It’s estimated that there will be more than 50 billion connected objects in 2020. That’s a lot of devices to power!
What if we harnessed the photovoltaic energy that is widely available on Earth to make our electronics energy self-sufficient? That is the idea of Dracula Technologies, a startup is developing a disruptive printable light energy.
Dracula Technologies’ vision is to cover products in cutting-edge inkjet-printed photovoltaic cells. Taking advantage of lighting – either natural or artificial, the object collects energy that can directly supply power to electronics, or store that energy in a battery for when it is needed.
Dracula Technologies created LAYER®, the world’s first shaped Organic Photovoltaic (OPV) cells manufactured via digital printing. In the same way that an office printer uses graphic ink, Dracula prints LAYER® modules using conductive ink they formulated themselves. This also allows them to create any shapes to apply to any product.
Dracula Technologies came to Dassault Systèmes 3DEXPERIENCE Lab to help bring their vision to life. They are using the 3DEXPERIENCE platform on the cloud for Chemistry, Simulation and Design solutions, giving them a knowledge based design tool to integrate in device, translate styling inputs into predictable energy, and create production data. They are also using BIOVIA in support of chemical formulation and material sustainability: specifically to replace the Chlora component in one of the layers, manage colors and lifetime.
Discover more about Dracula Technologies’ work as part of the 3DEXPERIENCE Lab.
Alyssa is a Communications Director on the Dassault Systèmes Corporate Publishing team. She’s been part of DS for over 20 years, in roles ranging from public relations to marketing programs. Twitter: @DS_Alyssa