In numbers, most wireless electronics is already battery-free yet portable. Much more is on the way as detailed in the unique new analysis by IDTechEx report, "Battery Elimination in Electronics: Market Impact IoT, 6G, Healthcare, Wearables 2021-2041". Covering over 150 organisations in 300 pages, the scope is unprecedented. Few markets go from under $8 billion to over $120 billion in 2041. This one does.
Learn how researchers are progressing no less than four routes to the batteryless implanted heart pacemaker and defibrillator eliminating battery-driven deaths. Triboelectricity, piezoelectricity, electrodynamics and RF wireless energy transfer are in the frame. One lab has a battery-free optogenics device to control neuronal activation. Meanwhile, in addition to a cool 127 billion backscatter RFID and anti-theft tags being deployed without batteries this year, an increasing variety of companies have battery-free in their strapline. For instance, Thrive and Battery-Free both trumpet "battery-free wearables".
For safety and reliability, you can buy battery-free airman's headphones or boat telephones and oxygen and carbon monoxide sensors. In Africa, batteryless lights, radio and foetal heart monitors are charged by rotating a crank or pulling. Pedal a computer.
It is just a beginning. India and China have launched electrostatic facemasks that destroy bacteria and viruses and grab particulates with triboelectrics replacing the battery meaning no pollution on disposal and lower cost. Potential is billions. The world will need 100 million battery-free continuous glucose sensors yearly for the diabetes epidemic. That will be unusual progress beyond a similar yearly number of perpetual piezoelectric gas lighters.
"No wires, no batteries, no limits" is throughout the EnOcean Alliance with 4000 inter-operable eco-system options for smart homes, buildings and spaces based on the maintenance-free radio standard (ISO/IEC 14543-3-10/11). See them in over one million buildings already - the most widespread and most field-tested wireless building automation standard in the world.
The new IDTechEx report explains how more-advanced wireless energy transfer WET, multi-mode energy harvesting and supercapacitors will take things much further. Additionally, 6G Communications around 2030 promises instant massive data to and from unpowered devices and even charging your supercapacitor smartphone from its signal beams. Others demonstrate battery-free cellphones by other routes. Combine such batteryless technologies and even grander achievements are possible. Flexible harvesting on supercapacitor layers gets them into stranger places.
The report is commercially oriented and easily grasped with large numbers of new infograms, pictures, graphs, interviews and comparison tables. Prepared by PhD level analysts across the world, many of whom have studied these subjects for over 20 years, it answers such questions as:
- Why is there more urgency to replace batteries and in what sectors?
- Situation in Healthcare, Communications, Personal Electronics, Third World, IoT, other?
- Benefits, including enhanced safety, even saving lives?
- Opportunities from the fit-and-forget trend?
- Toolbox of 6G Communications WIET, WET, next energy harvesting, biofuelcells, supercapacitors?
- Where will they be combined and why the pivot to triboelectrics, multimode flexible etc.?
- How, when for battery-free implants, continuous glucose monitors, smartwatches, cellphones, IoT?
- Technology, standards and adoption roadmaps 2021-2041?
- Market sizes 2021-2041?
- What does the research pipeline tell us?
The Executive Summary and Conclusions is a quick read for those in a hurry, giving 13 key conclusions with all the trends and possibilities compared and 34 examples including lessons of a pictured cellphone and IoT teardown. See best harvesting technologies, 6G, supercapacitor and device roadmaps 2021-2041. The 40 forecasts of Chapter 2 are mostly calculated by IDTechEx. The Introduction consolidates needs, trends, options, methodology (6 routes), new focus and new toolbox to batteryless with nine examples. Consideration ranges from LPWAN to virus-destroying electrostatic facemasks and Samsung smartphone styluses.
The deep dive then begins with a chapter on Healthcare and Wearables - 20 packed pages including 20 examples, four routes to battery-free embedded heart assistance, triboelectric and biofuelcell breakthroughs, future. Learn why harvesting lower frequency "infrasound" is better than vibration harvesting for all wearables. Chapter 5 is IoT, SRWN such as Bluetooth, LPWAN battery elimination, 22 pages of comparisons, examples, predictions, possibilities. IoT is seriously assessed, distinguishing cynical renaming of existing things from genuinely new business that will be enabled by battery elimination.
Chapter 6 covers 6G Communications' promised Wireless Information and Energy Transfer WIET eliminating batteries. It has 12 packed pages of new infograms, tables, pictures. See how 5G and 6G fit in, the appraisal again being critical not adulation. Chapter 7 assesses the six routes to batteryless cellphones and wearables with such things as six harvesting cost projections, device power projections, combinational options, WET, the University of Washington battery-free cellphone and HD video streaming in seven pages. Chapter 8, 11 pages, is battery elimination by Wireless Energy Transfer WET to RFID and NFC, a huge success already, and potentially one in Real Time Locating Systems RTLS, the new 6G Communications promising breakthrough.
Chapter 9 "Eliminating batteries from building controls" takes 22 pages to compare technologies and opportunities with many examples detailed and big names NEC, Toshiba, Yamaha, ABB, Siemens. Chapters 10 and 11 are exceptionally long and thorough examinations of the principal tools of battery elimination - energy harvesting and supercapacitors both experiencing radical change, new options and variants and improvement in 2020/2021. Only the IDTechEx report, ""Battery Elimination in Electronics: Market Impact IoT, 6G, Healthcare, Wearables 2021-2041" has this latest news and insight, essential in such a fast-moving subject.
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