Solar Power for Small Devices - Is it True?

Let’s get one thing straight, without electricity, there wouldn’t be a reason to live. The long power lines which can be seen crisscrossing the globe fill our homes with air conditioning, refrigeration and cool 108-inch plasmas. All this innovation has led to people using solar power to fuel their need for electricity, and today, we find more and more people getting increasingly interested in charging up smaller devices with the help of solar power. But, is this really viable, here we are going to talk about those small devices that can be charged directly by solar power technology.

Engineers have recently unveiled a circuit, which they say can power wearables along with other electronic devices with a steady power source via solar energy, which could also, someday fuel the growth for the Internet of Things. The two MIT engineers who have designed and developed the chip also say that the chip is much better at converting the captured energy by solar cells, and the invention seems to also lend itself well when it comes to the self powering electronic sensors.

The new chip was unveiled recently at the Symposia on VLSI Technology and Circuits at Kyoto, Japan. We’ve all come to known that sensors is a crucial tool when it comes to the Internet of Things, and the very notion that devices can be linked to networks through which they can then deliver important information is mind blowing. This is where the new chip can actually prove to be useful. Apart from this, sensors are also used in electronic devices, including cars and planes along with having research applications as well.

But, the reality is that these devices require a power source, and carrying around batteries is certainly not a feasible option. Since devices need to have batteries which can last a long time, or atleast have the ability to recharge themselves, the new micro chip could one day provide that much needed power.

The only problem here is that solar power does have an efficiency problem, as in, circuits today are able to convert just half of the energy of solar cells, which means that most of that energy gets wasted, and is consequently the main reason why solar energy isn’t often considered practical when it comes to charging smaller devices which take up less space, or those gadgets that function in low light environment.

Keeping this in mind, the micro circuit which has been developed by Anantha Chandrakasan and Dina Reda El-Damak at MIT is basically an ultra low power circuit which is able to convert around 80% of the energy saved in solar panels into usable electricity. Furthermore, the new chip is able to power devices as well as charge batteries which are connected to those devices at the same time, which also happens to be another ability which has eluded circuits so far.

It is without a doubt that this new invention in solar technology will enable a new class of Internet of Things devices which will be able to use solar power technology, conserve more energy while offering the same output.