Power Supplies For Electronic Devices Research Articles

Piezoelectric energy harvesting and synchronization of excited and modified Huygens's pendulums.

We consider a model of modified Huygens pendulums in order to be able to study the dynamics of such a system and carry out piezoelectric energy harvesting and the effects of phenomena encountered on this energy harvesting. The modifications made to the system here are the use of compound pendulums, a parametric force, and the addition of a piezoelectric transducer for energy harvesting. Thanks to the Lagrangian formalism, the governing equations were established and the numerical resolution was made using the fourth-order Runge-Kutta algorithm. We observed the presence of several types of synchronization (in-phase, anti-phase, quadrature-phase) and the existence of periodic, multi-periodic, or chaotic dynamics. Also, synchronization plays an important role in energy harvesting, in particular, in-phase synchronization, which promises much better performance than anti-phase synchronization. The effects of system parameters (amplitude and frequency of parametric force, stiffness coefficient, electromechanical coupling coefficient, etc.) are also studied on synchronization and energy harvesting. These results have applications in the manufacture of sensors and actuators, the power supply of electronic devices, and the manufacture of autonomous devices.

A heat-triggered triboelectric nanogenerator for self-powered wireless fire alarm

Power supply is playing an increasingly important role in the rapidly developing era of the Internet of Things. Achieving a sustainable and clean power supply for electronic devices is an urgent and challenging task. In this study, we present a heat-triggered triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) and develop a self-powered fire alarm system to achieve an early warning without an external power supply. A TENG comprises a gear system that can utilize the elastic potential energy of a spring. A wax block was used as a heat trigger. When melted at high temperatures, the TENG will be triggered to work and generate considerable electric energy. Within a single operation cycle of approximately 6 s, a 22 μF capacitor can be charged up to 3.7 V. Such electrical energy is sufficient to drive a wireless transmission module through an automatic switching circuit. Overall, this study provides a feasible approach for a self-powered wireless warning system in power-shortage areas.

Evaluation of battery performance for solar mobile phone charger for rural dweller usage

This research is an initiative to improve the standard of living of rural dwellers and deprived settlements in a semi-urban location where epileptic power supply is predominant. The study is aimed at evaluating battery performance for the construction of a solar-powered mobile charger aimed at improving a steady power supply for electronic devices (phones, tablets, etc.), given the high and increased dependence on such devices in recent times. The solar-powered mobile charger was tested using various batteries available in the Nigerian market to determine the cheapest and most effective device to help rural dwellers. The constructed device was tested via its output voltage, current, time, and temperature. The results were subjected to further analysis by using Matlab and PVeducaction software for presentation and interpretation. The results of the analysis showed an efficiency value of seventy percent (70%) and a standard nominal voltage reading between 3.7 and 4.2 volts (V). The performance of the four batteries used affirmed its basic findings, however, Nickel-Metal Hydride (Ni-MH) batteries and Lithium-ion (Li-ion) metal (Ni-MH) batteries showed stability among the batterires used. The study recommends the commercialization phase of the construction to improve the living standards of rural dwellers and deprived settlements in a semi-urban location.

Nutshell Powder‐Based Green Triboelectric Nanogenerator for Wind Energy Harvesting

AbstractAs an agricultural waste, peanut shell powder (PSP) is rich in cellulose and lignin, but its traditional treatment not only has additional disposal costs, but also causes environmental pollution. Here, a low‐cost and environment‐friendly triboelectric nanogenerator based on PSP (PSP‐TENG) is designed for efficient wind energy harvesting. PSP film is used as the tribo‐positive layer, with high surface charge density. The maximum output power density of the PSP‐TENG reaches 365 mW m–2 with a short‐circuit current of 39.4 µA and an open‐circuit voltage of 248.9 V. About 228 commercial LEDs can be lighted up by the wind‐driven PSP‐TENG, which can also be used as a sensor to measure the wind speed. By integrating with capacitor, PSP‐TENG can provide continuous and stable power supply for electronic devices, such as hygrometers, calculators, and stopwatches. Besides, an efficient self‐powered cathodic protection system based on PSP‐TENG is designed for anti‐corrosion for marine pipelines and ships. This work provides a simple and environment‐friendly “waste‐to‐energy technology,” which has a huge application prospect in agricultural waste treatment, new energy, and self‐powered system.

