Power transmission and storage technologies that may play a crucial role in the development path of the Internet of Things include:
1. Novel battery designs: such as thin-film printed batteries and flexible batteries that can be embedded in clothing or other garments. Companies like Thinergy and LG have recently showcased products featuring thin, flexible cable-type batteries. Small-volume batteries are also crucial for the operation of millimeter-scale systems.
2. High power density batteries: With technologies such as silicon anodes that can improve the performance of lithium-ion batteries, it is expected that battery performance will be improved and the batteries will become smaller and lighter.
3. Harvesting: Some systems can harvest electricity from the environment to charge smart objects. Examples include electricity generated by mechanical motion such as vibration, heat sources, solar cells, electrostatic charge, or electromagnetic radiation from the environment. Although harvesting usually generates only a small amount of electricity, it is sufficient for simple sensing and communication. For example, MicroStrain has launched a strain gauge sensor node that utilizes harvesting technology.
4. Wireless Charging: Not all objects with sensing and communication capabilities can be powered by replaceable batteries or other energy sources. For example, replacing batteries in smart clothing is cumbersome, and promising IoT applications such as medical sensors implanted under the skin also cannot rely on battery replacement. With sponsorship from the Wireless Power Consortium and its rival organization A4WP, several systems have begun initial mass production, while others are still in the research and development stage.
Furthermore, there is another power technology whose potential for IoT applications has not yet been fully realized: supercapacitors, which are capacitors with extremely high energy storage capacity. While generally considered a potential replacement for batteries, existing products suffer from excessive leakage. Nevertheless, emerging trends groups should still pay attention to whether the feasibility of supercapacitors will improve in the future.
