Nowi
Hardware : Sensor Systems : Energy Harvesting
Nowi has developed a novel energy harvesting power management IC that combines top harvesting performance with the world’s smallest assembly footprint and lowest BOM cost. Thereby it simplifies the design process and lowers the threshold for any company to develop ‘Plug & Forget’ products. Fundamentally Nowi believes that for the physical world to be connected to the digital world, a new approach for powering devices is required. Traditionally we power devices by bringing energy to them. We do this in the form of batteries and cables, however at the incredible scale of a connected world this has become a limiting factor. Instead of bringing energy, Nowi aims to enable products to use the energy that is already available at its location.
Assembly Line
Dutch semiconductor company Nexperia acquires Delft-based energy harvesting firm Nowi: Here’s why
Nijmegen, the Netherlands-based Nexperia, a company specialised in high-volume chip production, announced on Friday, November 11, that it has acquired Delft-based startup Nowi. However, the Dutch company did not disclose the financial details of the deal. With this acquisition, Nexperia aims to broaden its portfolio of power management products to include energy-harvesting solutions. Further, this deal is part of Nexperia’s shift into producing more integrated chipsets as well as its discrete power devices.
Founded in 2016, Nowi is a private semiconductor firm that has developed energy-harvesting power management IC (PMIC) that combines the smallest PCB (Printed Circuit Board) footprint with the lowest BOM (Bill of Material) cost and the best average harvesting performance. As a result, it simplifies the design process and lowers the threshold for any company to develop ‘Plug & Forget’ products.
Energy Harvesting Startups Could Power Some IoT Dreams
Removing batteries from the industrial equation cuts costs and reduces the hours that people spend replacing them. Using batteryless equipment in industrial and consumer settings could also greatly reduce the number of batteries that are thrown into landfills around the globe. It is estimated that 3 billion batteries a year are discarded in the U.S. alone!
For instance, Everactive argues that if you were to deploy 10,000 battery-powered industrial IoT sensors across your facility to transmit real-time data about the health of your machinery, over time your team would be replacing around 2,000 batteries a year. Many of these sensors would be located in difficult-to-reach areas, further increasing the time and expense needed to replace the chemical cells.