Within its energy harvesting product range, ZF offers a sustainable alternative to traditional systems – based on radio and completely free of batteries and cables. ZF aims to promote this sustainable trend with new products created especially for smart homes and the lighting sector. An essential step is to expand the light switch portfolio with commercially available protocols, to enable the switch to be integrated in commercial buildings.
Within buildings low frequencies are particularly suitable for penetrating walls or ceilings and ensure reliable radio transmission. In addition, the radio range is up to 30 meters inside the building. The wireless light switch modules from ZF are compatible with standard frames available on the market and can also be combined with customer-specific control and design panels.
In addition to the light switch modules, customer-specific solutions can also be developed based on the EnOcean protocol for Smart Home applications. One example is connected doors and windows which transmit signals for condition monitoring. Moreover, smart industrial switches and stop request buttons in buses can transmit specific commands via radio to factory workers and bus drivers. The core component of these energy harvesting radio modules is a small generator (20.1 x 7.3 x 14.3 mm), which creates enough energy by means of induction and by pressing a button, so that a radio signal can be transmitted to a receiver. As a wireless solution, these radio modules offer flexibility and design freedom in order to realize individual requirements. As a battery-free solution and a lifetime of up to 1,000,000 switching cycles, costly maintenance and disposal efforts while changing batteries can be avoided.
Some applications using the EnOcean technology enabled with the ZF energy harvesting light switch module include: