Hybrid Energy Harvesting Research Articles

Hybrid enhancement effect of structural and material properties of the triboelectric generator on its performance in integrated energy harvester

A wind energy harvester (WEH) comprising a coaxial electromagnetic generator (EMG) and a triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) is proposed to achieve an energy-autonomous closed loop that can harvest widely untapped energy sources for unattended monitoring systems in desolate regions. Energy conversion in the EMG from wind to electrical energy is implemented via the cyclic fixed-axis rotation, whereas that in the TENG is controlled by reciprocating translation driven by the coaxial rotation of the contact-separation structure. However, it is essential, albeit difficult, for TENG to generate a major portion of the wind energy-based electricity by improving the secondary transformation efficiency and reducing wear abrasion. Here, an arrayed contact-separation structure is fabricated with doped and surface-modified friction silicone rubber, large-area arc-shaped substrates, and a Reuleaux triangle plate-cam with local freedom. When the WEH works in one cycle, the TENG runs 12 times. Compared with the single contact-separation structure, the modified friction material significantly increases the output performance of the hybrid enhanced TENG by 104 % and the arrayed cam structure triples the output energy of TENG in a cycle. The maximum output power of the WEH is 54.78 mW at 90 rpm, to which the EMG and TENG contribute approximately 51.57 mW and 3.21 mW, respectively. The share of TENG output energy rivals the results induced by sliding mode TENG in those hybrid energy harvesters of current research. Furthermore, a WEH with an enhanced TENG is experimentally demonstrated by simulating earthquake, fire, and wind speed monitoring. The results indicate the immense potential of the proposed WEH in terms of power supply capability and long-term operation reliability.

Experimental and numerical analysis of vibration-based hybrid energy harvesting from non-classical beam structures

It is known that the displacement and stress on beams will directly affect the energy harvesting performance. For this purpose, structural changes are made on the beam elements. Behaviours of these beam structures are investigated by designing different non-classical beam geometries. This study examines vibration-based electromagnetic and piezoelectric energy harvesting from the non-classical beam structures under various conditions. Before analysing the non-classical beam structure, studies are performed for a classical beam for electromagnetic and piezoelectric energy harvesting studies. In the electromagnetic energy harvesting analysis, the effects of magnitude of magnetic field and the distance between the coil and the permanent magnet on the harvesting performance are studied by free vibration experiments. In this regard, a neodymium permanent magnet is attached to the vibrating aluminium beam endpoint. During the free vibration period, the coil and the magnet interact closely. As a result, a voltage output is obtained by inducing an electric field on the coil side. Secondly, voltage outputs of piezoelectric energy harvesting structures are experimentally evaluated for a classical beam and used for the verification of numerical simulations. Using the verified numerical simulations, new types of beam structures so-called non-classical beams are designed to obtain higher voltage outputs. Finally, by introducing the phenomenon of continuous vibration with the effect of air, the hybrid energy performance is analyzed for the proposed structure. The continuous vibration is created by the air-flow on the square galloping geometry.

Design and Performance Analysis of Hybrid Energy Harvesting and WSN Application for More Life Time and High Throughput

the technology of wireless sensor-actuator networks (WSANs) is widely employed in the applications of IoT due to its wireless nature and it does not involve any wired structure. The wireless systems that are battery-driven can easily reconfigure the existing devices and sensors efficiently in the manufacturing units without employing any cable for power operation as well as for communication. The wireless sensor-actuator networks that are based on IEEE 802.15.4 consumes significantly less power. These networks are designed and built cost-effectively by considering the capacity of battery and expense so that they can be employed for many applications. The application of a typical wireless Autonomous Scheduling and Distributed Graph Routing (DDSR) has illustrated the reliability of employing its basic approaches for almost ten years and it consists of the accurate plot for routing and time-slotted channel hopping therefore ensuring accurate low-power wireless communication in the processing site. Officially declared by the controversial statements associated with the government of Greek experiences fourth industrialization. There is a huge requirement for sensor nodes link via WSAN in the industrial site. Also, reduced computational complexity is one of the drawbacks faced by the existing standards of WSAN which is caused because of their highly centralized traffic management systems and thereby significantly improves the consistency and accessibility of network operations at the expense of optimization. This research work enables the study of efficient Wireless DGR network management and also introduces an alternative for DDSR by enabling the sensor nodes to determine their data traffic routes for the transmission of data. When compared to the above two physical routing protocols, the proposed technique can drastically improve the performance of a network, throughput, and energy consumption under various aspects. Energy harvesting (EH) plays a significant role in the implementation of large IoT devices. The requirement for subsequent employment of power sources is eliminated by The efficient approach of Energy Harvesting and thereby providing a relatively close- perpetual working environment for the network. The structural concept of routing protocols that are designed for the IoT applications which are based on the wireless sensor has been transformed into "energy-harvesting-aware" from the concept of "energy-aware" because of the development in the Energy harvesting techniques. The main objective of the research work is to propose a routing protocol that is energy-harvesting-aware for the various network of IoT in case of acoustic sources of energy. A novel algorithm for routing called Autonomous Scheduling and Distributed Graph Routing (DDSR) has been developed and significantly improved by incorporating a new “energy back-off” factor. The proposed algorithm when integrated with various techniques of energy harvesting enhances the longevity of nodes, quality of service of a network under increased differential traffic, and factors influencing the accessibility of energy. The research work analyses the performance of the system for various constraints of energy harvesting. When compared to previous routing protocols the proposed algorithm achieves very good energy efficiency in the network of distributed IoT by fulfilling the requirements of QoS.

