Low Power Energy Harvesting & Supercapacitor Storage

Abstract

This paper presents a hand cranked generator or an exercise bicycle to generate small amount of energy which is effectively stored in a supercapacitor Bank. Supercapacitors can absorb and deliver huge bursts of power in a short span of time owing to its low ESR (Equivalent Series Resistance).If more charging current is given to the battery it may lead to excessive heating and decreases the life of the battery but the charging current limit of supercapacitors is very high. Thus it can be charged rapidly which is a very useful feature for energy harvesting applications. The energy generated by hand cranking or coupling the generator with an exercise bicycle rapidly charges the supercapacitor bank via a current limiter. The supercapacitor Bank can then be effectively discharged using a low voltage boost converter to store the energy in a battery or to power small devices. This way the energy generated by the exercise bicycle which is an ambient source of energy can be effectively utilized which would have otherwise gone wasted.