• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.57 no.10
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• pp.1790-1795
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• 2008

Energy scavenging is a technique that converts ambient energy, for example, vibration and light, to electrical energy in order to supply power to low power electronic devices such as ubiquitous sensors. In this paper, we propose an optimal operation condition of power delivery circuit and design strategy for energy scavenging system in which the generated power is order of microwatt and, consequently, efficient handling of power is critical. We also propose that high data transmission rate is more realistic optimal design objective rather than high energy efficiency. It is shown that disconnection of load from the storage capacitor right after data transmission reduces energy wasting and that optimal value of storage capacitor can be determined at this condition. The feasibility of our propose is proved by experiments and we believe that the proposed design strategy will promote the application of piezoelectric micropower generator to the ubiquitous sensor networks.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2008.11a
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• pp.193-193
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• 2008

Wearable and ubiquitous micro systems will be greatly growing and their related devices should be self-powered in order to avoid the replacement of finite power sources, for example, by scavenging energy from the environment. With ever reducing power requirements of both analog and digital circuits, power scavenging approaches are becoming increasingly realistic. One approach is to drive an electromechanical converter from ambient motion or vibration. Vibration-driven generators based on electromagnetic, electrostatic and piezoelectric technologies have been demonstrated. Among various generator types proposed so far, piezoelectric generator possesses considerable potential in micro system. To overcome low mechanical-to-electric energy conversion, the piezoelectric device should activate in resonance mode in response to external vibration. Normally, the external vibration excretes at low frequency ranging 0.1 to 200 Hz, whereas the resonant frequencies of the devices are fixed as constant. Therefore, keeping their resonant mode in varying external vibration can be one of important points in enhancing the conversion efficiency. We investigated the possibility of use of multi-bender type piezoelectric devices. To match the external vibration frequency with the device resonant frequency, the various devices with different resonant frequency were chosen.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2007.11a
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• pp.261-261
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• 2007

Wearable and ubiquitous micro systems will be greatly growing and their related devices should be self-powered in order to avoid the replacement of finite power sources, for example, by scavenging energy from the environment. With ever reducing power requirements of both analog and digital circuits, power scavenging approaches are becoming increasingly realistic. One approach is to drive an electromechanical converter from ambient motion or vibration. Vibration-driven generators based on electromagnetic, electrostatic and piezoelectric technologies have been demonstrated. Among various generator types proposed so far, piezoelectric generator possesses considerable potential in micro system. To overcome low mechanical-to- electric energy conversion, the piezoelectric device should activate in resonance mode in response to external vibration. Normally, the external vibration excretes at low frequency ranging 0.1 to 200 Hz, whereas the resonant frequencies of the devices are fixed as constant. Therefore, keeping their resonant mode in varying external vibration can be one of important points in enhancing the conversion efficiency. We investigated the possibility of use of multi-bender type piezoelectric devices. To match the external vibration frequency with the device resonant frequency, the various devices with different resonant frequency were chosen. Under an external vibration acceleration of 0.1G at 120 Hz, the device exhibited a peak-to-peak voltage of 2.8 V and a power of 0.5 mw in resonance mode.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SC
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.47-56
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• 2012

Bicycle has a large amount of kinetic energy available for energy harvesting technology in its speedy and balanced riding movement. Systematic and realistic analysis of its dynamic property is essential to improve the efficiency of energy harvester. However, there has not been enough researches about precise measurement or analysis of bicycle dynamics on real roads. This study aims to investigate the characteristics of vibrational movement of bicycle using MEMS-based accelerometer and to develop a prototype of electromagnetic energy harvester with nonlinear behavior which is proper to the random vibrations accompanied in bicycle riding. The vibrational components have average magnitude of 1 g and turn out to be independent of riding speed. The developed prototype of energy harvester was installed on a front port of a bicycle to use this ambient vibration and generated an average electrical power of 1.5 mW which is enough to support power for most of portable sensors and short range radio-frequency communication. Further study about isolation of vibration from a rider and conversion efficiency is ongoing. The developed energy harvester is expected to be a platform technology for sustainable portable power supply for various smart IT devices and applications.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2008.11a
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• pp.219-219
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• 2008

Energy harvesting from the environment has been of great interest as a standalone power source of wireless sensor nodes for ubiquitous sensor networks (USN). There are several power generating methods such as thermal gradients, solar cell, energy produced by human action, mechanical vibration energy, and so on. Most of all, mechanical vibration is easily accessible and has no limitation of weather and environment of outdoor or indoor. In particular, the piezoelectric energy harvesting from ambient vibration sources has attracted attention because it has a relative high power density comparing with other energy scavenging methods. Through recent advances in low power consumption RF transmitters and sensors, it is possible to adopt a micro-power energy harvesting system realized by MEMS technology for the system-on-chip. However, the MEMS energy harvesting system hassome drawbacks such as a high natural frequency over 300 Hz and a small power generation due to a small dimension. To overcome these limitations, we devised a novel power generator with a spiral spring structure. In this case, the energy harvester has a lower natural frequency under 200 Hz than a normal cantilever structure. Moreover, it has higher an energy conversion efficient because shear mode ($d_{15}$) is much larger than 33 mode ($d_{33}$) and the energy conversion efficiency is proportional to the piezoelectric constant (d). We expect the spiral type MEMS power generator would be a good candidate as a standalone power generator for USN.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2010.03a
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• pp.7-7
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• 2010

Energy harvesting from the environment has been of great interest as a standalone power source of wireless sensor nodes for Ubiquitous Sensor Networks(USN). In particular, the piezoelectric energy harvesting from ambient vibration sources has intensively researched because it has a relatively high power density comparing with other energy scavenging methods. Through recent advances in low power consumption RF transmitters and sensors, it is possible to adopt a micro-power energy harvesting system realized by MEMS technology for the system-on-chip. However, the MEMS energy harvesting system has some drawbacks such as a high natural frequency over 300 Hz and a small power generation due to a small dimension. To overcome these limitations, we devised a novel power generator with a spiral spring structure as shown in the figure. The natural frequency of a cantilever could be decreased to the usable frequency region (under 300 Hz) because the natural frequency depends on the length of a cantilever. In this study, the natural frequency of the energy harvester was a lower than a normal cantilever structure and sufficiently controllable in 50 - 200 Hz frequency region as adjusting weight of a proof mass. Moreover, the MEMS energy harvester had a high energy conversion efficiency using a shear mode ($d_{15}$) is much larger than a 33 mode ($d_{33}$) and the energy conversion efficiency is proportional to the piezoelectric constant (d). We expect the spiral type MEMS power generator would be a good candidate for a standalone power generator for USN.