Design Article
Vibration energy harvesting for wireless sensor networks: Assessments and perspectives
Sebastien Boisseau and Ghislain Despesse, CEA-Leti
4/12/2012 10:13 AM EDT
Power management and applications
As presented in Figure 3, the final step (which is essential) to develop an EH module is the electrical-electrical converter inserted between VEh and storage because VEh output power is characterized by high AC voltage and low current that cannot be used as is to power electronic components.
This step can be achieved by different DC/DC converters: buck, buck-boost or flyback. These converters allow a DC/DC conversion that can reach more than 80 percent of efficiency and need quite simple control circuits that generally consume less than 5µW. An example of a flyback converter and its application to VEH is presented in Figure 8.
Figure 8: VEH, DC/DC converter and storage/application
These converters have another great interest: by transferring VEh energy to storage at the right moment (e.g. when VEh output voltage is maximum or minimum), it is possible to add non-linear behaviors (synchronized switch harvesting) to improve power extraction from VEh and therefore to increase VEh output power.
Roadmap – Perspectives
As VEh considered as complete systems rely on technologies derived from many research fields (electronic, wireless communications, materials, power management etc.), predicting future developments is quite difficult. As a consequence, we will only present in Table 2 our vision of VEH Today, Tomorrow and After Tomorrow with expected sizes and output powers and their applications to WSN.
Table 2: VEH today, tomorrow and after tomorrow
As presented in Figure 3, the final step (which is essential) to develop an EH module is the electrical-electrical converter inserted between VEh and storage because VEh output power is characterized by high AC voltage and low current that cannot be used as is to power electronic components.
This step can be achieved by different DC/DC converters: buck, buck-boost or flyback. These converters allow a DC/DC conversion that can reach more than 80 percent of efficiency and need quite simple control circuits that generally consume less than 5µW. An example of a flyback converter and its application to VEH is presented in Figure 8.
Figure 8: VEH, DC/DC converter and storage/application
These converters have another great interest: by transferring VEh energy to storage at the right moment (e.g. when VEh output voltage is maximum or minimum), it is possible to add non-linear behaviors (synchronized switch harvesting) to improve power extraction from VEh and therefore to increase VEh output power.
Roadmap – Perspectives
As VEh considered as complete systems rely on technologies derived from many research fields (electronic, wireless communications, materials, power management etc.), predicting future developments is quite difficult. As a consequence, we will only present in Table 2 our vision of VEH Today, Tomorrow and After Tomorrow with expected sizes and output powers and their applications to WSN.
Table 2: VEH today, tomorrow and after tomorrow
Conclusions
Thanks to consumption reduction of basic functions, it is today possible to replace batteries by VEH for WSN. Measurement frequencies are still small but the concept has been validated.
The future of VEH and more generally of EH seems pretty bright as it is consistent with present topics, such as power budget reduction, green power and durable supply sources. Nevertheless, technologies are still emerging and they have not yet been adopted by industry.
Our main objectives today are focused on three points: (i) increase frequency bandwidth, which is probably the most important point to improve in VEh; (ii) increase VEh output power and (iii) decrease electronic circuit power consumption. Improving these different points should help a more widespread use of VEh to power WSN.
Biographies
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 their VEH coworkers, B. Ahmed Seddik, J.J. Chaillout, A.B. Duret, P. Gasnier, P.D. Berger, S. Riché and S. Dauvé for their contributions to this article.
Read also:
. Energy harvesting, wireless sensor networks & opportunities for industrial applications
-----------------------------------
If you found this article to be of interest, visit SmartEnergy Designline where you will find the latest and greatest design, technology, product, and news articles with regard to all aspects of clean technologies. And, to register to our weekly newsletter, click here.
Thanks to consumption reduction of basic functions, it is today possible to replace batteries by VEH for WSN. Measurement frequencies are still small but the concept has been validated.
The future of VEH and more generally of EH seems pretty bright as it is consistent with present topics, such as power budget reduction, green power and durable supply sources. Nevertheless, technologies are still emerging and they have not yet been adopted by industry.
Our main objectives today are focused on three points: (i) increase frequency bandwidth, which is probably the most important point to improve in VEh; (ii) increase VEh output power and (iii) decrease electronic circuit power consumption. Improving these different points should help a more widespread use of VEh to power WSN.
Biographies
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 their VEH coworkers, B. Ahmed Seddik, J.J. Chaillout, A.B. Duret, P. Gasnier, P.D. Berger, S. Riché and S. Dauvé for their contributions to this article.
Read also:
. Energy harvesting, wireless sensor networks & opportunities for industrial applications
-----------------------------------
If you found this article to be of interest, visit SmartEnergy Designline where you will find the latest and greatest design, technology, product, and news articles with regard to all aspects of clean technologies. And, to register to our weekly newsletter, click here.
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docdivakar
4/18/2012 11:30 AM EDT
I wish figures were hyperlinked to their larger size versions; figure 2 which is an important one to understand is unreadable; same problems with figure 5, and 7.
I did like the authors' tripartite approach the energy harvesting and utilization problem.
Surely, the approach can be extended to multiple spring mass systems; such an ensemble has the advantage of not needing fine tuning to optimize a system as long as the bounds of the dominant resonant frequencies are known.
MP Divakar
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anne-francoise.pele
7/16/2012 11:25 AM EDT
Dear DocDivakar,
You can now click on Figures 2, 5 and 7 to getter a larger and more readable view.
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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: "Energy harvesting, wireless sensor networks & opportunities for industrial applications".
The link to the article is: http://www.eetimes.com/design/smart-energy-design/4237022/Energy-harvesting--wireless-sensor-networks---opportunities-for-industrial-applications
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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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docdivakar
10/8/2012 12:32 PM EDT
@anne-francoise.pele; I appreciate the follow up and the links (& the larger versions of figures in the article!).
The need for cost-effective energy harvesting sensor nodes can not be overstated and is critical to deploying sensor networks for infrastructure monitoring.
MP Divakar
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Sebastien Boisseau
11/5/2012 3:51 AM EST
FYI : more information on Electrostatic and electret-based energy harvesters : http://www.intechopen.com/books/small-scale-energy-harvesting/electrostatic-conversion-for-vibration-energy-harvesting
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iniewski
1/30/2013 4:04 PM EST
Sebastien, great articles...would you be interested in presenting this topic at emerging technologies symposium in Grenoble? www.cmosetr.com, kris.iniewski@gmail.com
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