Dracula Technologies, a pioneer in harvesting energy from indoor light, is introducing LAYER Vault at CES in Las Vegas. This groundbreaking technology, the world’s first of its kind, seamlessly combines low-light Organic Photovoltaic (OPV) energy harvesting and electrical storage on a single flexible film. LAYER Vault is set to revolutionise the electronics industry by providing a sustainable and cost-effective alternative to traditional batteries, enabling unprecedented energy autonomy for IoT and ultra-low-power products. This marks a significant milestone for OEMs, device makers, integrators, and IoT solution providers, simplifying design processes and reducing the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO).
Many electronic device manufacturers are confronted with the imperative to eliminate batteries from their product design due to both environmental challenges and time-consuming battery replacement costs. The primary challenges in deploying large-scale battery-powered operations and solutions can be summarised in terms of integration, operational scale, and regulation, each of which can incur substantial costs. This situation is particularly pressing for real estate companies and building servicing firms, as they grapple with the challenge of ensuring the longevity of devices and the need to reduce the overall TCO for devices like presence sensors, temperature sensors, and humidity sensors.
100% sustainable energy source
Brice Cruchon, CEO and founder of Dracula Technologies, expresses the company’s vision, stating, “At Dracula Technologies, we’re dedicated to revolutionising battery-based electronics with a 100% sustainable energy source. LAYER Vault provides a genuine solution for eco-friendly energy autonomy, already proving its worth in IoT deployments where eliminating batteries is crucial for large-scale success. With our new Green MicroPower Factory, the largest in Europe, a fully automated facility equipped with inkjet printing technology, we are set to produce up to 150 million cm² of OPV devices annually and positioned to serve high-volume IoT customers.”
Dracula Technologies’ organic photovoltaic technology is reported to be an excellent complement to sensors based on the LoRa communication protocol. Recognised as the de facto wireless platform for IoT, Semtech‘s LoRa stands out for its long-range capabilities and low-power features. Semtech Corporation is a high-performance semiconductor, IoT systems, and cloud connectivity service provider, and a strategic partner and investor in Dracula Technologies. Robert Comanescu, Semtech’s Wireless ICs Marketing and Applications Senior Director, expressed his enthusiasm, stating, “With this technological breakthrough, fitting perfectly the low power intrinsic key customer benefit of LoRa technology, we are very keen to see the birth of innovative IoT products and solutions combining LAYER Vault from Dracula Technologies and the wireless connectivity chips supplied by Semtech, enabling a smarter, more connected and more sustainable planet.”
LAYER Vault is a patented solution produced with OPV inkjet technology, tailored for ultra-low-power electronics, and designed to excel in low-light conditions (sub 500 lux). This innovation offers an unlimited, 100% energy supply and storage based on organic materials without using rare earths or toxic materials. This innovative product will reduce the reliance on conventional batteries and circumvents related production and use regulations. The energy storage layer in LAYER Vault complements Dracula Technologies’ existing OPV harvesting product line, transforming it into a 2-in-1 product. The OPV LAYER harvests ambient light for low-power devices, while the energy storage layer ensures autonomy by storing energy for power consumption during periods without ambient light. LAYER Vault is tailored for ultra-low-power devices, and efficiently powers LPWAN (Low Power Wide Area Networks) devices, in sectors such as ESL (Electronic Shelf Labels), Remote Controls, Indoor Industrial IoT (Smart Building), Smart Asset Tracking (cold chain monitoring), and Indoor Consumer IoT (Smart Home).
Energy harvesting eliminates necessity for battery replacements
According to EnABLES, a European Union-funded Research Infrastructure project dedicated to exploring sustainable approaches for extending the battery life of IoT devices, a staggering 78 million batteries are projected to be discarded globally every day by 2025 if we do not enhance the lifespan of IoT device power sources. With an estimated one billion IoT devices expected worldwide by 2025, all requiring power, the project aims to eliminate the necessity for battery replacements whenever feasible through the implementation of Energy Harvesting solutions and to find ways to significantly reduce device power consumption.
Caption: LAYER Vault provides a genuine solution for eco-friendly energy autonomy, already proving its worth in IoT deployments where eliminating batteries is crucial for large-scale success.