EnOcean
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EnOcean GmbH is a spin-off company of Siemens AG founded in 2001, that is venture funded. It is a German company headquartered in Oberhaching, near Munich, which currently employs 35 staff. It is a technology supplier of self-powered modules (transmitters, receivers, transceivers, energy converter) to companies (e.g. Siemens, Zumtobel, Omnio, Osram, Wieland Electric, Peha, Thermokon, Wago, Herga), which develop and manufacture products used in building automation (light, shading, hvac), industrial automation, and automotive industry (replacement of the conventional battery in tyre pressure sensors).
The company has won awards for the technology and company performance, e.g. the Bavarian Innovation Prize 2002[1] for its globally unique technology, the award "Technology Pioneer 2006"[2] by the renowned World Economic Forum and the award BuildingGreen Top-10 Product for 2007[3].
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[edit] EnOcean Alliance
A group of companies across Europe and North America (e.g. Omnio, Thermokon, Masco, MK Electric, Distech Controls and EnOcean) formed the EnOcean Alliance in April 2008 as a non-profit, mutual benefit corporation which has the formal purpose of initially developing the specifications for the interoperability of the sensor profiles for the wireless products operating in unlicensed frequency bands and subsequently to apply for ratification as an international standard at the appropriate standardization committee, and of helping to bring about the existence of a broad range of interoperable wireless monitoring and controlling products for use in and around residential, commercial and industrial buildings.
[edit] Technology
The company has developed a technology that is based on the efficient exploitation of slight changes in the environmental energy using the principles of energy harvesting.
In order to transform such energy fluctuations into usable electrical energy, electromagnetic, piezogenerators, solar cells, thermocouples, and other energy converters are used. The company’s products (such as sensors and radio switches) have no battery and are engineered to operate maintenance-free. The signals of these sensors and switches can be transmitted over a distance of up to 300 meters. Early switches from the company used piezo generators, but these have been replaced with electromagnetic energy sources to reduce the operating pressure (7 newtons), and increase the service life to 50,000 operations.
The most pervasive example of a product stemming from the proprietary RF protocol is the battery-free wireless light switch. This product has gone to market under the premise that it requires less time and wire to install because no wire is required between the switch and the light fixture. It also avoids the need to run switched circuits as the actual power switching is performed locally at the load itself.
Packets of data are transmitted at 120 kbit/s with the packet being 14 bytes long with a four byte data payload. RF energy is only transmitted for the 1's on the data, reducing the amount of power required. Three packets are sent at pseudo-random intervals reducing the possibility of packet collisions. Push switches also transmit a further three data packets on release of the switch push-button, enabling other features such as light dimming to be implemented. [4]
This technology also enables a wireless community of battery-free sensors to connect to transceivers that are powered for continuous operation. Therefore it can be used for wireless mesh networking (nonstandard mesh protocol).
Switch signals and sensor information are reliably transmitted – interference from other signals can be excluded. Every device has a unique 32-bit serial number, so local interference is avoided by 'training' a receiver to its specific transmitters. The frequency used for the majority of the devices is 868.3 MHz.
One application of the technology is an audience voting system developed by EnOcean's UK distributor. Each member of the audience is given a four-button remote with an EnOcean transmitter, and the signals are decoded by a receiver connected to a PC. This avoids the need to manage batteries in many remote handsets, and each handset is uniquely identified, so the 'quizmaster' or presenter can see each individual answer from each member of the audience.
The standard switch modules produced by the company employ electro-magnetic generation techniques.
EnOcean technologies also appear in other products such as 'Navatis' from Herga.
In July 2007, the company announced technology to allow transmitters to be powered from Peltier devices with a minimum of 2 degrees Celsius temperature difference on each side of a 15 mm square Peltier panel.
In November 2007, MK Electric, the largest manufacturer of consumer electrical fitments in the UK, adopted EnOcean technology for a new range of wireless switches.
These controls can be found in the US at EnOceanWireless.comand adhocelectronics.com
[edit] References/ Sources
- ^ Bavarian Innovation Prize 2002 for EnOcean
- ^ Technology Pioneer in Energy 2006 by the World Economic Forum
- ^ BuildingGreen Top-10 Product for 2007'
- ^ Energy for free in the Components in Electronics magazine, April 2007
