expanding the areas of application. A number of prototypes of the MEMS electret harvester were built by Omron and presented at the Techno- Frontier 2013 at the Electret Alliance stand. Thermal Electric Generators (TEG) are based on the phenomenon in physics often referred to as Peltier- Seebeck Effect. Seebeck effect is at the core of a thermoelectric device that creates voltage when there is a different temperature on each side. As a rule of thumb the greater temperature difference between the hot and the cold side, the more efficient TEG device is. At the Techno- Frontier 2013 thermoelectric devices were demonstrated at both the Energy Harvesting (Seebeck effect) and Thermal Management (Peltier coolers) and they hugely varied in terms of size, power generation capacity and output voltage. The image above demonstrates a wearable sensor assembly powered by TEG. The TEG produces voltage from the difference in the temperature of a human body and the ambient environment. The difference is hugely variable and depends on a number of external factors but even in the worst case scenario a temperature difference of about 10K could be enough to drive a low power sensor. The assembly shown on the image above is made by Yamaha. The image is an example of implementing TEG in energy recovery application rather than energy harvesting. KELK (part of the Komatsu group of companies) used TEG to recover waste heat from a gas carburizing furnace. Each TEG module used in this experiment was able to produce 200Wt of electric power with the temperature of the hot side being above 250 C. KELK also tested its modules to recover radiant heat from molten steel. Most modern TEGs use use semiconductor p n junctions made from bismuth telluride (Bi 2 Te 3 ) often shaped in a columnar structure. However, researchers, particularly in Japan, are actively working on new, cheaper and more efficient materials for TEGs. Dr. Shuichi Funahashi from the Research Centre for Next Generation Technology, Murata Manufacturing presented one of the most interesting developments in this area at the 2 nd UK- Japan Energy Harvesting Workshop in Tokyo, 20 th July His team fabricated monolithic TEGs based on multilayer ceramic capacitor (MLCC) technology using metal- oxide composites. These devices benefit from a low cost manufacturing process and could be used across a wide range of temperature differences from 10K to 360K.

6 (Continued) Join us on _CONNECT and learn more about Energy Harvesting technologies and activities in the UK! Opportunity to Attend Energy Harvesting & Wireless Sensor Mission to USA, 20 th - 21 st November 2013, Santa Clara, USA How to apply Applications are sought now to join the mission. To download the application form, please visit the EH SIG website at: or contact Natasha Sim at: Natasha.sim@nanoktn.com. Applications will be considered on a first come, first served basis. UK Academics & Larger Companies may also join the mission so please enquire. Enquiries We welcome enquiries and if you wish to discuss your application, please contact the: Dr James Johnstone, james.johnstone@nanoktn.com, T: The 13 th International Conference on Micro and Nanotechnology for Power Generation and Energy Conversion Applications: The PowerMEMS programme includes the 3 rd UK- Japan Energy Harvesting Workshop Companies and academics interested in talking at the 3rd UK- Japan Energy Harvesting Workshop should contact the organisers: Alex Efimov, alex.efimov(at)espktn.org