Wearable Fabric-Based Hybrid Energy Harvester from Body Motion and Body Heat

Wearable Fabric-Based Hybrid Energy Harvester from Body Motion and Body Heat

Multiferroic BiFeO3-based hydrophobic polymer composites for polarization rationalization-induced piezo-tribo hybrid energy harvesting and versatile self-powered mechanosensing

Multiferroic BiFeO3-based polymer composites and their suitable combinations by rationalization of polarization have been utilized to design an efficient piezo-tribo hybrid nanogenerator for real life energy harvesting and sensing applications.

A high performance piezoelectric–triboelectric hybrid energy harvester by synergistic design

Generation of electricity from naturally abandoned mechanical vibrations is of utmost importance in the modern era of the internet of things.

An Efficient Energy Aware Routing Mechanism for Wireless Body Area Networks

The accelerated development of wireless network technology has resulted in the emergence of Wireless Body Area Network (WBAN), which is a technology commonly used in the medical field. WBAN consists of tiny sensor nodes that interconnect with each other and set in the human body to collect and transmit the patient data to the physician, to monitor the patients remotely. These nodes typically have limited battery energy that led to a shortage of network lifetime. Therefore, energy efficiency is considered one of the most demanding challenges in routing design for WBAN. Many proposed routing mechanisms in WBAN did not cover the source node energy and energy harvesting techniques. Therefore, this study proposes an Efficient Energy Aware Routing (EEAR) mechanism. This paper constructs a path cost function that considers three parameters: residual energy, number of hops to the sink, and the distance between the nodes. Besides, data aggregation with filtration and hybrid energy harvesting technique are used to extend the network lifetime, reduce the network traffic load, and maintain the source node energy. Extensive simulations using MATLAB have been performed to evaluate the performance of the proposed mechanism. EEAR is contrasted with the two latest schemes, called Priority-based Congestion-avoidance Routing Protocol (PCRP) and Energy Efficient Routing Protocol (EERP). The results show the significant performance of the EEAR mechanism in terms of network lifetime, residual energy, network stability, and throughput.

All-Aerosol-Sprayed High-Performance Transparent Triboelectric Nanogenerator with Embedded Charge-Storage Layer for Self-Powered Invisible Security Iot System and Raindrop-Solar Hybrid Energy Harvester

All-Aerosol-Sprayed High-Performance Transparent Triboelectric Nanogenerator with Embedded Charge-Storage Layer for Self-Powered Invisible Security Iot System and Raindrop-Solar Hybrid Energy Harvester

A hybrid energy harvesting system for self-powered applications in shared bicycles

The public transportation system is highly integrated into peoples' lives, and the emergence of shared bicycles solves the problem of the last mile of travel. The shared bicycle is equipped with the necessary low-power consumption components, which require a continuous power supply scheme. In this paper, to solve the power supply problem of low-power components on shared bicycles, a hybrid energy harvesting system is designed, modeled, and tested. The proposed system includes three modules: kinetic energy input module, power generation module, and energy storage module. The energy input module is the rotational kinetic energy transferred from the chain to the rear wheel when the shared bicycle is being ridden. The power generation module utilizes the magnet array installed on the spokes to cut the magnetic lines of induction and deforms the piezoelectric sheet to harvest the kinetic energy of the wheel. The energy storage module is used to store the current generated by the two harvesters that have passed through the rectifier circuit. The proposed hybrid energy harvesting system is analyzed through theoretical modeling and simulation, and the power output of the collector is calculated through experimental data. The peak voltage and RMS voltage of the hybrid energy harvesting system are 25 V and 7.18 V, respectively. Experiments verify that the proposed hybrid energy harvesting system is feasible for powering low-power components on shared bicycles.

