Use it or lose it: The influence of second order effects of practical components on storing energy harvested by pyroelectric effects
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Alex Beasley graduated from the University of Bath with a 1st Class MEng (Hons) degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering. The course involved 4 years of study including two semester long projects: a group design and business project as the second half of the 3rd year and an individual project in the second half of the final year and a year in industry which was conducted at Renishaw plc. Currently undertaking a PhD to examine the implications and benefits of partial dynamic reconfiguration in FPGA-SoC architecture.
Christopher Rhys Bowen has a BSc degree in Materials Science from the University of Bath (1986–1990) and a DPhil in Ceramics from the University of Oxford (1990–1993). Post-doctoral work has been undertaken at Tecnische Universität Harburg-Hamburg and University of Leeds (1994–1996). He was Senior Scientist at the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency from 1996–1998. He joined the University of Bath as a Lecturer in 1998 and is now Professor of Materials and ERC Advanced Investigator, ERC Grant Agreement no. 320963 on Novel Energy Materials, Engineering Science and Integrated Systems (NEMESIS). Research areas include energy harvesting, piezoelectric materials, dielectrics and functional ceramics.
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Daniel Zabek has a PhD from the University of Bath in the area of pyroelectric energy harvesting using materials such as PVDF and graphene, along with the use of oscillating heat pipes for energy recovery and creating meshed electrodes for improved performance.
Christopher T. Clarke received a BEng degree in Engineering Electronics and a PhD degree in Computer Science from the University of Warwick in 1989 and 1994, respectively. From 1994 to 1997, he lectured at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore where he was a co-founder of the Centre for High Performance Embedded Systems (CHiPES). He joined the Microelectronics and Optoelectronics research group in the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering at the University of Bath in March 2003. He is a member of the Centre for Advanced Sensor Technologies (CAST). Dr Clarke is a member of the IET and has published in excess of 40 papers in conferences and journals.
Abstract
Harvesting energy using the pyroelectric effect has seen growth as a potential energy source for low power applications, such as self-powered and autonomous wireless sensor networks. The scavenged energy is generally at low power levels, from mW to less than µW. While the voltages generated by pyroelectrics can be appreciable, the electric currents can be low in the order of nano-amps. In the case of pyroelectric harvesting the frequency of operation can also be low, typically much lower than 1 Hz, due to the slow temperature oscillations and transients in systems of large thermal mass. The combination of low power levels and low frequency of operation means that methods of storing electrical energy generated by pyroelectrics and the influence of inherent second order losses is of importance to create efficient harvesting devices. This paper examines the second order characteristic effects of practical capacitors and diodes for storage. The stored energy decay characteristics for commercially available components are examined and the data is used to characterise the second order effects. Selected components are then used in a pyroelectric harvesting system to determine potential improvements by appropriate selection of components with low loss.
Zusammenfassung
Das erzeugen kleiner Mengen elektrischer Energie, oder das Ernten von Energie (Englisch: „energy harvesting“), unter Verwendung des pyroelektrischen Effektes zur direkten Umwandlung von Wärme in Strom hat das Potenzial kleine elektrische Verbraucher, wie zum Beispiel drahtlose Sensornetze, zu versorgen. Die elektrische Ausgangspannung von pyroelektrischen Mikrogeneratoren ist hoch, aber die erzeugten Ströme, in der Größenordnung von Nanoampere, sind niedrig. Zudem kann die Ausgangswechselspannung, bedingt durch eine große thermische Masse der Generatoren in Verbindung mit den vorherrschenden langsamen Temperaturschwankungen und der trägen Wärmeleitung, niedrige Frequenzen im Bereich von unter 1 Hz aufweisen. Aufgrund der hohen Ausgangswechselspannung, der niedrigen Frequenzen und der geringen elektrischen Ausgangsleistung der pyroelektrischen Mikrogeneratoren bedarf es somit einer elektrischen Zwischenspeicherung der erzeugten elektrischen Energie. Bei der Zwischenspeicherung fallen verlustbehaftete Transformationseffekte, oder sogenannte sekundäre Effekte, an welchen vorzubeugen ist um die Leistungsabgabe der pyroelektrischen Mikrogeneratoren zu steigern. Die sekundären Effekte in standardisierten Kondensatoren und Dioden zur Speicherung von elektrischer Energie werden in diesem Artikel experimentell untersucht. Ferner werden Bauteile mit minimalen Verlusten ausgewählt und in einem pyroelektrischen Mikrogenerator zur Zwischenspeicherung der erzeugten elektrischen Energie untersucht und die Möglichkeiten der Verbesserung des Wirkungsgrades durch eine gezielte Auswahl der Bauteile dargestellt, wodurch der Verlust durch sekundäre Effekte gering gehalten werden kann.
