Design and implementation of a wireless sensor communication system with low power consumption for energy harvesting technology

Abstract

This paper presents the design and implementation of a wireless sensor communication system with a low power consumption for integration with energy harvesting technology, that can be employed in energy autonomous wireless sensor communication applications. The design and implementation focus on three levels: hardware, software and data transmission. The resulted system is able to satisfy all the theoretical and practical requirements in order to be included in a wireless sensor structure that is able to give the device self-powered autonomy, due to a smart inter-correlated management of the energy resources.

Energy harvesting by means of flow-induced vibrations on aerospace vehicles

“…Such networks have the potential to provide better quality data than single or small numbers of individual sensors in applications such as natural monitoring, process monitoring, security and surveillance [166]. There are widespread needs for the use of WSNs for structural health monitoring, especially in areas like oil and gas pipeline monitoring, bridge maintenance companies, as well as railway, automotive, aircraft, marine and military industry [4]. An example of photograph and schematic of wireless sensor module is shown in Fig.…”

“…1 [3]. Benefits of EH are that: a) there is no need to replace batteries; b) there is no need of cabling; c) they are easy to retrofit infrastructures; and d) they represent a "truly fitand-forget" approach that allows reducing physical installation, replacement and maintenance costs, and time [4]. For these properties, EH are commonly used for systems that are designed to operate in remote areas with limited power supply and maintenance, and the requirement of long service time, such as electronic sensors used for structural health monitoring.…”

Single Piezoelectric Transducer as Strain Sensor and Energy Harvester Using Time-Multiplexing Operation

“…1 shows the schematic of the implemented energy harvesting powered dynamic strain sensing system using a single piece of MFC piezoelectric transducer as a multifunctional device for strain sensing and energy harvesting. The system is composed of a full wave diode bridge (FB) rectifier, a power management module (PMM), a storage capacitor (C S ), an energy-aware interface (EAI), and a wireless sensing system (WSS), which is similar to the previously reported system architectures [13], [14] but with the following additional features to manage the single piece of MFC as a multifunctional device: 1) Time-multiplexing operation realized through a normally closed (NC) switch that alternates dynamic strain sensing and energy harvesting functions of the MFC at different time slots based on the energy level to the system. The NC switch is controlled by the voltage supervisor in the energy-aware interface.…”

Implementation and Testing of an Elastic Strain Powered Wireless Sensing System for Energy-Autonomous Applications

“…The system presented here integrates the new EAI developed by the Energy Harvesting Research Group at Cranfield University [5] in order to minimize useless power consumption and optimize the entire energy flow throughout the path from the harvester to a custom developed Wireless Sensor Communication Node (WSCN). In-flight strain levels in the range of 480-1170 μstrain peakto-peak were investigated and, despite similar design approaches, this work faces challenge to harvest energy and to power a wireless sensing node within the very-low frequency range input of 2.5-10 Hz found in most common aircraft wings.…”