Solar Energy Harvesting Development Tool

The eZ430-RF2500-SEH from Texas Instruments is a complete Solar Energy Harvesting development kit to help create a perpetually powered wireless sensor network based on the ultra-low-power MSP430 microcontroller.

Texas Instruments MSP 430 Solar Harvesting Tool can be used with Windows XP, Vista, and Windows 7

The Solar Energy Harvester module includes a high-efficiency solar (2.25×2.25”) panel optimized for operating indoors under low-intensity fluorescent lights, which provides enough power to run a wireless sensor application with no additional batteries. Inputs are also available for external energy harvesters such as thermal, piezoelectric, or another solar panel.

The system also manages and stores additional energy in a pair of thin-film rechargeable EnerChips from Cymbet which are capable of delivering enough power for 400+ transmissions. The EnerChips act as an energy buffer that stores the energy while the application is sleeping and has light available to harvest. The batteries are environmentally friendly and can be recharged thousands of times. They also have a very low self discharge, which is vital for a no-power, energy harvesting system.

This solar harvesting kit is a complete USB-based MSP430 wireless development tool and provides all the hardware and software necessary to use the MSP430F2274 microcontroller and CC2500 2.4-GHz wireless transceiver. It includes a USB debugging interface that allows for real-time, in-system debugging and programming for the MSP430, and it is also the interface to transfer data to a PC from your wireless system.

The integrated temperature and RF signal strength indicators can be used to monitor the environment, and many external sensors can be used to collect additional data.

The Sensor Monitor is a complete open source application that includes an example energy-aware project to test your hardware and may be used as a framework for your energy harvesting project. Firmware is provided for the MSP430 as well as a PC demo application to display the data samples from your wireless network.

Features

• Efficient solar energy harvesting module for the eZ430-RF2500
• Battery-less operation
• Works in low ambient light
• 400+ transmissions in dark
• Adaptable to any RF network or sensor input
• Inputs available for external harvesters (thermal, piezo, 2nd solar panel, etc.)
• USB debugging and programming interface with application backchannel to PC
• 18 available analog and communications input/output pins
• Highly integrated, ultra-low-power MSP430 MCU with 16-MHz performance
• Two green and red LEDs for visual feedback
• Interruptible push button for user feedback