A Thin, Compact and Maintenance-Free Beacon Transmitter Operating from a 44-lux Photovoltaic Film Harvester

Hiroyuki NAKAMOTO; Hong GAO; Atsushi MURAMATSU

doi:10.1587/transele.E100.C.584

A Thin, Compact and Maintenance-Free Beacon Transmitter Operating from a 44-lux Photovoltaic Film Harvester

Hiroyuki NAKAMOTO, Hong GAO, Atsushi MURAMATSU

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This paper presents a thin, compact beacon transmitter operating without needing battery replacement by using a photovoltaic (PV) film harvester. The beacon is formed of a power-control circuit (PCC) that can monitor small amounts of power from the harvester and properly control mode switching at low-power consumption. This leads to the realization of a maintenance-free beacon requiring no battery replacement. The beacon prototype is 55×20×2 mm in size and has a PV cell of 3 cm². It allows a start-up operation from just 44-lux illuminance. The PV area required for the operation can be 1.7 times smaller than that of conventional beacons, thanks to the current saving with appropriate sequential control of the PCC. Since the beacon makes operation possible in emergency stairs, underground passages and other dark places, the application field for Internet of things (IoT) services can be expanded. Furthermore, a beacon equipped with a secondary battery (BSB: Beacon with Secondary Battery) can be configured by adding a charge-discharge power monitoring circuit. The BSB transmits an advertising packet during the daytime while charging surplus power, and works using the stored power during the night; this results in a continuous operation for one week with one transmission every 3 seconds even at 0-lux illuminance. Without developing a new radiofrequency chip or module, commercial low-power devices can be easily adjusted depending on the application by adding appropriate power-control circuits. We are convinced that this design scheme will be effective as a rapid design proposal for IoT services.

Publication: IEICE TRANSACTIONS on Electronics Vol.E100-C No.6 pp.584-591

Publication Date: 2017/06/01

Publicized

Online ISSN: 1745-1353

DOI: 10.1587/transele.E100.C.584

Type of Manuscript: Special Section PAPER (Special Section on Analog Circuits and Their Application Technologies)

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Authors

Hiroyuki NAKAMOTO
  Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd.
Hong GAO
  Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd.
Atsushi MURAMATSU
  Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd.

Keyword

energy harvester, photovoltaic cell, power management, maintenance-free beacon, power-control circuit

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Hiroyuki NAKAMOTO, Hong GAO, Atsushi MURAMATSU, "A Thin, Compact and Maintenance-Free Beacon Transmitter Operating from a 44-lux Photovoltaic Film Harvester" in IEICE TRANSACTIONS on Electronics, vol. E100-C, no. 6, pp. 584-591, June 2017, doi: 10.1587/transele.E100.C.584.
Abstract: This paper presents a thin, compact beacon transmitter operating without needing battery replacement by using a photovoltaic (PV) film harvester. The beacon is formed of a power-control circuit (PCC) that can monitor small amounts of power from the harvester and properly control mode switching at low-power consumption. This leads to the realization of a maintenance-free beacon requiring no battery replacement. The beacon prototype is 55×20×2 mm in size and has a PV cell of 3 cm². It allows a start-up operation from just 44-lux illuminance. The PV area required for the operation can be 1.7 times smaller than that of conventional beacons, thanks to the current saving with appropriate sequential control of the PCC. Since the beacon makes operation possible in emergency stairs, underground passages and other dark places, the application field for Internet of things (IoT) services can be expanded. Furthermore, a beacon equipped with a secondary battery (BSB: Beacon with Secondary Battery) can be configured by adding a charge-discharge power monitoring circuit. The BSB transmits an advertising packet during the daytime while charging surplus power, and works using the stored power during the night; this results in a continuous operation for one week with one transmission every 3 seconds even at 0-lux illuminance. Without developing a new radiofrequency chip or module, commercial low-power devices can be easily adjusted depending on the application by adding appropriate power-control circuits. We are convinced that this design scheme will be effective as a rapid design proposal for IoT services.
URL: https://global.ieice.org/en_transactions/electronics/10.1587/transele.E100.C.584/_p

