A multifunctional device as both strain sensor and energy harvester for structural health monitoring

Abstract

Abstract-In the context of wireless sensors (WSs) autonomous in energy, this paper presents a single macro-fiber composite (MFC) piezoelectric transducer which is used for the first time as a multifunctional device as both sensor and energy harvester in a time-multiplexing manner. The MFC is used as an energy harvester to charge up a storage capacitor. When there is sufficient energy, the WS is powered up and the MFC is used as a sensor. A circuit was implemented to harvest energy from the MFC and use the MFC as a sensor. Experiment validation shows that the MFC has an accuracy of up to 97 % as sensor and the circuit harvests energy from the MFC at its maximum power point with up to 98 % efficiency.

Energy Harvesting Powered Wireless Sensor Nodes With Energy Efficient Network Joining Strategies

“…1 shows the energy harvesting powered node that consists of an energy harvester, an optional rectifier for AC input, a power management circuit (PMC), an energy storage device, an energy-aware interface (EAI), and a wireless sensor node [9], [10]. The rectifier converts AC voltage from a M8528-P2 macro-fiber composite (MFC) [18], which is bonded on a carbon fiber composite as the vibration energy harvester (VEH) into DC. The airflow energy harvester (AEH) consists of a turbine and a DC generator [4], which does not require rectification.…”