Controlling the sun protection product via the air

The project started in September, 2017 in cooperation with the HTL (Polytechnic) Lienz and ended at the end of March, 2018. The main area of the HTL is mechatronics, which means, that the graduates do not fear the contact with current and they understand very well the interaction of mechanics and electronics.
HELLA took advantage of this knowledge to develop and implement a new idea: the transfer of energy over a certain distance via the air. The benefit is obvious: in difficult to access areas it is no longer necessary to replace the batteries, in case of moveable parts the cables can be omitted, and the components, such as sensors, still are unproblematically supplied with power. The data interchange is carried out via radio, so that cables are no longer required There are many areas of application for such solutions in the sun protection sector, be it in awnings, blinds or roller shutters.

Now that there are already similar concepts on the market, what distinguishes this project from those solutions? Energy transfer via air is, for example, used for charging pads for mobile phones, electric toothbrushes, etc. In these cases, the techniques are efficient and market-ready. Standards like the Qi-standard https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qi_(standard)_(inductive energy transfer) have emerged and allow the interoperability between different devices. Usually energy transfer via the air is possible over a distance of a few millimetres only, which is insufficient for a lot of products. Within the scope of this project we succeeded to transfer energy over a distance of 12 cm, which is a respectable distance for the size of the components used. The key to this success lies in the use within the field of sun protection, because here it is not possible to place the power consumers next to the power supply, which is usually possible for a charging pad or an electric toothbrush. Now energy can also be "beamed" over several centimetres to the consumer, which enables a completely new spectrum of applications.

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Fabian Martischnig and David Reiter from the HTL Lienz implemented this project perfectly and received an award from "Be the Best" in Innsbruck. "Be the Best" is a competition for technical talents, which takes place every year in Innsbruck in Tyrol. Only the best projects have a chance to win an award, so it is a great honour for HELLA to have accompanied these two graduates as part of the project.

HELLA has been investing in research for years in order to be at the forefront when it comes to implementing technically sophisticated solutions in products. The digital world develops very quickly, and smart home systems, of course, are no exception. A technological advantage is only possible within the scope of research projects, and therefore the cooperation with different research institutes, such as HTL Lienz, University of Lienz and the Technical University of Graz, is self-evident for HELLA.