n less than five short years, attention on energy harvesting has made a dramatic shift.  In past years, we have seen the reaction to proposed energy harvesting applications range from anecdotal curiosity to being dismissed as producing negligible amounts of useful power.  Fast-forward to today and we have an entire production ecosystem that has quickly gained recognition as designers start to realize just how limiting batteries are in (mostly) low power applications – due to limited battery life and the resultant need for frequent and expensive replacement - and how energy harvesting is the key to enabling reliable and maintenance-free powering of all those amazing Internet of Things (IoT)  devices for Industrial IoT, wearables, 5G, wireless sensor networks, robotics, and medical technologies, just to name a few.  The conversation is shifting from "What is it?" and "It will never deliver useful power levels." to "How can my applications take advantage of this technology?" and "Can you help me develop an energy harvesting strategy/roadmap before my competitors do?" and "We see the value, but need help getting our learning curve up-to-speed to execute quickly and verify it will work for our applications."

The Power Sources Manufacturers Association (PSMA) has been at the forefront of power technologies and the promotion of the driving force behind powering of electronics for many decades now and energy harvesting is no exception.  In less than 18 months, the PSMA Energy Harvesting Technical Committee has increased membership from seven to over 30 members who represent a wide mix of academia and representatives from a variety of industry players on both the supplier and user sides of applications.  A key initiative of the Committee was the management and execution of a full Industry Session at the 2017 Applied Power Electronics Conference (APEC), the premier, global event for power electronics.  The session was expected to be a stepping-stone to generate future interest in energy harvesting technologies at APEC and turned into a standing-room-only technical demonstration and presentation session. The demonstrations provided an important message to the audience that energy harvesting is rapidly moving from the lab to real life applications and offers significant competitive advantages.

Under the steadfast and energetic leadership of the PSMA Energy Harvesting Technical Committee, the group is pushing forward with the next, ambitious step in this exciting field.  Besides sponsoring another Industry Session at APEC2018, the Committee has recently announced the creation and planning of EnerHarv 2018, a three-day, international workshop which will be 'A focal point for a community of experts and users of energy harvesting & related technologies to share knowledge, best practices, roadmaps, experiences and create opportunities for collaboration.'  The workshop is completely dedicated to bringing the best and brightest minds in this very siloed industry together to raise awareness, develop synergies between the various constituents of the energy harvesting ecosystem, and enable applications.  EnerHarv will be hosted by Tyndall National Institute in Cork, Ireland, May 29-31, 2018.  Tyndall is one of Europe's leading industry-led IoT research centers and is an epicenter for energy harvesting research.

EnerHarv will be a unique workshop in the way it is being structured to maximize collaboration and push the industry forward.  The entire event will be experienced as a collective of all workshop delegates.  From the technical lectures to the functional technology demonstrations to the open panel discussions, each day will be packed with sharing technical knowledge mixed with practical application information all to culminate in a group discussion on a theme following a common thread throughout each day of the workshop.  The workshop is targeted at anyone involved or considering getting involved in developing or using energy harvesting technology, particularly (but not exclusively) for ultra-low power IoT applications.  Registrants will walk away inspired, enabled, connected and eager to exercise their newfound education and collaborations immediately upon returning to their colleagues/labs/partners/etc.

In addition to PSMA's financial backing and member support, the EnerHarv Workshop Committee (EWC) has quickly identified and involved many of the industry's top organizations as Technical Sponsors.  This list includes the IEEE Power Electronics Society (PELS), the European Power Electronics Research Network (ECPE), Ireland's national research centre for Future Networks & Communications (CONNECT), and the China Power Supply Society (CPSS).  This is in addition to many representatives on the committee from prestigious academic and industry involved in the world of energy harvesting and power electronics.

The EWC is currently filling presentation and poster slots for this invite-only event.  If you are interested in contributing content, then please visit the EnerHarv 2018 website at www.EnerHarv.com for the latest workshop tracks and EWC contact information.  Additionally, you will find an opportunity to input your own contact information and be one of the first to learn when registration becomes available.

KEYNOTE UPDATE:

Yogesh Ramadass, Director of Power Management R&D at Kilby Labs from TI, will open the Workshop with his keynote talk on "Energy Harvesting: Past, Present and Future" in which he will explore the last ~15 years of the energy harvesting industry to understand how we got to this point in the ecosystem of the industry and how matching to applications will continue to propel this commercial adoption into the future. 

Eric Yeatman, Head of the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering from Imperial College London, will close the keynote session with a talk on "Alternative Powering Methods for Miniature Wireless Sensors" in which he will provide an overview of energy scavenging capabilities, techniques, and solutions with a particular focus on enabling wireless devices and IoT applications.

Please join us in the beautiful and historical city of Cork, Ireland's gourmet capital, in May and be part of the inaugural EnerHarv Workshop.  Open your mind to harvesting every type of ambient energy physics affords us.  Learn how to extend battery life and perhaps mitigate batteries altogether in your application.  Learn about the materials, devices and systems and supporting simulation development and deployment tools that are making energy harvesting a reality today.  Obtain valuable training on the nuances of ultra-low power designs/loads and build relationships and network with then leading individuals and companies in this emerging industry that will be valuable to you and your organization in the years ahead.

Visit the EnerHarv website for more information: www.enerharv.com

Provided by:

General Chair
Mike Hayes, Tyndall National Institute

Technical Program Chair
Brian Zahnstecher, PowerRox

If you or anyone in your company is interested in getting on the distribution list for future issues of PSMA UPDATE, please send e-mail to: power@psma.com. Be sure to include your name and the name of your company.