Piezoelectric MEMS Vibration Energy Harvesters: Renewable Energy Source in the Portable Era (I2I Phase - Market Assessment)

从环境中收集能量是低功耗消费电子应用中可持续电源的一个有前途的解决方案。在太阳能、热能等环境资源中，利用微机电系统（MEMS）能量采集器从振动中收集能量因其高功率密度、易于捕获能量以及在环境中无处不在而越来越受到关注。自2015年以来，我们一直致力于基于mems的压电能量收集。到目前为止，我们已经设计和制造了许多高效的压电MEMS能量采集器，用于收集机械能并将其转换为电能，为低压低功耗电子设备（例如，无电池物联网（IoT）传感器）供电。为了实现这一目标，我们开发了创新的系统方法来优化压电MEMS能量收集器。为了帮助我们开发的技术商业化，在这个项目中，我们建议利用Adventus Research + Consulting Inc.的服务进行市场研究和技术验证。我们将寻求以下信息：对技术与目前市场上可用的技术进行独立评估，确定和描述潜在目标市场，确定潜在合作伙伴/许可的特定市场参与者，并以迄今为止进行的现有市场评估为基础。通过第三方机构的独立市场评估，我们可以更客观地了解我们开发的技术在市场地位和商业化机会方面的利弊。根据本项目的市场评估，我们的持续商业化战略包括进一步的市场实践和技术提升。该项目将有利于纽芬兰和拉布拉多，进而将我们开发的MEMS振动能量收集技术引入市场，以实现技术进步和相关的商业优势。

Energy harvesting from the environment is a promising solution to sustainable power supplies for low-power consumer electronic applications. Among available resources in the surroundings such as solar, thermal, etc., energy harvesting from vibrations by using micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) energy harvesters has been gaining increasingly more attention due to high power density, ease of energy trapping, and ubiquity in the ambient environment. We have been working on MEMS-based piezoelectric energy harvesting from ambient vibrations since 2015. Thus far, we have designed and built many highly-efficient piezoelectric MEMS energy harvesters for collecting and converting mechanical energy to electricity for powering up low-voltage low-power electronic devices (e.g., battery-free Internet-of-Things (IoT) sensors). To support this objective, we have developed innovative systematic methodologies for optimizing piezoelectric MEMS energy harvesters. To help commercialize our developed technology, in this project we propose to leverage the services from Adventus Research + Consulting Inc. for the purposes of conducting market research and technology validation. We will seek for the following information: an independent assessment of the technology versus what is currently available in the market, to identify and characterize potential target markets, to identify specific market players for potential partnership / licensing, and to build on existing market assessment conducted to date. With such independent market assessment from a third-party organization, we can more objectively understand the pros and cons of our developed technology towards market status and commercialization opportunities. Based on the market assessment in this project, our continued commercialization strategy includes further market practice and technology enhancement. This project will be beneficial to Newfoundland and Labrador, and in turn to Canada by introducing our developed MEMS vibration energy harvesting technology to the market for both technology advancement and associated commercial advantages.