Rob recently discussed energy related topics such as the Smart Grid at the MEMS Industry Groups's MEMS Executive Congress, the premier MEMS business conference in the world. He discussed MicroGen's MEMS-based piezoelectric vibrational power source products as part of an Energy Panel along with Canaan Partners, a venture capital firm, IMEC, a world renown research institute in Belgium and The Netherlands, and Perpetuum, a non-MEMS-based electro-magnetic vibrational energy harvester developer.
MicroGen's energy scavenging products will enable low power non-wireless electronics and wireless sensor networks (WSN). WSNs are a distribution of 10's to 1000's of wireless sensors in a mesh-network for smart asset tracking (e.g. chemical and biological weapon detection), smart infrastructure (e.g. monitoring bridges, dams and water systems), smart energy (e.g. monitoring lighting levels in commercial buildings), smart industry (e.g. monitoring electrical equipment) and smart transportation (e.g. monitoring tire-pressure and vibration).
MicroGen's work was well received and is now making its way through the electronics industry. The company was recently mentioned in a report by the Darnell Group which predicted the “crossover” from the “Introduction” phase to the “Growth” phase for energy harvesting and related micro battery products will take place in the 2009/10 timeframe. According to the report, as that happens, the market share of energy-harvesting-powered devices will grow rapidly compared with traditional wired or battery-powered wireless alternatives. Profitability of energy harvesting and microbattery companies are also expected to increase, according to the report.
"Darnell Group has been following the energy harvesting market for more years than other analyst firms. In 2005, we recognized the potential of this technology to both capitalize on, and transform, the small but growing wireless sensor market," said Linnea Brush, Senior Analyst with Darnell Group, who also noted that the growth phase will provide companies with significant sales and ‘branding’ opportunities. http://www.darnell.com/News/2009-11-20_EnergyHarvestingMarketInflection.pdf
Energy harvesting also made the the Top 10 technologies to watch in 2010 in the EE Times, a prestigious trade press for the electronics industry: http://www.eetimes.com/221900117
Keep microGen, based in the Rochester area, on your radar screen as a rising star in the MEMS energy havesting space ... and learn more about the company at: www.microgensystems.com
