G24 Power and Canova Tech announce R&D project to develop dedicated power manager and ultra low power solutions for Dye Sensitized Solar Cell applications
This fully tested and proven platform is ideal for ultra low power energy harvesting applications such as building automation, medical, consumer and wearable devices
Energy Harvesting & Storage Europe – BERLIN, Germany – April 1, 2014 – G24 Power, world leader in the design and manufacture of Dye Sensitized Solar Cells, and Canova Tech, delivering silicon intellectual property (IP), design services and product solutions to the semiconductor industry worldwide, are entering in a funded R&D program to develop and optimize a complete and efficient power manager solution with MPPT for G24 Dye Sensitized Solar Cell, GCell.
In this collaborative framework, a new jointly developed demonstration is available at the G24 Power booth (#D12) during the Energy Harvesting & Storage Europe conference and exhibition being held in Berlin April 1-2, 2014.
The live demonstration shows the efficiency of the GCell technology, the flexibility and configurability of the Canova Tech ETA IP platform, and the ultra-low power performance of the ON Semiconductor LC87F7932B fully programmable microcontroller. The ETA platform is also manufactured using ON Semiconductor’s I3T80 process technology.
GCell is the brand leading Dye Sensitized Solar Cell (DSSC) from G24 Power. GCell’s nanotechnology harnesses the visible light to provide electrical energy and is widely recognised as the closest mankind has come to replicating nature’s photosynthesis.
G24 Power entered into a funded R&D project with Canova Tech to enable the creation of applications powered by GCell to reduce or eliminate the need to use disposable batteries. In particular, the collaboration focused on providing efficient power management for instances where replacing batteries is inconvenient, costly, or dangerous.
Canova Tech ETA IP Platform for Energy Harvesting Applications
Based on Canova Tech’s IP implemented on silicon, the ETA platform can be configured to manage any type of harvesting cell – be it thermo electric, solar, piezo or magnetic –to implement a customized, efficient and optimized solution for ultra-low power, IoT and wearable applications.
The development tool along with all documentation and datasheets are available off-the-shelf to shorten overall development time and enable highly creative concept validation for industry automation, building automation, health care and other applications.
ON Semiconductor’s Technology for Energy Harvesting Applications
Ultra-low power MCU: In an autonomous-energy system, especially for Energy Harvesting applications, the collected energy should be consumed as effectively as possible.  Ultra-low power efficiency is key for the successful implementation of the product architectures. ON Semiconductor’s ultra-low power microcontroller family plays a primary role in system tasks and total power consumption control.  Key features include a real time clock function (RTC), 0.45 µA average power consumption in RTC mode, 1.5 µA total average power consumption while controlling LCD display, and a 12-bit ADC that intermittently operates for temperature measurement.
Process Technology: ON Semiconductor‘s proprietary I3T80 µm process technology also enabled Canova Tech to implement its unique ETA platform IP to meet the demanding and advanced performance needs in complex low energy budget applications. Manufactured in ON Semiconductor’s Belgian and North American fabs, this high quality I3T80 process offers leading features including mixed-signal IP integration together with an extensive digital IP Library, high quality design kits and affordable access to Foundry shuttles.