Hybrid energy harvester based on dual band transparent dielectric resonator antenna

AbstractThis article presents a compact hybrid solar and radio frequency (RF) energy harvester based on dual‐band transparent dielectric resonator antenna (TDRA). It integrates with an amorphous silicon solar cell film, a TDRA and a rectifier circuit. The TDRA replaces the glass protective of the traditional solar cell to prevent the solar cell from being oxidized and damaged and also can efficiently harvest electromagnetic (EM) waves, which achieves harvesting solar and RF energy at the same time. The measured results show that the TDRA can reach impedance bandwidth (|S11| < −10 dB) of 2.37–3.03 GHz and 3.41–3.88 GHz and the realized gain of 4.9 dBi at 2.45 GHz and 5.95 dBi at 3.6 GHz. The efficiency of the rectifier can reach 60% and 40% at two resonance frequencies, respectively. The results prove that under weak lighting conditions, the hybrid harvester has a higher DC output power compared with the RF‐only or solar‐only energy harvester. Thus, it can be well applied to wireless sensors and Internet of Things devices.

Research on cam frequency-increasing hybrid piezoelectric electromagnetic energy harvester with center symmetric structure

This paper proposes a cam frequency-increasing hybrid piezoelectric electromagnetic energy harvester with center symmetric structure (C-HEH). The use of the cam structure allows the harvester to increase the efficiency of energy harvester per unit time, while the center symmetric structure of the entire harvester allows for maximum energy output in a limited size. This paper studies the influence of the number of cam protrusions and the length of the cylindrical permanent magnet on the output voltage signal at different rotation speeds. When the number of cam protrusions is 3 and the length of the cylindrical magnet is 10 mm, the maximum peak-to-peak voltages of the piezoelectric and the electromagnetic power generation unit are 53.74 V and 3.16 V, respectively. The effective value power of the hybrid energy harvester can be obtained as 1.49 mW. A series of application experiments were carried out to verify the performance of the C-HEH. The hybrid energy harvester can easily light up 86 light-emitting diodes (LEDs) lights and make the scientific calculators work stably after rectification. These results demonstrate the giant prospect of piezoelectric-electromagnetic energy harvesters for supplying wireless sensor networks and low-power electronic devices.

Architectural Simulation of Hybrid Energy Harvesting: A Design Experiment in Lanzarote Island

This study conducts research on an architectural design based on energy harvesting technology. The research subject is a pergola-style structure to be built in a square in Arrecife, the Spanish territory of Lanzarote Island. The architectural design based on the energy harvesting technology developed in this research utilizes solar energy. To install a solar panel on the roof of the pergola, the optimal tilt angle from January to December was derived by using a function that considered the latitude and solar declination value of the study site, and the amount of renewable energy generation was calculated. The architectural design based on energy harvesting also utilizes wind power. To transform wind power into renewable energy, piezoelectric materials that trigger renewable energy with the micro-vibrations generated by wind power are applied to the architectural design. The amount of energy generation was calculated considering the wind power and wind direction in the location where the pergola should be built; in addition, this calculation used information from prior studies on piezoelectric materials. This article is significant, as it has developed an architectural design where hybrid energy harvesting technology that utilizes two types of natural energy (solar and wind) is applied to a building façade.

Solar Tracker and Wind Guide Designs to Improve the Energy Conversion in a Hybrid Energy Harvester System

This study focused on improving the energy conversion of hybrid solar panels and a wind turbine system. The improvement was produced by enhancing the system with a solar tracker and a wind guide. A microcontroller operated the single-axis solar tracker based on a solar elevation database at -6.91N, 107.61E. The wind guide was an Omni Directional Guide Vane (ODGV), designed to support the drag-type Savonius turbine. The ODGV’s inside and outside diameters were 540 mm and 1000 mm, respectively. The wind guide had a 30° polar angle between fins and produced a torque of 0.128 Nm at a wind speed of 4 m/s. The solar tracker increased the system performance by 47% and the wind guide by 166%.

