Designers of space-constrained products can increase runtime with the Max 20361 single- and multi-cell solar harvester with maximum power point tracking from Maxim Integrated.

Said to be the industry’s smallest solar harvester, it is suitable for space-constrained applications such as wearables and emerging IoT deployments.

Designers are often challenged with the tradeoff between small size and long runtime for wearable and IoT applications. By enabling solar charging in space-constrained products, the Max 20361 can extend the runtime of those devices by providing a supplemental power source.

This solar harvester is claimed to reduce size by at least half compared with the closest competitor. In addition, it increases harvested energy with up to five per cent better boost efficiency, coupled with an adaptive maximum power point tracking approach that can improve the overall system level efficiency.

“This device offers exciting possibilities for a new supplemental power source to continually charge the battery of a device,” said Frank Dowling, director of the industrial and healthcare business unit at Maxim Integrated. “For example, if you can harvest just 30mW of solar power per day on a 300mAh battery system which typically runs for three weeks, you can as a result extend that runtime by over 50 per cent.”

James Hayward, principal analyst at IDTechEx Research, added: “Innovation continues to drive adoption of consumer wearables with global revenue estimated to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 15 per cent in the next four years. For device manufacturers, longer battery life and smaller form factor remain key product features towards market differentiation and user satisfaction.”

California-based Maxim Integrated targets designers in applications such as automotive, communications, consumer, data centre, healthcare, industrial and IoT markets.