The Future of Buildings: Light-Powered Sensors With No Battery Changes!

There is no lower limit to the size of a building to deploy sensors that are powered by organic photovoltaic cells. Every user will benefit from reducing manual labor for swapping batteries, avoiding the risk of failing sensors, and reducing battery-waste. The larger the building, the bigger the benefits! Also, there is not just one type of building that potentially benefits the most of deploying LAYER*-powered sensors.

The data collected is typically used to monitor air quality, temperature, humidity, presence of people, location of objects, or other phenomena. Whether it makes sense to deploy sensors depends entirely on what data needs to be collected, how large an area it needs to cover, and how frequently it needs to be transmitted to a cloud application.

* LAYER is an energy harvesting product from Dracula Technologies designed to harvest energy from a wide range of indoor environments, regardless of whether they are illuminated by natural or artificial light sources.

OPV sensors offer a reliable, sustainable power source for IoT devices, minimizing electronic waste and reducing the environmental impact of traditional batteries. Yet, most IoT deployments still rely on batteries, leading to high maintenance costs and environmental concerns.

Battery-powered solutions significantly increase Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) through installation, maintenance, and frequent replacements, with battery costs alone accounting for 30-80% of TCO in many cases.

Roelof Koopmans: All systems that are controlled on the basis of sensor-data can basically benefit from our LAYER technology, but in particular sensors that sit in relatively dark rooms, and communicate with a back-end cloud application through low-power wireless protocols, like LPWAN, Bluetooth LE and Zigbee.

Roelof Koopmans: LAYER-powered devices operate continuously with minimal light (as low as 5 lux), whereas active RFID and BLE devices require a power source to transmit data. Active RFID transponders typically send a signal only when prompted by a reader. They are designed to respond to specific signals from the reader to transmit their data.

Unlike passive RFID transponders, which rely entirely on the reader's energy to communicate, active RFID transponders have an internal power source (e.g., a battery) that enables them to send signals.

Roelof Koopmans: Companies purchasing smart building products, such as thermostats and air quality sensors, will need to ensure that these products are powered by organic PV cells that can provide enough energy to run these devices. However, it is not just the OPV module that is important, but also the size of the storage element, which determines how long the device can operate without light.

Depending on each customer's use case and the corresponding light conditions in the rooms where these devices will be placed, customers will need to carefully evaluate the device manufacturers' specifications. This will prevent the purchased products from running out of power in cases where the light conditions are lower than expected.

Roelof Koopmans: Traditional IoT deployments in industries like smart buildings, but also logistics and asset tracking heavily rely on battery-powered devices. However, battery usage comes with hidden costs, including frequent replacements, operational downtime, and environmental disposal concerns.

For instance, replacing a single sensor battery can cost between €10 to €100, depending on accessibility and labor. When multiplied across thousands of sensors, these expenses can quickly accumulate, making large-scale deployments unsustainable. In fact, battery-related costs alone account for approximately 30% of the TCO in IoT ecosystems, encompassing direct battery costs, labor, and productivity losses due to device downtime.

By integrating OPV-powered sensors, smart buildings can leverage ambient light as a continuous energy source, eliminating the need for frequent battery replacements. This not only reduces operational costs by at least 30% but also enables a maintenance-free IoT system. The “connect and forget” approach* ensures long-term efficiency, minimizes environmental impact, and enhances the reliability of data-driven building automation.

* The "Connect and Forget" approach refers to a maintenance-free technology that operates reliably and continuously after installation, without requiring regular interventions such as battery replacements or manual upkeep.