Characteristics of electric performance and key factors of a hybrid piezo/triboelectric generator for wave energy harvesting

Since the ocean energy field has a wide variety range of frequencies and amplitude, applying energy harvesters such as a piezoelectric generator (PEG) with a triboelectric generator (TEG) has been required for maximum result. Generally, energy harvesters can perform well due to the feature mechanism generation and the surface modification. However, few studies explain the relationship between characteristics of power generation with the device’s key factors. This study proposed/developed a TEG into a multi-layered model, combined it with a PEG to form a PEG-TEG hybrid harvester, and demonstrated the improvement of the output voltage by modifying the key factors (i.e., acceleration amplitude, vibration amplitude, initial distance). We found that our hybrid harvester with the multi-layered TEG can improve the electrical energy output in linear terms under a comparatively small device. Furthermore, the key factors have much influence to generate electrical energy instead of compression force, suggesting that a small force is enough to produce a good result. Our result also showed that this linear improvement is possible due to the increase of vibration amplitude, indicating that amplitude adjustment is important, but it is not directly related to a good electrical performance for initial distance. Finally, the complementary relationship between devices was investigated, and it shows good compatibility. The study could be an essential finding and understanding for PEG-TEG hybrid energy harvesters to produce more efficient and sustainable harvesters in the ocean energy utilization.

Book-Shaped All-in-One Piezo-Triboelectric Energy Harvester Module with Enhanced Current Characteristics As an Eco-Friendly Energy Source

A book-shaped all-in-one energy harvester module with a piezo-triboelectric hybrid structure as a next-generation eco-friendly energy source was manufactured based on flexible piezoceramic nanofibers with enhanced current characteristics obtained by controlling the added amount of carbon black (CB). To prepare flexible piezoceramic nanofibers with favorable current properties, 0.78Bi0.5Na0.5TiO3−0.22SrTiO3 (BNT-ST) piezoelectric ceramics were composited with CB, a highly conductive material, and then electrospun with a poly(vinylidene fluorideco–trifluoroethylene) polymer. The prepared CB/BNT-ST nanofibers were modularized into piezoelectric energy harvester modules (PEHMs) with interdigitated electrodes, yielding an improved output performance with a high voltage of 10.1 V and high current of 2.02 nA. A book-shaped triboelectric energy harvester module (TEHM) was manufactured with polydimethylsiloxane on one side and the CB/BNT-ST nanofibers on the other side, affording an improved output performance with a high voltage of 391 V and high current of 130 μA. A book-shaped all-in-one hybrid energy harvester module (HEHM) was then manufactured by fitting PEHMs at both ends of the book-shaped TEHMs. As a result of optimizing the output performance by connecting HEHM multiple layers, a high voltage and current of 1043 V and 579 μA were observed, respectively, and charging of a 1.0 μF capacitor was completed in 25 s. Furthermore, in simulated energy harvesting experiments using the all-in-one HEHM, LED light bulbs were clearly illuminated in real time, and an electronic calculator was operated without charging. This work suggests the application potential of the all-in-one HEHM as the next generation of eco-friendly flexible energy sources.

Modeling and Simulation of Dual Beams Hybrid Energy Harvester for Bridge’s Health Monitoring Systems

From last few decades, the piezoelectric materials are widely used in the field of structural health monitoring because of its ability for voltage dependent actuation. This paper presents the analytical modeling and simulation of a hybrid (electromagnetic and piezoelectric) energy harvester (having nonlinear behavior) that generates power from vibrations of bridges for structure health monitoring systems. The modeled hybrid energy harvester is comprised of two beams and two tip masses attached to the ends of both beams. Beam 1 consists of a piezoelectric layer and a substrate layer while beam 2 contains a coil and permanent magnet. The two beams are assembled with a specific L shaped geometry. Base excitations are provided in the transverse direction of the first beam of the harvester. The L-shape structure is modeled as a continuous system rather than a lumped-mass system to investigate the dynamic behavior of the structure in more detailed manner. The simulation is performed for both parallel as well as series combinations of the piezoelectric layers. In the case of a parallel combination of piezoelectric layers’ maximum voltage of 1.66 V is obtained at the resonance frequency of the structure with 0.2 g acceleration level which resulted in the corresponding power of 65.61 µW. However, in the case of series combination simulation resulted in the production of the maximum voltage of 1.95 V and a corresponding power of 90.54 µW at 0.2 g acceleration level.

The Major Mechanisms for Efficient Hybrid Energy Harvesting: Overview and Recent Developments

Devastating environmental issues and the cost of replacement of batteries in autonomous low-powered electrical, electronic, and mechatronic systems, the interest in ambient energy harvesting has witnessed steady growth recently. The maximization and utilization of these eco-friendly energies have given rise to efficient hybrid energy harvesting, which involves the combination of two or more standalone energy harvesting mechanisms such as Vibrational, thermoelectric, pyroelectric, photovoltaic, etc. The comparison of the recent development, applications, and challenges of the major standalone and hybrid harvesting mechanisms in both large and small-scale mechanisms are the main emphasis of this article. Also, this review holistically discussed the latest optimal techniques utilized in hybrid energy harvesting mechanisms for the effective performance of systems and to guarantee stable power to autonomous electronics and wireless sensor networks. The study will help research scholars to understand and focus on the high-potential techniques to achieve maximum power from hybrid harvesters.

