Silent Sensors is proud to announce it has just signed the grant offer letter for the ECo Harvesting mOdule (ECHO) grant. This grant is funded by the West of England Business Innovation Fund, Round 5. Although we received the notification of the award in October, it has taken the usual few weeks to complete all the necessary information for the grant letter to be prepared and signed by both parties.

This (ECHO) grant will allow us to create flexible, printed, piezoelectric energy harvesting films using lead-free, environmentally friendly piezoelectric, polymer-based inks. These inks are based on innovative PVDF based compounds (PVDF-TrFE) that have recently been developed and which operate at temperatures compatible with those specified for in-tyre electronics.

We will process these inks and print them as films onto a variety of substrates to create core energy harvesting materials. Fabrication methods for the piezoelectric energy harvesting film will include screen printing, spin coating, and blade casting.

These new PVDF-TrFE based harvesting films can be used to power TPMS and TMS systems such as our own Penny device and will support further its development.

Mechanical structures, optimised for the mechanical and electrical characteristics of the PVDF-TrFE based substrates, and which are small and light enough to be incorporated into TMS, will also be developed to optimise the energy extraction.

This grant will commence 1st January 2025 and has a six-month duration, completing 30th June 2025. Dr Zois Michail Tsikriteas, lead R&D engineer, is developing the specialist ink and the mechanical structures are being designed by Mihnea Nicolae, Senior Engineering Technician. During the grant period, we will be prototyping the mechanical structures using 3D printing for rapid development and initial testing. Silent Sensors also offers 3D printing and designs work as a separate offering to our fellow Future Space companies.