Can indoor energy management sensors run on free power?

August 24, 2021

In 2018, approximately 191.000 tons of portable batteries and accumulators were sold in EU, while only around 88.000 tons were collected as recyclable waste. Based on these numbers, we can estimate that more than half of all batteries and accumulators that entered the European market ended up in dumps or landfills. Today, things are no better.

Over the last three years, the increasing use of IoT-connected devices for facility management and industrial manufacturing resulted in even greater battery use. Recognizing the magnitude of the environmental problem and motivated by their commitment to providing sustainable and renewable solutions, Pollux Innovation – a Stockholm-based, customer-focused technology, design, and innovation company – was able to develop a series of breakthrough IoT products that can help businesses run a less battery-dependent life.

Why is energy harvesting important?

By the term “energy harvesting”, we refer to the process of collecting ambient energy from the surroundings, in order to convert it to electricity and power wireless devices.

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Inspired by this zero environmental impact operation, “Hadar”, the first series of IoT sensors that are solely powered by the ambient light from the neighboring environment, have been created. There are different versions tailored to the needs of Smart Building and Smart Home applications, while the recently released “Hadar Cold”, is designed and optimized for temperatures below zero (-20°C to +60°C) and can be used to help preserve, extend, and ensure the shelf life of refrigerated products, without the maintenance cost for replacing batteries.

“When your business model relies on fresh, delicious, and safe to eat food, optimizing your entire cold chain to keep things at the right temperature should be your top priority. Today businesses often replace batteries at a predetermined interval, which can result in replacing a battery that still has 30-40% energy left. Furthermore, batteries and cold climate aren’t a good match which means that a standard battery can lose as much as 50% of its capacity in temperatures sub -10°C. For Hadar Cold this is not an issue as it runs completely without batteries.” says Lars Mokvist, Chief Technology Officer of Pollux Innovation.

How IoT connectivity proved to be a game-changer

Pollux Innovation quickly found out that no matter how innovative their products were, they could not market them successfully, unless they were connected to a facility management system that would take advantage of its advanced features. So, they decided to add IoT connectivity to their offerings and promote their sensors together with an IoT platform. This change allowed them to sell Hadar as part of a reliable, end-to-end solution. With this expanded offering, Pollux established more touchpoints with its customers by selling more elements of the IoT value chain.

In terms of functionalities and everyday benefits, complete Hadar IoT solutions help facility managers to:

  • Integrate a fixed asset management platform with their existing IT and facility management systems
  • Leverage the advantages of IoT connectivity for real-time monitoring
  • Run maintenance-free sensors for monitoring temperature, humidity, air pressure, and indoor air quality (IAQ) without using any batteries
  • Configure sample data rate and frequency of transmission
  • Set alarms when metrics run outside of pre-defined parameters
  • Get alarms signals in any desirable format (web dashboard/sms/tweet/email/into your FMP to name a few)
  • Create history logs for troubleshooting and operational improvement
  • Use artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze data, predict energy consumption and future events
  • Benefit from the positive impact on both OPEX and CAPEX, as there is no need to have engineers replace batteries every other year
  • Reduce overall operational costs

Benefits from collaboration with Yodiwo

Pollux Innovation had several choices of IoT partners but chose Yodiwo for its customer-first strategy, its focus on innovation, and for the ease of use of its solutions, which has helped speed up the sales process. The base for this joint solution is YodiFEMP, a complete facility management IoT platform, which is both easily configurable and scalable and gives the opportunity to make custom solutions for different markets, such as Facility Management, Cold Chain monitoring in stores, Transportation tracking, etc.

“Yodiwo’s platform for fixed asset management has been the best fit for our smart devices and offered our customers unique value-added services across a wide range of business facilities. For example, with Hadar Cold, the scope is to detect anomalies in cold storage assets. As this sensor is designed for both ongoing day-to-day monitoring, as well as ambulatory use, it is key to have a user-friendly dashboard where the end-user can update or change basic sensor data and have complete control of the monitored processes. This is a benefit they get within the YodiwoFEMP IoT platform”, Mr. Mokvist continues.

Pollux and Yodiwo seem to have a bright future together as they continue to innovate and develop sustainable and renewable solutions. If you want to explore how you can reduce the environmental impact of your business and its running costs altogether, you may book your free consultation with one of Yodiwo’s Facility Management experts.