Hybrid photovoltaic-triboelectric nanogenerators for simultaneously harvesting solar and mechanical energies

Owing to its potential to maximize the power output, hybrid energy harvesting technology has attracted more research interest. Boosting merits such as renewable energy sources and high output, hybrid photovoltaic-triboelectric nanogenerator (HPTNG) is considered as one of the promising power sources for next-generation smart electronics. To date, there is still a lack of a comprehensive review of the latest development and challenges of HPTNGs. Herein, we systematically summarize the recent advances of the hybrid photovoltaic-triboelectric energy-harvesting system. In particular, the structural flexibility and simplification of the hybridized device is described, followed by the detailed discussion from perspectives of the input mechanical energy sources, the output interaction between triboelectric nanogenerators and solar cells, as well as the functions and applications of the HPTNGs. Finally, the main challenges and perspective for the future development of HPTNGs are discussed. • Advances in hybrid photovoltaic-triboelectric nanogenerators is summarized. • Structural flexibility and simplification of the hybridized device is described. • HPTNGs are classified and descried according to mechanical energy sources. • Effect of TENG on the performance of solar cells is systematically analyzed. • Functions, applications, challenges and perspective of HPTNGs are discussed.

A survey of wearable energy harvesting systems

Recently, we have witnessed a remarkable proliferation of wearables in various smart applications. These applications include smart healthcare, smart military, smart infotainment, and smart industries, to name a few. However, wearables suffer from significant energy limitations. To cope with this challenging issue, energy harvesting can be a viable solution. In this paper, various ambient sources like heat, vibration, radio waves, and solar energy are compared and critically analyzed based on size, voltage, frequency, power density, and power. Critical analysis of vibrational, solar, heat, radiofrequency, and hybrid show convincing output results, but a hybrid solar wearable energy harvester (SWEH) and thermoelectric wearable energy harvester (TWEH) give a maximum output power of 501 mW. However, piezoelectric clothes fabrication is growing and coming out to be a good competitor because of flexibility and comfort. Work has been done on the hybridization of wearable clothes to generate maximum power and is good enough for wearable applications. On the other side, solar individually is enough to power wearable devices but for a specific time. In the radiofrequency still, research is required because of very low power generation or a flexible array can be integrated into a dress or certain other technique maybe adapted for flexible yet more power generation capability. Overall sizes of the reported wearable energy harvesters are in the millimeter to centimeter scale, with resonant frequencies in the range of 1 to 1400 Hz, while rectenna wearable energy harvester (RWEH) exceeds the limit and is reported in the range of 1.8 to 3.2 GHz. A maximum energy conversion for a piezoelectric wearable energy harvester can potentially reach up to 29.7 μW/cm3 and 14.28 μW/cm2. The power produced by the reported hybrid energy harvesters (HEHs) is in the range of 0.00012 to 501 mW. Due to the combined solar-thermoelectric energy conversion in HEHs, these systems are capable of producing the highest power densities.

Low-Cost, High-Performance Piezoelectric Nanocomposite for Mechanical Energy Harvesting

Lack of low-cost, large area deposition methods and photo-patternability of high-performance piezoelectric materials restrict the rapid development of efficient functional devices like sensors and energy harvesters. In this paper, we report an optimized process flow for Zinc Oxide (ZnO)/SU-8 and Barium Titanate (BTO)/SU-8 based nanocomposite thin films for mechanical energy harvesting (MEH) applications. Parametric variation of process variables for these nanocomposites reveals that 15% ZnO/SU-8 and 20% BTO/SU-8 nanocomposites show optimum results with good piezoelectric response and UV transmittance, allowing reliable lithography of the nanocomposites. Furthermore, three different types of energy harvesting devices are fabricated using these nanocomposites as piezoelectric layer. Output powers of <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$223~\mu \text{W}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> (ZnO/SU-8) and <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$642~\mu \text{W}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> (BTO/SU-8) are produced at resonance for the conventional cantilever type MEH devices at an input acceleration of 0.5g. Using the nanocomposites as flexible nanogenerator, open circuit voltages of 570 mV (ZnO/SU-8) and 780mV (BTO/SU-8) are obtained using regular finger pressing. The hybrid energy harvesters, based on combined piezoelectric-triboelectric transduction mechanisms, generate output voltages of 0.4V, 0.95V, 1.4V (ZnO/SU-8) and 0.7V, 1.1V and 1.9V (BTO/SU-8) in piezoelectric, triboelectric and hybrid operations, respectively.