WePower's energy harvesting generators at CES 2024

WePower Technologies, a pioneer in wireless and batteryless kinetic energy harvesting solutions, announces the debut of three production-ready energy harvesting generator (EHG) prototypes which the company will demo live at CES 2024, as well as an enhanced production-ready version of their G200 EHG within a water sensor.

The new production-ready EHG prototypes include the G100 push-button switch EHG, the G150 vibration-activated EHG, and the G200 EHG in an industrial limit switch, a project supported by Silicon Labs. The three new WePower prototypes expand upon the company’s Gemns EHG line and are currently available for manufacturing partners to integrate into their product designs.

In addition to new components, WePower will also demo a dramatically enhanced version of the G200 EHG within a wireless, batteryless water sensor ideal for commercial and industrial environments. This water sensor, launched via initial prototype at CES 2023, is a production-ready component that is the only solution of its kind on the market. Traditional, battery-powered water sensors can leave business owners vulnerable to costly leaks when batteries die – the G200-powered sensor permanently solves this issue.

Introducing the Prototypes:

The G100 push-button switch: this 22mm push-button switch uses permanent and oscillating magnets to capture kinetic energy at a rate of more than 30 times that of the competition, and convert it to usable electricity, enabling a transmission output exceeding 8dBm. This extra power enables data transmissions of significantly larger size, complexity, and distance across most advanced communication protocols, including ISM, Bluetooth, LoRa, Z-Wave, Thread, and Matter. The G100 push-button has been tested for a lifespan of over one million activations and is ideal for applications in industrial settings, smart home, and smart building environments.

The G150 vibration-activated EHG: this continuous operation EHG component draws power from vibrations to drive its functionality as a sensor. WePower will demo this component using a speaker with variable vibration to showcase the product’s ability to harvest energy continuously while also registering and communicating the vibrations’ magnitudes. This combination of functionalities make the G150 EHG an ideal solution for applications in the mining and automotive industries where any variation in production line performance must be caught and communicated.

Industrial limit switch with G200: designed to integrate seamlessly with industrial limit switches, the G200 EHG powers secure wireless transmissions across a diverse range of chips and is compatible with most advanced communication protocols. The principal unique benefit of the G200 is its substantially higher power output compared to current market offerings, enabling a game-changing two-way communication in industrial settings. This capability allows networks to confirm the receipt of safety-critical transmissions, ensuring that vital communications are both uninterrupted and verified, wirelessly and without the need for batteries – ultimately streamlining operations, reducing risk, and cutting down on waste.

Wireless, batteryless Gemns EHGs from WePower harvest energy from motion and convert it into usable electricity for small-scale data transmission devices like sensors across a wide range of applications. This waste-free transient power generation is critical to the growth of the IoT, especially in the US where consumers throw away more than three billion batteries a year.

To learn more about WePower Technologies and see demos of the new and existing products, visit Booth #10271 in North Hall LVCC at CES 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada.