Design Article
Energy harvesting, wireless sensor networks & opportunities for industrial applications
Sebastien Boisseau and Ghislain Despesse, CEA-Leti
2/27/2012 8:45 AM EST
Needs from industry – Key success factors
Actually, this market survey has raised the main reasons why EH is still not in agreement with industrialists’ needs. They are summarized in table 2. We also present EH main limits and propose some improvements, focusing on vibration energy harvesting (VEH) and thermoelectricity.
Actually, this market survey has raised the main reasons why EH is still not in agreement with industrialists’ needs. They are summarized in table 2. We also present EH main limits and propose some improvements, focusing on vibration energy harvesting (VEH) and thermoelectricity.
Table 2: Industrialists’ needs and EH limits
Conclusion: Still an emerging technology but with great opportunities
Even though many developments have taken place over the past 10 years, energy harvesting –except for PV cells– is still an emerging technology that has not yet been adopted by industry.
Nevertheless, improvements of present technologies – that are currently under investigation – should enable to meet the needs expressed by industrialists. For vibration energy harvesters, the most important focal area of research is probably the increase of the working frequency bandwidth that is still a technological bottleneck preventing this technology from being a viable and versatile supply source. For thermoelectricity, improvements mainly concern materials to increase EH output power even on small thermal gradients. As for robustness and impacts of aging, only time will bring more information.
To conclude, energy harvesting can be – and will be – a viable solution to develop autonomous wireless sensor networks. Its adequacy with sustainable development is a great opportunity. Obviously, photovoltaic cells are probably the most advanced and robust technology today, but it cannot work in all situations and especially for industry applications; thermoelectricity and vibration energy harvesting can be suitable for these environments. Nevertheless, both of them should be improved and prove their worth before it is fully adopted by industry.
About the authors
Sebastien Boisseau and Ghislain Despesse are researchers at CEA-Leti, a French institute focused on micro- and nanotechnologies and their applications. CEA-Leti is part of CEA, French Atomic Energy and Alternative Energies Commission.
The authors would like to thank F. Pinaud and S. Joly for the market survey, and their VEH coworkers, B. Ahmed Seddik, J.J. Chaillout, A.B. Duret, P. Gasnier, P.D. Berger, S. Riché and S. Dauvé for their contribution to this article.
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Even though many developments have taken place over the past 10 years, energy harvesting –except for PV cells– is still an emerging technology that has not yet been adopted by industry.
Nevertheless, improvements of present technologies – that are currently under investigation – should enable to meet the needs expressed by industrialists. For vibration energy harvesters, the most important focal area of research is probably the increase of the working frequency bandwidth that is still a technological bottleneck preventing this technology from being a viable and versatile supply source. For thermoelectricity, improvements mainly concern materials to increase EH output power even on small thermal gradients. As for robustness and impacts of aging, only time will bring more information.
To conclude, energy harvesting can be – and will be – a viable solution to develop autonomous wireless sensor networks. Its adequacy with sustainable development is a great opportunity. Obviously, photovoltaic cells are probably the most advanced and robust technology today, but it cannot work in all situations and especially for industry applications; thermoelectricity and vibration energy harvesting can be suitable for these environments. Nevertheless, both of them should be improved and prove their worth before it is fully adopted by industry.
About the authors
Sebastien Boisseau and Ghislain Despesse are researchers at CEA-Leti, a French institute focused on micro- and nanotechnologies and their applications. CEA-Leti is part of CEA, French Atomic Energy and Alternative Energies Commission.
The authors would like to thank F. Pinaud and S. Joly for the market survey, and their VEH coworkers, B. Ahmed Seddik, J.J. Chaillout, A.B. Duret, P. Gasnier, P.D. Berger, S. Riché and S. Dauvé for their contribution to this article.
Visit CEA-Leti
Follow us on SmartEnergy Designline
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Horaira
2/28/2012 2:25 AM EST
Good Article... specially gathered all pieces together.
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wlad01
3/1/2012 1:10 PM EST
Great article indeed; of course Micropelt offers thermoelectric chip-generators (Fig. 6). 100 uW can already be achieved with a temperature difference of just a couple of degrees. Industrial environments offer larger delta-T's, which can create "milliWatts". Thereby also industrial sensors using radio protocols like WHART or ISA100 can be supported by thermal energy harvesting. - Micropelt Germany -
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docdivakar
3/14/2012 10:36 AM EDT
Great summary! Figure 2 says a lot on where to focus for a given application and environment to use the appropriate harvesting technology.
MP Divakar
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jeanlucl1
4/12/2012 8:26 PM EDT
Ghislain, Sebastien,
Tres bon article.
Bien cordialement,
Jean Luc
Jean Luc Lembert
10890 Viacha Drive
San Diego, CA 92124
Phone: (858) 212-4950
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anne-francoise.pele
7/16/2012 11:25 AM EDT
FYI, Stephane Boisseau and Ghislain Despesse at the CEA-Leti (France) also contributed the article, entitled: "Vibration energy harvesting for wireless sensor networks: Assessments and perspectives".
The link to the article is: http://www.eetimes.com/design/smart-energy-design/4370888/Vibration-energy-harvesting-for-wireless-sensor-networks--Assessments-and-perspectives?pageNumber=2&Ecosystem=smart-energy-design#
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anne-francoise.pele
7/20/2012 5:18 PM EDT
Click on the link below to check out the collection of the Design Articles, Case Studies, Product How-To articles, Teardowns, etc... related to energy scavenging that have been published on Smart Energy Designline.
Click here: http://www.eetimes.com/design/smart-energy-design/4372778/Energy-harvesting---Design-archive
Check back frequently. The list will be updated as new articles arrive.
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Smile Stone
11/7/2012 12:46 AM EST
It's Awsome!!!
I want more information about it.
because my company has many vibration equipment.
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