A triboelectric/electromagnetic hybrid generator for efficient wind energy collection and power supply for electronic devices

A triboelectric/electromagnetic hybrid generator for efficient wind energy collection and power supply for electronic devices

Recent progress of flexible/wearable self-charging power units based on triboelectric nanogenerators

The last several decades have witnessed the tremendous achievement of energy storage devices such as batteries and supercapacitors in the field of charging portable electronic devices. However, the frequent charging requirement and inconvenient device replacement greatly restrict the further practical application of energy storage devices in self-powered systems for human life. Great efforts have been devoted to integrating TENG with energy storage devices to provide the sustainable power supply for electronic devices. In this review article, the recent progress of flexible TENG-based self-charging power units (SCPUs) was presented. Firstly, the working modes and triboelectric series of TENG were introduced. Next, the working principle, research progress of flexible/wearable SCPUs, and strategies to improve energy conversion efficiency were also demonstrated. Finally, the main challenges that need to be overcome when designing and optimizing TENG-based SCPUs were also highlighted.

Harvesting Vibration Energy: Technologies and Challenges

The battery is probably the most commonly used power supply for electronic devices. However, batteries are gradually becoming insufficient for powering many of the emerging devices that have started to dominate our lives, such as portable electronics, wearable smart devices, and wireless sensor networks. The general reason for this insufficiency is the high cost of replacing the batteries. Take the wireless sensor network as an example; the sensor device might not be easily accessible and the number of the sensor nodes is often very large (more than thousands) [1]. One of the major costs of battery replacement is the loss of productivity due to the machine downtime and the effort to reintegrate the offline device into the network. In some critical applications, preventive battery replacement is often practiced owing to the difficulty of determining the state of charge of a battery [2], further increasing the frequency of battery replacement. In addition, the cost of battery replacement is further boosted by the cost of labor and inventory, as well as the cost of the equipment and the consumables needed. Perpetua Corporation has estimated that the cost for battery replacement per component for certain industries can be as high as US$550 [3]. Furthermore, there is a growing concern over the recyclability of batteries and their disposal-related environmental issues. Therefore, it is ideal to gain the energy for electronic devices from the environment in which they operate. Vibration-such as from human motions, machinery vibrations, vehicle vibrations, and building vibrations-is an attractive energy source for powering those electronic devices owing to its abundance in the environment.

Self‐Supported Binder‐Free Hybrid Electrodes of Cu@CuO Nanowires/Carbon Nanotubes for Supercapacitors with Ultrahigh Areal‐Capacitance

To meet the requirement of clean and efficient energy storage system for practical applications, supercapacitors (SCs), which are promising candidates for the next‐generation energy storage devices, have received tremendous attention. Herein, a hybrid electrode consisting of copper nanowires (Cu NWs) and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) is prepared by simple vacuum‐filtration method. Both Cu NWs and CNTs have excellent conductivities, high aspect ratios, and large surface areas, in which the two kinds of materials are evenly dispersed and are entangled with each other. The electrochemical performance characterization of the Cu@CuO NWs/CNTs hybrid electrode shows high specific capacitance of 1.7 F cm−2 and excellent cycling characteristics of 97.4% after 5000 cycles. The hybrid electrode of Cu@CuO NWs/CNTs with one‐dimensional (1D) structure provides significant advantages in terms of electron/ion transport pathways. The SC devices with excellent electrochemical performance and stability clearly demonstrate their broad applications as low‐cost, high‐performance power supplies for electronic devices.

An Ultrasonic Through-Metal-Wall Power Transfer System with Regulated DC Output

This paper presents a novel and efficient system capable of transmitting medium-power electric energy through a solid metal wall and generating a regulated direct current (DC) output. The electric power is transmitted using radio frequency (RF) ultrasound without physical penetration. An RF alternating current to direct current converter with input impedance matching is used to convert the transmitted RF signal to a DC output, which is directly suitable as a power supply for electronic devices. The system is constructed from commercial off-the-shelf components, and a computer-controlled measurement method is designed to test the effectiveness of the full system. The measurement results show that the system is able to transfer power through a 40-mm-thick stainless steel plate and generate 5-V, 15.7-W regulated DC output power with an overall power transfer efficiency of 27.7%. In addition, the effectiveness of the system is successfully demonstrated by powering ARM® evaluation boards with liquid-crystal display panels. A discussion of potential enhancements that could be made to improve the transfer capability and efficiency of the system is also presented. This system could be applied to improve safety and preserve structural integrity in many industrial and military applications, such as submarines, space crafts, planes, nuclear storage facilities, etc.

