EnOcean

Technology

EnOcean technology is based on the energetically efficient exploitation of applied slight mechanical motion and other potentials from the environment, such as indoor light and temperature differences, using the principles of energy harvesting. In order to transform such energy fluctuations into usable electrical energy, electromagnetic, solar cells, and thermoelectric energy converters are used.

EnOcean-based products (such as sensors and light switches) perform without batteries and are engineered to operate maintenance-free. The radio signals from these sensors and switches can be transmitted wirelessly over a distance of up to 300 meters in the open and up to 30 meters inside buildings. Early designs from the company used piezo generators, but were later replaced with electromagnetic energy sources to reduce the operating force (3.5 newtons), and increase the service life to 100 operations a day for more than 25 years.

EnOcean wireless data packets are relatively small, with the packet being only 14 bytes long and are transmitted at 125 kbit/s. RF energy is only transmitted for the 1's of the binary data, reducing the amount of power required. Three packets are sent at pseudo-random intervals reducing the possibility of RF packet collisions. Modules optimized for switching applications transmit additional data packets on release of push-button switches, enabling other features such as light dimming to be implemented. The transmission frequencies used for the devices are 902 MHz, 928.35 MHz, 868.3 MHz and 315 MHz.

On May 30, 2017, EnOcean unveiled a series of light switches utilizing Bluetooth Low Energy radio (2.4 GHz).