Efficient solar energy harvester for wireless sensor nodes (original) (raw)
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An efficient solar energy harvester for wireless sensor nodes
2008
Solar harvesting circuits have been recently proposed to increase the autonomy of embedded systems. One key design challenge is how to optimize the efficiency of solar energy collection under non stationary light conditions. This paper proposes a scavenger that exploits miniaturized photovoltaic modules to perform automatic maximum power point tracking at a minimum energy cost. The system adjusts dynamically to the light intensity variations and its measured power consumption is less than 1mW.
Design considerations for solar energy harvesting wireless embedded systems
… in Sensor Networks …, 2005
Sustainable operation of battery powered wireless embedded systems (such as sensor nodes) is a key challenge, and considerable research effort has been devoted to energy optimization of such systems. Environmental energy harvesting, in particular solar based, has emerged as a viable technique to supplement battery supplies. However, designing an efficient solar harvesting system to realize the potential benefits of energy harvesting requires an in-depth understanding of several factors. For example, solar energy supply is highly time varying and may not always be sufficient to power the embedded system. Harvesting components, such as solar panels, and energy storage elements, such as batteries or ultracapacitors, have different voltage-current characteristics, which must be matched to each other as well as the energy requirements of the system to maximize harvesting efficiency. Further, battery nonidealities, such as self-discharge and round trip efficiency, directly affect energy usage and storage decisions. The ability of the system to modulate its power consumption by selectively deactivating its sub-components also impacts the overall power management architecture. This paper describes key issues and tradeoffs which arise in the design of a solar energy harvesting, wireless embedded system and presents the design, implementation, and performance evaluation of Heliomote, our prototype that addresses several of these issues. Experimental results demonstrate that Heliomote, which behaves as a plug-in to the Berkeley/Crossbow motes and autonomously manages energy harvesting and storage, enables near-perpetual, harvesting aware operation of the sensor node.
Modeling and Optimisation of a Solar Energy Harvesting System for Wireless Sensor Network Nodes
Journal of Sensor and Actuator Networks
The Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) are the basic building blocks of today’s modern internet of Things (IoT) infrastructure in smart buildings, smart parking, and smart cities. The WSN nodes suffer from a major design constraint in that their battery energy is limited and can only work for a few days depending upon the duty cycle of operation. The main contribution of this research article is to propose an efficient solar energy harvesting solution to the limited battery energy problem of WSN nodes by utilizing ambient solar photovoltaic energy. Ideally, the Optimized Solar Energy Harvesting Wireless Sensor Network (SEH-WSN) nodes should operate for an infinite network lifetime (in years). In this paper, we propose a novel and efficient solar energy harvesting system with pulse width modulation (PWM) and maximum power point tracking (MPPT) for WSN nodes. The research focus is to increase the overall harvesting system efficiency, which further depends upon solar panel efficiency, PWM ...
IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics, 2008
In this paper, we propose a methodology for optimizing a solar harvester with maximum power point tracking for self-powered wireless sensor network (WSN) nodes. We focus on maximizing the harvester's efficiency in transferring energy from the solar panel to the energy storing device. A photovoltaic panel analytical model, based on a simplified parameter extraction procedure, is adopted. This model predicts the instantaneous power collected by the panel helping the harvester design and optimization procedure. Moreover, a detailed modeling of the harvester is proposed to understand basic harvester behavior and optimize the circuit. Experimental results based on the presented design guidelines demonstrate the effectiveness of the adopted methodology. This design procedure helps in boosting efficiency, allowing to reach a maximum efficiency of 85% with discrete components. The application field of this circuit is not limited to self-powered WSN nodes; it can easily be extended in embedded portable applications to extend the battery life.
2008
In this paper, we propose a methodology for optimizing a solar harvester with maximum power point tracking for self-powered wireless sensor network (WSN) nodes. We focus on maximizing the harvester's efficiency in transferring energy from the solar panel to the energy storing device. A photovoltaic panel analytical model, based on a simplified parameter extraction procedure, is adopted. This model predicts the instantaneous power collected by the panel helping the harvester design and optimization procedure. Moreover, a detailed modeling of the harvester is proposed to understand basic harvester behavior and optimize the circuit. Experimental results based on the presented design guidelines demonstrate the effectiveness of the adopted methodology. This design procedure helps in boosting efficiency, allowing to reach a maximum efficiency of 85% with discrete components. The application field of this circuit is not limited to self-powered WSN nodes; it can easily be extended in embedded portable applications to extend the battery life.