Harvesting energy an sustainable power source, replace batteries for powering WSN and devices on the IoT

Harvesting energy from nonconventional sources in the environment has received increased attention over the past decade from researchers who study these alternative energy sources for low power applications. Although that energy harvested is small and in the order of milliwatt, it can provide enough power for wireless sensors and other low-power applications.In the environment there is a lot of wasted energy that can be converted into electricity to power the various circuits and represents a potentially cheap source of power.Energy harvesting is important because it offers an alternative power supply for electronic devices where is does not exist conventional energy sources. This technology applied in a wireless sensor network (WSN) and devices on the IoT, will eliminate the need for network-based energy and conventional batteries, will minimize maintenance costs, eliminate cables and batteries and is ecological. It has the same advantage in applications from remote locations, underwater, and other hard to reach places where conventional batteries and energy are not suitable.Energy harvesting will promote environmentally friendly technologies that will save energy, will reduce CO2 emissions, which makes this technology indispensable for achieving next-generation smart cities and sustainable society.In response to the challenges of energy, in this article we remind the basics of harvesting energy and we discuss the various applications of this technology where traditional batteries cannot be used.

Modeling of piezoelectric energy harvesting considering the dependence of the rectifier circuit

Harvesting energy with piezoelectric materials has been a process of many practical applications in structural health monitoring, either to recharge batteries or feed directly sensors and also electronic devices. In general, the amount of energy provided by a vibration source requires converting the alternating current (AC) to direct current (DC) through rectifier circuits before using it as a power supply of electronic devices. However, modeling the harvesting system, usually a PZT sensor bonded on a cantilever beam and coupled to a rectifier circuit, using the same software package is pointed out by some authors as a drawback to overcome, due to its multidisciplinary requirements, involving topics of both mechanical and electrical engineering. In this sense, the goal of the present paper is describe a comprehensive and simple modeling strategy, which considers a single computational platform and accounts for both the electromechanical model of a clamped piezoelectric beam and the practical energy harvesting circuit, seeking further application when optimizing the entire energy harvesting system. Numerical simulations and experimental tests are performed to illustrate the proposed approach, considering a full-wave diode bridge as the non-controlled rectifier circuit and a resistive load, which are directly connected to the cantilevered piezoelectric beam.

Toward Broadband Vibration-based Energy Harvesting

The dramatic reduction in power consumption of current integrated circuits has evoked great research interests in harvesting ambient energy, such as vibrations, as a potential power supply for electronic devices to avoid battery replacement. Currently, most vibration-based energy harvesters are designed as linear resonators to achieve optimal performance by matching their resonance frequencies with the ambient excitation frequencies a priori. However, a slight shift of the excitation frequency will cause a dramatic reduction in performance. Unfortunately, in the vast majority of practical cases, the ambient vibrations are frequency-varying or totally random with energy distributed over a wide frequency spectrum. Hence, developing techniques to increase the bandwidth of vibration-based energy harvesters has become the next important problem in energy harvesting. This article reviews the advances made in the past few years on this issue. The broadband vibration-based energy harvesting solutions, covering resonance tuning, multimodal energy harvesting, frequency up-conversion, and techniques exploiting non-linear oscillations, are summarized in detail with regard to their merits and applicability in different circumstances.

3-Phase Inverter Using Frequency Divide Function of Ferro-resonant Circuit

Ferro-resonant type power supplies are highly reliable, and are therefore used as power supplies for electronic devices. Recently a three-phase inverter (called a phase-conversion type inverter), a combination of a single-phase square-wave inverter and a phase converter utilizing the phase conversion function of a ferroresonant circuit, has been proposed. However, the use of a phase converter causes difficulties, in that the output voltages are not balanced and the efficiency remains at about 60%. This paper reports experiments, analyses and reviews three-phase inverters (frequency-divide type inverters) which combine a phase converter utilizing a frequency-divide function with a single-phase square-wave inverter. As a result, the device characteristics were determined, and a high output balance and high system efficiency were achieved.