Robust segment-type energy harvester and its application to a wireless sensor

Abstract

This paper presents an innovative design platform of a piezoelectric energy harvester (EH), called a segment-type EH, and its application to a wireless sensor. Energy harvesting technology is motivated to minimize battery replacement cost for wireless sensors, which aims at developing self-powered sensors by utilizing ambient energy sources. Vibration energy is one of the widely available ambient energy sources which can be converted into electrical energy using piezoelectric material. The current state-of-the-art in piezoelectric EH technology mainly utilizes a single natural frequency, which is less effective when utilizing a random ambient vibration with multi-modal frequencies. This research thus proposes a segment-type harvester to generate electric power efficiently which utilizes multiple modes by separating the piezoelectric material. In order to reflect the random nature of ambient vibration energy, a stochastic design optimization is solved to determine the optimal configuration in terms of energy efficiency and durability. A prototype is manufactured and mounted on a heating, ventilation, air conditioning (HVAC) system to operate a temperature wireless sensor. It shows its excellent performance to generate sufficient power for real-time temperature monitoring for building automation.

A Piezoelectric Energy Harvester Based on Pressure Fluctuations in Karman Vortex Street

“…For random and broadband ambient flow sources, such a device may not be robust. A structure with multiple resonant frequencies may also be considered for energy harvesting from random vibrations with multiple resonant peaks, for example a segmented composite beam with embedded piezoelectric layers [17].…”

Multifrequency Piezoelectric Energy Harvester Based on Polygon‐Shaped Cantilever Array

“…Moreover, authors showed that this particular device can harvest from 100 till 1000 times more energy while operating near the first three natural frequencies of the energy harvesting system. Lee et al designed and investigated a segmented-type harvester that employs multiple modes of harvester vibrations [20]. Results of investigation showed that the proposed harvester has two suitable resonant modes and the difference between resonant frequencies is relatively small.…”

Reliability-based robust design of smart sensing systems for failure diagnostics using piezoelectric materials

“…Note that the simulation model is an important factor that would affect the results of sensor network designs. In the previous study, the experimental validation for the structure simulation models coupled with piezoelectric materials has been performed and reported in one of the authors' previous publications [57], where an excellent agreement of open circuit voltage between the simulation and the test has been reported. In the studies presented in this paper, the same modeling and simulation strategies as reported in [57] have been used.…”

“…In the previous study, the experimental validation for the structure simulation models coupled with piezoelectric materials has been performed and reported in one of the authors' previous publications [57], where an excellent agreement of open circuit voltage between the simulation and the test has been reported. In the studies presented in this paper, the same modeling and simulation strategies as reported in [57] have been used. As this study is focused on developing a new probabilistic design framework based on the new detectability concept for generic smart sensing systems, the authors assumed that the simulation models used in both case studies are valid.…”