TECHNOLOGY NEWS
9 June 2020 / www.theengineer.co.uk
Powerfoyle
powers devices
in low-light
Integrated power source mimics photosynthesis
Adecade’s worth of R&D is
about to pay off for Exeger,
a Swedish start-up whose
solar power product –
Powerfoyle – can recharge
electronic devices in low-light
environments.
The material is screenprinted
onto fl exible plastic, then
laminated, and follows the principle
of photosynthesis to generate
and store electricity. According to
company founder, Giovanni Fili
the material can be used on ‘walls,
cars, roofs’ making solar power
accessible in numerous se ings.
The company was reluctant to
reveal light to power conversion per
xcm2 but it did say that Powerfoyle
is able to generate up to 100 per
cent more power than fl exible
amorphous silicon depending on
light conditions.
“The reason is due to its high
performance and that we don’t have
any conductive layers blocking the
photons or silverlines, which also
blocks 10-15 per cent of the active
surface,” said Nicklas Jonsson,
Chief Product Offi cer at Exeger via
email.
“Powerfoyle is also not as
sensitive to light angles due to the
DSC cell type. Partial shading is
not a problem either,” he added.
“This is something that can easily
kill the performance of other
cells, but Powerfoyle is not made
up of several connected serial
cells, it simply has one big cell
which is made possible due to the
nanomaterial innovation at Exeger.”
Jonsson said that products
integrated with Powerfoyle have
either aged, broken, or have aged
faster than Powerfoyle, which also
prolongs the ba ery life by reducing
and avoiding the ageing process of
full ba ery charge cycles.
Once integrated into a device a
DC/DC boost converter matches the
voltage of the ba ery.
“It is really very easy to connect
with a plug or by soldering, and we
provide this with a design reference
for the Boost components,” Jonsson
said.
The company, which has
received over $20m in funding from
Softbank in the past two years, is
set to debut Powerfoyle in helmets
made by POC that will have ‘smart’
technology integrated into them.
The company has worked also with
JBL on developing headphones.
In April 2020, Exeger was
awarded the Grand Award of Design
in Sweden, whose previous winners
include Ericsson, Husqvarna and
iZe le.
Volvo Cars has partnered with Silicon
Valley-based Luminar to bring LiDAR and
perception technology to its fi rst fully
self-driving technology for highways.
Volvo said its next generation
Scalable Product Architecture (SPA)
2 will be available as hardware-ready
for autonomous drive from 2022, with
Luminar’s LiDAR integrated into the roof.
Cars based on SPA 2 will be updated
with software over the air, and drivers
be able to opt into the Highway Pilot
feature that will enable fully autonomous
highway driving.
To enable Highway Pilot, Luminar’s
perception technology will be combined
with autonomous drive software and the
cameras, radars, and back-up systems
for functions such as steering and
braking. JF
JASON FORD reports
JASON FORD reports
Read more about ba eries at
www.theengineer.co.uk
Ovako has become the fi rst company to successfully
conduct a full-scale trial using hydrogen to
heat steel before rolling, an advance that could
signifi cantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions from
the industry.
In collaboration with Linde Gas, Swedish steel
maker Ovako conducted a trial in which the metal
alloy was heated to 1200oC using hydrogen instead of
LPG (liquefi ed petroleum gas) before rolling at its mill
in Hofors, Sweden.
Subsequent testing of the steel showed that
heating with hydrogen does not aff ect the quality. The
company believes that with the right conditions it
could introduce hydrogen heating for furnaces at all its
rolling mills.
A spokesperson from Ovako told The Engineer that
LPG and hydrogen behave diff erently in ignition and
combustion systems. The company is using the same
fuel delivery system for both fuels, leading to a change
in the company’s control philosophy to achieve the
same heating performance.
Ovako has
modifi ed the
software program
used in its
control system,
with changes
made to account
for mass fl ow
calculations, ratio control and power
control.
According to the spokesperson, the control system
switches smoothly and effi ciently between fuels with
no process downtime or transient oscillations, which
describe the variation in pressure that could take place
when stepping from one pressure point to another. By
avoiding these oscillations, Ovako said it can maintain
tight control over the thermal conditions in the pit
furnace.
Ovako has been conducting sustainability work
for many years and is said to have an 80 per cent lower
carbon footprint compared to the global average.
VOLVO PARTNERS
WITH LUMINAR
FOR AUTOMOTIVE
AUTONOMY
SUCCESS FOR OVAKO IN GREEN
STEEL HYDROGEN TRIAL
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