Energy loss is maintained at merely sub-μW, converting harvested power into the 16μW to 100mW range.
The operating time is also short in low-temperature conditions.

Analog Devices has announced a Power Management Unit (PMU) designed to enable faster and more efficient energy harvesting in energy-scarce Internet of Things (IoT) applications. Thanks to its unique circuit design, the ADP509x boasts the highest efficiency among energy harvesting PMUs currently on the market, converting harvested power in the 16μW to 100mW range while maintaining energy loss during operation at sub-μW. Additionally, the ADP509x has the shortest cold-startup time among currently available products.

Devices relying on energy harvesting had to accumulate sufficient energy over a long period of time to turn on from a low-energy state, resulting in long delays before the device was ready to begin sensing, processing, and transmitting. This led to disadvantages such as data loss, slow operation, and reduced usability. The ADP509x PMU solved these problems with an innovative multiple-power-path-design that enables faster startup and smoother operation.

Energy harvesting is a critical component for implementing completely independent IoT solutions. Using energy harvesting can significantly reduce costs in applications where battery replacement is expensive, and also enables the development of various new applications for cases where battery replacement is impossible or impractical.

One of the major barriers faced in energy harvesting is that for many applications, the energy obtainable from the environment is negligible (e.g., low-light indoor solar harvesting), leading to periods where no energy is obtained at all. Therefore, a power management solution is necessary not only to enable satisfactory system operation with very little energy but also to efficiently manage energy storage devices to meet required energy demands even when no energy is harvested.

Michael Murray, General Manager of Industrial IoT at Analog Devices, said, “We believe the ADP509x represents a significant step forward toward new standalone IoT applications. We are collaborating with companies like Alta Devices, an innovative and efficient solar cell manufacturer, to explore new possibilities by combining the most efficient energy harvesting components. We expect these efforts to not only bring significant benefits to traditional IoT applications but also lower some major barriers that have hindered the emergence of applications such as e-textiles and other wearable products.”