Thermoelectrics & Photovoltaics, Energy Harvesting

SPICA Technologies
SPICA Technologies is an Internet-of-Things startup, focused on helping businesses maximise the connected devices opportunity. We are building a solution that attaches devices to hot and cold pipes to measure temperature, the performance of the water system and specifically looking at minimising the risks associated with Legionella.

The device uses an IOT WAN technology, SIGFOX, to support connectivity into our devicepoint™ platform. Power is a primary consideration when implementing new IOT devices and this is especially true in the case of SIGFOX. We want to explore other technical options within this concept, especially the use of energy harvesting as an alternative power source for our devices. The concept will explore:
 * Feasibility of energy harvesting from hot water pipes based on existing hardware (TE-Power Node or alternative, see below)
 * Impact of energy harvesting on design and implementation of IOT devices
 * How we build a capability/discipline to add energy harvesting into our products
 * Design thinking for new energy harvesting techniques

SmartCharge
SmartCharge are in the process of developing a solar harvesting electric vehicle (EV) charger. The concept is to combine several existing technologies (EV Charging, power inverters, energy harvesting and battery management) to improve charging in relation to efficiency and the environment. SmartCharge have existing knowledge of EV charging, low power harvesting and battery management. The gaps in SmartCharge's knowledge is photovoltaic (PV) technology and how PV can be harvested. The concept will need to prove that sufficient energy can be extracted from a low density PV situation to power the EV charging protocol. Another element of the concept is to understand how to scale this technology. Once the concept has proven this, SmartCharge can begin to develop a working prototype.