PIC-Based Solar Energy Harvesting Module Design for Wireless Sensor Networks
Harran Üniversitesi mühendislik dergisi, 2019
Nowadays, the issue of power consumption is very important in wireless sensor networks (WSNs) and recent developments have allowed solar energy power to be used for WSNs. How to collect and store energy effectively from the environment has been investigated for the WSNs in this paper. Energy consumption issues in the WSNs is the most significant constraints of the wireless sensor node systems. Due to the power limitation, providing electrical power to WSNs often becomes very challenging. Overcome these issues, we have focused on powering up the sensor devices by alternative renewable energy sources such as solar energy along with rechargeable batteries. Also, using different techniques for energy saving is one of the essential tasks in WSNs. Many efforts have been put to reduce the energy consumption of the hardware, software, communication protocols and applications. However, energy consumption still cannot be brought down to the desired level. Therefore, we have presented a renewable-harvesting energy approach for solving the power consumption problem of the WSNs and the utilization of renewable (solar) energy to enhance the lifespan of the WSNs in environmental applications. In this study, we have also proposed a new renewable powered energy harvesting model for the rapid prototyping of any WSN. We have found that these approaches may play a critical role in increasing the lifespan of a WSN.
This paper presents an energy-efficient solar energy harvesting and sensing microsystem that harvests solar energy from a micro-power photovoltaic module for autonomous operation of a gas sensor. A fully integrated solar energy harvester stores the harvested energy in a rechargeable NiMH microbattery. Hydrogen concentration and temperature are measured and converted to a digital value with 12-bit resolution using a fully integrated sensor interface circuit, and a wireless transceiver is used to transmit the measurement results to a base station. As the harvested solar energy varies considerably in different lighting conditions, in order to guarantee autonomous operation of the sensor, the proposed area-and energy-efficient circuit scales the power consumption and performance of the sensor. The power management circuit dynamically decreases the operating frequency of digital circuits and bias currents of analog circuits in the sensor interface circuit and increases the idle time of the transceiver under reduced light intensity. The proposed microsystem has been implemented in a 0.18 µm complementary metal-oxidesemiconductor (CMOS) process and occupies a core area of only 0.25 mm 2. This circuit features a low power consumption of 2.1 µW when operating at its highest performance. It operates with low power supply voltage in the 0.8V to 1.6 V range.
Photovoltaic Scavenging Systems: Modeling and Optimization
2008
The interest in embedded portable systems and wireless sensor networks (WSNs) that scavenge energy from the environment has been increasing over the last years. Thanks to the progress in the design of low-power circuits, such devices consume less and less power and are promising candidates to perform continued operation by the use of renewable energy sources. The adoption of maximum power point tracking (MPPT) techniques in photovoltaic scavengers increases the energy harvesting efficiency and leads to several benefits such as the possibility to shrink the size of photovoltaic modules and energy reservoirs. Unfortunately, the optimization of this process under non-stationary light conditions is still a key design challenge and the development of a photovoltaic harvester has to be preceded by extensive simulations. We propose a detailed model of the solar cell that predicts the instantaneous power collected by the panel and improves the simulation of harvester systems. Furthermore, the paper focuses on a methodology for optimizing the design of MPPT solar harvesters for self-powered embedded systems and presents improvements in the circuit architecture with respect to our previous implementation. Experimental results show that the proposed design guidelines allow to increment global efficiency and to reduce the power consumption of the scavenger.
Feasibility of Harvesting Solar Energy for Self-Powered Environmental Wireless Sensor Nodes
Electronics, 2020
Energy harvesting has a vital role in building reliable Environmental Wireless Sensor Networks (EWSNs), without needing to replace a discharged battery. Solar energy is one of the main renewable energy sources that can be used to efficiently charge a battery. This paper introduces two solar energy harvesters and their power measurements at different light conditions in order to charge rechargeable AA batteries powering EWSN nodes. The first harvester is a primitive energy harvesting circuit that is built using elementary off-shelf components, while the second harvester is based on a commercial boost converter chip. To prove the effectiveness of harvesting solar energy, five EWSN nodes were distributed at a nature reserve (the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania, USA) and the sunlight at their locations was recorded for more than five months. For each recorded illumination, the corresponding harvested energy has been estimated and compared with the average energy consumption of t...
Energy Efficiency of Commercially Used MPPT Algorithms in Solar Energy Harvesting
2018
EFFN-01 In order to harvest maximum energy under continuously changing temperature and irradiation, Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) circuits must be exploited for solar energy harvesting. Different MPPT algorithms are proposed in the literature to provide optimality under various conditions and increase the convergence speed, robustness and reliability of the system. Energy efficiency of these algorithms is less investigated. In this paper energy efficiency of two most commercially and commonly used MPPT algorithms is studied. Closed loop behaviour of fixed step size and adaptive step size perturb and observe algorithms is simulated assuming three different irradiation and temperature change scenarios. A new energy efficiency metric is introduced which separately considers energy efficiency during transition and in maximum power point. Adaptive algorithm is found to be in average 14.76% more energy efficient than fixed step size algorithm.