Renesas' outdoor sensor HVAC units provide outdoor data from one or more bearings (North, East, West, or South) to the master actuator. The data provided can be one or all of the following: outdoor air quality (OAQ, according to the Environmental Protection Agency), temperature and relative humidity (degrees and percentage), light/sun (lux), or barometric pressure (mbar). In addition, a simple GUI can be implemented via capacitive touch or push button(s) and/or a low-power LCD (e.g. e-ink) to display local sensor values and to enter data. A more sophisticated GUI may also be achieved via a master actuator, IP gateway, or smartphone. A real-time clock (RTC) could easily be added to switch between different operation modes, depending on the day, time, or holiday. All RTCs could also be synchronized within the system.

System benefits

• The RX23W MCU enables Bluetooth® 5 mesh communication
• The energy harvesting controller, the RE01 series, can be used for power supply. It combines the control of charging and discharging dedicated capacitors and/or rechargeable batteries of different sources with a powerful Arm® core MCU. These harvesters could be one of the following:
• Solar cells (e.g. using the natural or artificial room lighting)
• Thermal harvesters (e.g. from a radiator or hot pipe)
• Vibration harvesters (e.g. from machines or motors)
• RF harvesters (e.g. taking away some of the near-field energy from a nearby RF transmitter)