Energy harvesting IC offers ultra-low-power start-up
E-peas was founded in 2014 by Geoffroy Gosset and Julien De Vos with a vision to address Internet of Things applications on two fronts; by increasing harvested energy and by reducing the energy consumption of circuit blocks. Gosset serves as CEO and De Vos is the chief technology officer of the company.
The AEM1x940 is an energy management IC that extracts DC power from photovoltaic cells or thermoelectric generators to supply electronic systems in order to extend their battery life and ultimately get rid of the primary storage element.
It uses a low-power boost converter that can operate with input voltages in the range of 100 mV up to 2.5 V. With a special "cold-start" circuit it can start operating with empty storage elements at an input voltage as low as 380 mV and an input power as low as 3 µW, according to the e-peas website.
The device includes two LDO regulators for 1.8-V output at up to 10 mA load and a variable LDO at 2.5 V to 4 V with up to 30-mA load current. Overcharging and over-discharging protection are provided and the design is described as being RF transmission friendly.
E-peas also plans to sell a low power 32-bit microcontroller. The microcontroller, of undisclosed architecture, consumes about 20% of the power of other 32-bit MCUs, E-peas claims. The architecture selected is "well-known" and the MCU will be available "soon."
E-peas: www.e-peas.com
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