Funding source: H2020 European Research Council
Award Identifier / Grant number: 320963
Funding statement: We acknowledge funding from the European Research Council under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP/2007-2013) / ERC Grant Agreement no. 320963 on Novel Energy Materials, Engineering Science and Integrated Systems (NEMESIS).
About the authors
Alex Beasley graduated from the University of Bath with a 1st Class MEng (Hons) degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering. The course involved 4 years of study including two semester long projects: a group design and business project as the second half of the 3rd year and an individual project in the second half of the final year and a year in industry which was conducted at Renishaw plc. Currently undertaking a PhD to examine the implications and benefits of partial dynamic reconfiguration in FPGA-SoC architecture.
Christopher Rhys Bowen has a BSc degree in Materials Science from the University of Bath (1986–1990) and a DPhil in Ceramics from the University of Oxford (1990–1993). Post-doctoral work has been undertaken at Tecnische Universität Harburg-Hamburg and University of Leeds (1994–1996). He was Senior Scientist at the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency from 1996–1998. He joined the University of Bath as a Lecturer in 1998 and is now Professor of Materials and ERC Advanced Investigator, ERC Grant Agreement no. 320963 on Novel Energy Materials, Engineering Science and Integrated Systems (NEMESIS). Research areas include energy harvesting, piezoelectric materials, dielectrics and functional ceramics.
Daniel Zabek has a PhD from the University of Bath in the area of pyroelectric energy harvesting using materials such as PVDF and graphene, along with the use of oscillating heat pipes for energy recovery and creating meshed electrodes for improved performance.
Christopher T. Clarke received a BEng degree in Engineering Electronics and a PhD degree in Computer Science from the University of Warwick in 1989 and 1994, respectively. From 1994 to 1997, he lectured at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore where he was a co-founder of the Centre for High Performance Embedded Systems (CHiPES). He joined the Microelectronics and Optoelectronics research group in the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering at the University of Bath in March 2003. He is a member of the Centre for Advanced Sensor Technologies (CAST). Dr Clarke is a member of the IET and has published in excess of 40 papers in conferences and journals.
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© 2018 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Research Articles
- Numerical analysis and experimental verification of broadband tristable energy harvesters
- Use it or lose it: The influence of second order effects of practical components on storing energy harvested by pyroelectric effects
- Investigation of a hybrid piezo-electromagnetic energy harvester
- Stiffness control of a nonlinear mechanical folded beam for wideband vibration energy harvesters
- Numerical investigation of nonlinear mechanical and constitutive effects on piezoelectric vibration-based energy harvesting
- Evaluation of multiple transducers implementation in a magnetoelectric vibration energy harvester
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Research Articles
- Numerical analysis and experimental verification of broadband tristable energy harvesters
- Use it or lose it: The influence of second order effects of practical components on storing energy harvested by pyroelectric effects
- Investigation of a hybrid piezo-electromagnetic energy harvester
- Stiffness control of a nonlinear mechanical folded beam for wideband vibration energy harvesters
- Numerical investigation of nonlinear mechanical and constitutive effects on piezoelectric vibration-based energy harvesting
- Evaluation of multiple transducers implementation in a magnetoelectric vibration energy harvester
