Medium and Short Wave RF Energy Harvester for Powering Wireless Sensor Networks

Abstract

Internet of Things (IoT) is an emerging platform in which every day physical objects provided with unique identifiers are connected to the Internet without requiring human interaction. The possibilities of such a connected world enables new forms of automation to make our lives easier and safer. Evidently, in order to keep billions of these communicating devices powered long-term, a self-sustainable operation is a key point for realization of such a complex network. In this sense, energy-harvesting technologies combined with low power consumption ICs eliminate the need for batteries, removing an obstacle to the success of the IoT. In this work, a Radio Frequency (RF) energy harvester tuned at AM broadcast has been developed for low consumption power devices. The AM signals from ambient are detected via a high-performance antenna-free LC circuit with an efficiency of 3.2%. To maximize energy scavenging, the RF-DC conversion stage is based on a full-wave Cockcroft–Walton voltage multiplier (CWVM) with efficiency up to 90%. System performance is evaluated by rating the maximum power delivered into the load via its output impedance, which is around 62 μW, although power level seems to be low, it is able to power up low consumption devices such as Leds, portable calculators and weather monitoring stations.

Influence of the Nb and V Addition on the Microstructure and Corrosion Resistance of the Fe-B-Co-Si Alloy

“…The potentiodynamic polarization was measured in the −300 mV to +300 mV potential range with respect to the OCP vs. SCE with a scan rate of 1 mV/s. The polarization resistance (Rp) was calculated based on the corrosion current densities (jcorr) and cathodic and anodic Tafel's slopes (Bc/Ba) by using Equation (1).…”

“…Vibrations are an excellent example of mechanical energy that can be converted to electricity. Research results show that the development of EH from vibrations can be useful in solving many practical problems, such as providing energy for wireless sensor networks [ 1 , 2 , 3 ], self-powered sensors [ 4 ], structural health monitoring [ 5 ], medical devices (pacemakers) [ 6 ], etc. EH might also be an interesting alternative to commonly used batteries and, even in the near future, allow the development of maintenance-free self-powered devices.…”

Rapid Demagnetization of New Hybrid Core for Energy Harvesting

“…However, as could be predicted, increasing the number of devices that can be powered from harvested energy would make it possible to relieve other energy sources [ 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 ]. Obtaining energy for devices from the environment has found possible applications in many different markets, and the number of possible applications will grow continuously [ 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 ]. Currently, the consumer device market is not large, but it is predicted that it will increase continuously, and will have an influence on the direction of future research.…”

Yo-Yo Inspired Triboelectric Nanogenerator

“…With the advancement of the Internet of Things (IoT), the demand for renewable and sustainable energy sources to power small electronics and sensors is increasing. Accordingly, various electricity generation devices such as solar [1,2], thermoelectric [3,4], and radio frequency [5,6] energy harvesters have been developed to function as auxiliary power sources. Among these electric generators, several mechanical energy harvesters using piezoelectric [7,8], electromagnetic [9,10], and triboelectric [11][12][13][14] effects are drawing attention as sustainable power sources because they have no environmental constraints to generate electricity.…”