16 Oct 2008 - Freescale applauds "green" Design Challenge winners of FTF EMEA

Zero Power Platform by Stefan Heinbockel wins $10,000 cash prize

AUSTIN, Texas ?ˆ“ October 15, 2008 ?ˆ“ Freescale Semiconductor has announced the EMEA winners in the company?ˆ™s first ever green Freescale Technology Forum (FTF) Design Challenge. The winning design is the Zero Power Platform developed by Stefan Heinbockel and Jens B?ถckermann from Germany. The Platform is based on Freescale?ˆ™s S08QE128 microcontroller, MMA7260Q accelerometer, MC13214 ZigBee?ฎ RF transceiver and i.MX31L microprocessor.

Freescale Technology Forum Design Challenge EMEA participants voted on the winners. The Zero Power Platform received the most votes and Heinbockel and B?ถckermann? were recognized on stage during Rich Beyer?ˆ™s closing session. He will receive $10,000 USD and an invitation to compete in the Grand FTF Challenge with other first place global winners to vie for $50,000.

?ˆ?Sustainability is the next challenge in technology development as it places considerations like power consumption and environmental impact at the forefront of embedded design,?ˆ? said Rich Beyer, Chairman and CEO of Freescale. ?ˆ?We?ˆ™re delighted to see the level of engineering innovation and ingenuity displayed by the top FTF EMEA Design Challenge finalists and congratulate Stefan on his success with the Zero Power Platform.?ˆ?

In a design paper submitted with the Zero Power Platform, Heinbockel described the environmental benefits of his design, ?ˆ?There are a lot of sensing devices that consume little energy (such as water quality meters, weather stations, and long-term in-building diagnostics). These appliances do nothing 99 percent of the time. For operation, normally each device needs a battery. Careful design can eliminate the need for a battery utilizing microcontrollers to control the application around the available energy available from the environment. Low power wireless connection allows environmentally friendly communication links with no trailing wires.?ˆ?

Freescale selected the green FTF Design Challenge EMEA finalists from a field of more than 50 participants. Each submission was judged on creativity, design efficiency, technical complexity, and the number of Freescale devices used and overall application innovation to improve the environment.

The second-place winner in the green EMEA FTF Design Challenge is the team consisting of Jingning Zhang and Yves Faijan from Telecom Bretagne in France. Their Smart Heating System is based on Freescale?ˆ™s S08QE128 microcontroller and MP3H6115AC6U pressure sensor. Jingning and Yves will share $5,000 USD.

?ˆ?The system conserves energy by several environmental parameters as input to an algorithm which in turn stimulates the heating block in order to generate the optimum minimum temperature required,?ˆ? said Jingning. ?ˆ?To reduce the need for fuel, this system is able to detect that the sun is shining (generating heat) and determine it is not necessary to use the fuel to boost the temperature. The system also allows users to have a different temperatures in the different rooms according to the parameters collected therein by the sensors (such as humidity) thus further enabling energy reduction for rooms not requiring the same level of heating.?ˆ?

The third-place winner is the Kinetic Energy Recovery System developed by Chenghan Li currently of China. Li will receive $2,000 USD. His design is based on Freescale?ˆ™s S08QE128 microcontroller and MMA7260Q accelerometer.

?ˆ?During deceleration of a vehicle, a traditional brake will transform the kinetic energy into thermal energy. This is a huge waste as the heat will dissipate into the air,?ˆ? said Li. ?ˆ?Thus the idea of kinetic energy recovery for vehicles has been explored, however transforming the mechanical energy into an electrical form has a limited efficiency. In comparison, storing the kinetic energy in a mechanical form will have much higher efficiency. With the implementation of acceleration sensor feedback control, the braking output could be adjusted through changing the transmission gear ratio. The kinetic energy is stored during braking and returned during acceleration.?ˆ?

Original text is here