Energy Harvesting and Wireless Power Transfer for Autonomous Sensors
Universitat Politènica de Catalunya, BarcelonaTech, Spain
Abstract
Autonomous sensors are wireless measurement systems used in multiple applications from healthcare to environmental monitoring. A large number of autonomous sensors still rely on primary batteries for their power supply. However, primary batteries have to be replaced when depleted, which can be unpractical or even unfeasible. A proposed alternative, not exempt of challenges, is to harvest the energy from the surrounding environment or to transmit it wirelessly form a nearby point. Examples of ambient energy sources are light, thermal gradients, or vibrations, whereas energy can be transmitted via antennas and inductive links.
This tutorial first presents a general
overview of the basic building
blocks that compose an energy harvesting system and design rules
to take into
account. Then, different types of energy transducers,
conditioning circuits,
and storage devices are introduced. Finally, research carried
out at the ISI
(Instrumentation, Sensors and Interfaces) Group, UPC, is
presented. Research
topics include hybrid storage systems, maximum power point
trackers (MPPTs)
applied to low-power solar cells, inductive power transfer, and
radiofrequency
energy transmission.
Biographical Information
Manel Gasulla received the Enginyer (MEng) and Doctor
Enginyer (PhD) degrees in
Telecommunication from the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya
(UPC,
BarcelonaTech), Barcelona, in 1992 and 1999, respectively. Since
1993 he has
been with the UPC, where he is an associate professor, engaged
in teaching on
Analog and Power Electronics and Electronic Instrumentation.
During the
academic year 2001-2002 he was a Visiting Postdoctoral Fellow at
the Electronic
Instrumentation Laboratory, Delft University of Technology, The
Netherlands.
His research interests include capacitive sensors, sensor
interfaces, wireless
sensor networks, and energy harvesting circuits and methods for
low-power
autonomous sensors. He is co-author of several academic papers
in international
conferences and journals, five Spanish patents, one chapter of
the book Energy
Harvesting. Grundlagen und Praxis
energieautarker Systeme (Essen: Expert-Verlag, 2007) and the book Powering Autonomous Sensors (Springer, 2011).