Summary of CAPACITECH OFFERS ENERGY STORAGE TECHNOLOGY WITH A UNIQUE FORM FACTOR; FLEXIBLE CABLE-BASED CAPACITORS FOR ENERGY HARVESTING AND IOT DEVICES
This article addresses the battery limitations in IoT devices, proposing energy harvesting paired with supercapacitors as a solution. It highlights Capacitech's Cable-Based Capacitor, a flexible, wire-shaped device that replaces bulky traditional capacitors. By integrating directly into wiring infrastructure alongside power management ICs and energy harvesters like indoor solar cells, this technology enables smaller, battery-free, and energy-independent IoT hardware.
Parts used in the Cable-Based Capacitor Project:
- Capacitive cable-based capacitor
- Power management integrated circuit (PMIC)
- Energy harvester (indoor solar cell)
Power consumption is a crucial factor for the Internet of Things (IoT) applications, as it relies on a battery, which has a limited capacity and short service life, to carry out the device’s operations. IoT devices are often deployed in places that are physically difficult to reach making it difficult and expensive to replace them when they discharge. This is one of the major challenges faced in the IoT market. One engineering solution that is gaining popularity is to leverage energy harvesting technologies and supercapacitors, which are also known as ultracapacitors or electric double-layer capacitors (EDLC).
Capacitech’s physically flexible and high-power energy storage product, the Cable-Based Capacitor, is a supercapacitor that can be paired with energy harvesting technologies to offer IoT hardware developers and manufacturers an alternative to these problematic batteries and their short service life. Utilizing this flexible capacitor technology will make these IoT devices energy independent, free from batteries, and smaller than they would be using traditional capacitor technologies.
In order to replace batteries in IoT applications, a supercapacitor must be paired with a power management integrated circuit (PMIC) and also an energy harvester such as an indoor solar cell. Traditional supercapacitors take up significant space on the circuit board, which limits a designers’ ability to offer certain features or smaller product sizes. Capacitech’s Cable-Based Capacitor possesses a unique, wire-shaped, and physically flexible form factor that can be integrated into the energy harvesters’ wiring infrastructure to alleviate this engineering tradeoff.
- Why is power consumption a major challenge for IoT applications?
IoT devices rely on batteries with limited capacity and short service life, which are difficult and expensive to replace in hard-to-reach locations. - What engineering solution is gaining popularity to solve IoT battery issues?
Leveraging energy harvesting technologies combined with supercapacitors or electric double-layer capacitors. - How does the Cable-Based Capacitor differ from traditional supercapacitors?
It features a unique wire-shaped and physically flexible form factor instead of taking up significant space on a circuit board. - Can the Cable-Based Capacitor be integrated into existing wiring infrastructure?
Yes, its flexible design allows it to be integrated into the energy harvesters' wiring infrastructure. - What components must be paired with a supercapacitor to replace batteries in IoT applications?
A power management integrated circuit and an energy harvester such as an indoor solar cell. - What benefits does using this flexible capacitor technology offer IoT developers?
It makes devices energy independent, free from batteries, and smaller than those using traditional capacitor technologies.
