Infineon Technologies Ag

Infineon Technologies Austria Ag

Qi Zhu

Doris Keitel-Schulz

Dieter Zipprick

Matthias Schneider

Renate Angelika Muehlbauer

Natasha Novik

Helmut Sochor

Renate Angelika Mühlbauer

A method for controlling an electric load is described herein. In accordance with one embodiment the method includes collecting ambient energy using an energy harvesting circuit and using the collected ambient energy to charge a buffer capacitor. The method further includes alternatingly connecting and disconnecting an electrical load and the buffer capacitor, wherein a capacitor voltage provided by the buffer capacitor is applied to the electrical load in a discharging phase, in which the electrical load is connected to the buffer capacitor and the capacitor voltage decreases, and wherein the buffer capacitor is recharged in a charging phase, in which the electrical load is disconnected from the buffer capacitor in a charging phase in which the capacitor voltage again increases. The durations of the charging phase and the discharging phase are designed such that the capacitor voltage stays above a minimum supply voltage of the electrical load.

Control of passive electric systems powered by energy harvesting

According to one embodiment a circuit comprises a supply pin operable to receive a supply voltage, a non-volatile memory for storing one or more parameters, and a Near Field Communication (NFC) transceiver that is operable to receive data representing the one or more parameters. The circuit is operable to deactivate the NFC transceiver in response to receiving the supply voltage at the supply pin.

Power regulation for lighting using NFC

A semiconductor device for outputting a control parameter includes a receiving unit, a storage unit and an output unit. The semiconductor device also contains antenna connections, supply connections and at least one output connection for outputting a control parameter signal. The receiving unit contains connections for connection to an antenna, from which the receiving unit receives signals. The receiving unit converts the signals received from the antenna into data. The data are stored in the storage unit. The semiconductor device outputs an output signal at the output connection on the basis of the data stored in the storage unit. The semiconductor device additionally contains a calculation unit which determines the operating hours (time) of the semiconductor device. The output signal depends both on the data stored in the storage unit and on the determined operating hours (time).

Semiconductor device for outputting a control parameter

Growing community of inventors

Munich, Germany

Qi Zhu