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@ARTICLE{e100-c_6_584,
author={Hiroyuki NAKAMOTO, Hong GAO, Atsushi MURAMATSU, },
journal={IEICE TRANSACTIONS on Electronics},
title={A Thin, Compact and Maintenance-Free Beacon Transmitter Operating from a 44-lux Photovoltaic Film Harvester},
year={2017},
volume={E100-C},
number={6},
pages={584-591},
abstract={This paper presents a thin, compact beacon transmitter operating without needing battery replacement by using a photovoltaic (PV) film harvester. The beacon is formed of a power-control circuit (PCC) that can monitor small amounts of power from the harvester and properly control mode switching at low-power consumption. This leads to the realization of a maintenance-free beacon requiring no battery replacement. The beacon prototype is 55×20×2 mm in size and has a PV cell of 3 cm². It allows a start-up operation from just 44-lux illuminance. The PV area required for the operation can be 1.7 times smaller than that of conventional beacons, thanks to the current saving with appropriate sequential control of the PCC. Since the beacon makes operation possible in emergency stairs, underground passages and other dark places, the application field for Internet of things (IoT) services can be expanded. Furthermore, a beacon equipped with a secondary battery (BSB: Beacon with Secondary Battery) can be configured by adding a charge-discharge power monitoring circuit. The BSB transmits an advertising packet during the daytime while charging surplus power, and works using the stored power during the night; this results in a continuous operation for one week with one transmission every 3 seconds even at 0-lux illuminance. Without developing a new radiofrequency chip or module, commercial low-power devices can be easily adjusted depending on the application by adding appropriate power-control circuits. We are convinced that this design scheme will be effective as a rapid design proposal for IoT services.},
keywords={},
doi={10.1587/transele.E100.C.584},
ISSN={1745-1353},
month={June},}

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TY - JOUR
TI - A Thin, Compact and Maintenance-Free Beacon Transmitter Operating from a 44-lux Photovoltaic Film Harvester
T2 - IEICE TRANSACTIONS on Electronics
SP - 584
EP - 591
AU - Hiroyuki NAKAMOTO
AU - Hong GAO
AU - Atsushi MURAMATSU
PY - 2017
DO - 10.1587/transele.E100.C.584
JO - IEICE TRANSACTIONS on Electronics
SN - 1745-1353
VL - E100-C
IS - 6
JA - IEICE TRANSACTIONS on Electronics
Y1 - June 2017
AB - This paper presents a thin, compact beacon transmitter operating without needing battery replacement by using a photovoltaic (PV) film harvester. The beacon is formed of a power-control circuit (PCC) that can monitor small amounts of power from the harvester and properly control mode switching at low-power consumption. This leads to the realization of a maintenance-free beacon requiring no battery replacement. The beacon prototype is 55×20×2 mm in size and has a PV cell of 3 cm². It allows a start-up operation from just 44-lux illuminance. The PV area required for the operation can be 1.7 times smaller than that of conventional beacons, thanks to the current saving with appropriate sequential control of the PCC. Since the beacon makes operation possible in emergency stairs, underground passages and other dark places, the application field for Internet of things (IoT) services can be expanded. Furthermore, a beacon equipped with a secondary battery (BSB: Beacon with Secondary Battery) can be configured by adding a charge-discharge power monitoring circuit. The BSB transmits an advertising packet during the daytime while charging surplus power, and works using the stored power during the night; this results in a continuous operation for one week with one transmission every 3 seconds even at 0-lux illuminance. Without developing a new radiofrequency chip or module, commercial low-power devices can be easily adjusted depending on the application by adding appropriate power-control circuits. We are convinced that this design scheme will be effective as a rapid design proposal for IoT services.
ER -