Energy Harvesting with the MAX17710

EngineeringTV was a groupwide YouTube channel that included Electronic Design. We now have our latest videos on the Electronic Design YouTube channel, but here we highlight some great videos that still reside on our EngineeringTV channel, including "Maxim MAX17710 Energy Harvesting Power-Management IC" hosted by Bill Wong, our technology editor at the time.

What's in This Video

In this episode, Bill talks with Brian Hedayati, Executive Director at Maxim (now ADI), about Energy Harvesting technology. The information is still relevant today.

Here's a breakdown of the key points made in this timeless video from our engineeringtv.com archive:

The MAX17710 is a power-management IC designed for energy harvesting applications, enabling devices like powered smart cards to operate using ambient energy sources (0:00).

A demonstration shows a smart card with a solar cell that harvests light energy, which is then stored in an ultra-thin, flexible battery and managed by the MAX17710 to provide regulated voltage for a microcontroller (0:42).
The system can fit into very thin form factors and eliminates the need for multiple traditional power management components, simplifying the design (1:35).
The MAX17710 evaluation board includes solar cells and a thin-film battery, allowing users to emulate a complete wireless system powered by harvested energy from various sources (2:22).
The IC can manage all power aspects for battery management and sensor operation, consuming less than 500 nanoamps—an order of magnitude lower than typical market solutions (3:08).
It accepts input voltages as low as 0.8V and provides multiple regulated output voltages, making it suitable for powering wireless sensors (3:30).
The thin-film battery used in the demo is flexible, as thin as paper, and capable of supplying high peak currents despite its small size (3:56).
Key applications include powered smart cards, wireless sensor networks, remote irrigation sensors, and building or machinery power management, all benefiting from reduced wiring and increased reliability (4:42).