Energy Harvesting for Autonomous Systems (Part 1 of 5)

Energy harvesting is a “hot” topic these days. Due to energy concerns, coupled with ultra-low-power circuitry to use the energy, ICs which can help extract and manage the energy, and viable storage components, harvesting is now viewed as a viable approach to powering carefully defined applications.

We are pleased to present an entire chapter of the recently published book Energy Harvesting for Autonomous Systems, with permission of the publisher, Artech House. This book provides a detailed understanding of the options for harvesting energy from localized, renewable sources to supply power to autonomous wireless systems. You are introduced to a variety of types of autonomous system and wireless networks and discover the capabilities of existing battery-based solutions, RF solutions, and fuel cells.

The book focuses on the most promising harvesting techniques, including solar, kinetic, and thermal energy. You also learn the implications of the energy harvesting techniques on the design of the power management electronics in a system. This in-depth reference discusses each energy-harvesting approach in detail, comparing and contrasting its potential in the field.

Normally, it would seem logical to excerpt the first chapter of a book. But in looking at this book’s Table of Contents (click here), Chapter 6 seemed a better choice, so that is what we excerpted from the book. Due to its length, we will present the entire chapter in five parts, over the next few weeks. To see the publisher’s home page on Energy Harvesting for Autonomous Systems, click here.

●Part 1: click here for Introduction, Interface Circuit Impedance Matching, Energy Storage, Output Voltage Regulation, Interface Electronics for Kinetic Energy Harvesters, Electromagnetic Harvesters

[Note, also be sure to check out our recent excerpt of Artech’s Battery Management Systems for Large Lithium Ion Battery Packs by Davide Andrea, click here.]

About the authors

Steven Beeby is an advanced research fellow at the School of Electronics and Computer Science, University of Southampton. He is also the co-author of MEMS Mechanical Sensors (Artech House, 2004) and numerous journal articles and conference papers. He holds an Eng. (Hons) degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Portsmouth, U.K. and a Ph.D. in mechanical Engineering from the University of Southampton.

Neil White is head of the Electronics Systems and Devices Group and deputy head of school for enterprise at the School of Electronics and Computer Science, University of Southampton. He is also the co-author of MEMS Mechanical Sensors (Artech House, 2004). A fellow of the Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE) and the Institute of Physics (IOP), as well as a senior member of the IEEE, he earned B.Sc. in electronics engineering at North Staffs Polytechnic and a Ph.D. in sensors at the University of Southampton.

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