A High-Efficiency Wind Energy Harvester for Autonomous Embedded Systems.

Davide Brunelli

doi:10.3390/s16030327

Abstract

Energy harvesting is currently a hot research topic, mainly as a consequence of the increasing attractiveness of computing and sensing solutions based on small, low-power distributed embedded systems. Harvesting may enable systems to operate in a deploy-and-forget mode, particularly when power grid is absent and the use of rechargeable batteries is unattractive due to their limited lifetime and maintenance requirements. This paper focuses on wind flow as an energy source feasible to meet the energy needs of a small autonomous embedded system. In particular the contribution is on the electrical converter and system integration. We characterize the micro-wind turbine, we define a detailed model of its behaviour, and then we focused on a highly efficient circuit to convert wind energy into electrical energy. The optimized design features an overall volume smaller than 64 cm. The core of the harvester is a high efficiency buck-boost converter which performs an optimal power point tracking. Experimental results show that the wind generator boosts efficiency over a wide range of operating conditions.

Highlights

The coming decade will see the rapid diffusion of distributed standalone embedded systems and Internet of Things Internet o things (IoT) devices, which are required to operate unattended for several years and users should only deploy-and-forget about them
Low power energy harvesting is a promising technology which aims at perpetually powering the systems by extracting and converting ambient energy into electricity
Harvesting will facilitate the diffusion of Internet o things (IoT) and sensing solutions based on small, low-power embedded systems, such as the nodes of wireless sensor networks [1,2]

Summary

Introduction

The coming decade will see the rapid diffusion of distributed standalone embedded systems and Internet of Things IoT devices, which are required to operate unattended for several years and users should only deploy-and-forget about them. Harvesting will facilitate the diffusion of Internet o things (IoT) and sensing solutions based on small, low-power embedded systems, such as the nodes of wireless sensor networks [1,2]. Several power management techniques have tackled the reduction of power consumption for embedded systems ranging from Sub-Nyquist data compression [3], to transient computing [4,5], to radio usage optimization [6]. In these scenarios, relying on energy sources freely provided by the operating environment and available on the spot is highly desirable

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Conclusion