Radiofrequency ambient level energy harvesting

On energy harvesting from ambient vibration

Future MEMS devices will harvest energy from their environment. One can envisage an autonomous condition monitoring vibration sensor being powered by that same vibration, and transmitting data over a wireless link; inaccessible or hostile environments are obvious areas of application. The base excitation of an elastically mounted magnetic seismic mass moving past a coil, considered previously b...

Energy harvesting – small scale energy production from ambient sources

Energy harvesting – the collection of otherwise unexploited energy in the local environment – is attracting increasing attention for the powering of electronic devices. While the power levels that can be reached are typically modest (microwatts to milliwatts), the key motivation is to avoid the need for battery replacement or recharging in portable or inaccessible devices. Wireless sensor netwo...

Ambient wind energy harvesting using cross-flow fluttering

In this experimental study, we propose and test a bioinspired piezo-leaf architecture which converts wind energy into electrical energy by wind-induced fluttering motion. While conventional fluttering devices are arranged in parallel with the flow direction, here we explore a dangling cross-flow stalk arrangement. This architecture amplifies the vibration by an order of magnitude, making it app...

Piezoelectric nanogenerators—Harvesting ambient mechanical energy at the nanometer scale

Ambient RF Energy Harvesting Technology and its Applications

— This paper is focused on equipping wireless devices (including sensors) with novel, high efficiency circuitry to harvest and convert ambient RF power to direct current (dc). Key components of this technology are (a) miniaturized antenna and (b) high efficiency rectifying circuit. The first is responsible for capturing the RF waves, and the latter coverts the RF energy to dc. A major challenge...