Solid-state battery technology company Ilika PLC has entered into a demonstration project to deploy its Stereax M250 batteries to power an autonomous wireless sensor for environmental sensing and asset tracking. Ilika will be collaborating with four commercial partners – Lightricity on PV cells, e-peas on power management, and Microdul and Penta on sensors – as well as three research organizations – IMEC, CERTH, and Zurich University.
The primary objective of the project is to use a combination of Stereax batteries and photovoltaic cells to power a smart sensing card with multi-sensing capabilities covering imaging, carbon dioxide sensing and temperature measurement. The card will also be designed with security features to ensure low vulnerability, user and device authentication, intrusion prevention and detection and overall enhanced cyber-secure operation.
The company will receive 260,000 EU (~$300,000 US) to cover all costs of the project from Horizon 2020, which is the European Commission’s research and innovation program.
The device will be designed for deployment in smart cities (air quality management), smart homes (indoor air quality and comfort), smart work-places (indoor comfort, occupancy and productivity), and industrial environments (HSE monitoring during inspection activities).
According to the company’s website, “The Stereax® M250 contains no liquid or polymer components and, like all Ilika solid state batteries, has no free lithium, either in the charged or discharged state, making it moisture resistant and appropriate for medical applications. Its low self-discharge allows it to be trickle-charged by an energy harvesting source such as vibration or a PV panel. Its high peak current enables the transmission of data using protocols such as Bluetooth Low Energy. The combination of energy harvester, transmitter, sensor and the M250 is ideal for integration into small, “fit and forget” autonomous sensor devices with multiple applications including Smart Homes, Vehicles and medical devices. The M250 is provided on a rigid substrate (650 µm), though thinner substrates may also be used.”
Graeme Purdy, Ilika CEO, stated, “This is a great opportunity for Ilika to work with other organizations from the Internet of Things ecosystem in Europe. The sensor applications have been carefully selected to demonstrate the lower total cost of ownership achievable by using a combination of energy harvesting from a photovoltaic chip and a Stereax M250.”