• Smart Structures and Systems
• /
• v.11 no.5
• /
• pp.555-567
• /
• 2013

An Remote Corrosion Monitoring (RCM) system consists of an anode with low potential, the metallic structures against corrosion, an electrode to provide reference potential, and a data-acquisition system to ensure the potential difference for anticorrosion. In more detail, the data-acquisition (DAQ) system monitors the potential difference between the metallic structures and a reference electrode to identify the correct potential level against the corrosion of the infrastructures. Then, the measured data are transmitted to a central office to remotely keep track of the status of the corrosion monitoring (CM) system. To date, the RCM system is designed to achieve low power consumption, so that it can be simply powered by batteries. However, due to memory effect and the limited number of recharge cycles, it can entail the maintenance fee or sometimes cause failure to protect the metallic structures. To address this issue, the low-overhead energy harvesting circuitry for the RCM systems has designed to replenish energy storage elements (ESEs) along with redeeming the leakage of supercapacitors. Our developed energy harvester can scavenge the ambient energy from the corrosion monitoring environments and store it as useful electrical energy for powering local data-acquisition systems. In particular, this paper considers the energy harvesting from potential difference due to galvanic corrosion between a metallic infrastructure and a permanent copper/copper sulfate reference electrode. In addition, supercapacitors are adopted as an ESE to compensate for or overcome the limitations of batteries. Experimental results show that our proposed harvesting schemes significantly reduce the overhead of the charging circuitry, which enable fully charging up to a 350-F supercapacitor under the low corrosion power of 3 mW (i.e., 1 V/3 mA).

• Smart Structures and Systems
• /
• v.22 no.2
• /
• pp.133-137
• /
• 2018

Increasing interest in prognostics and health management has heightened the need for wireless sensor networks (WSN) with efficient power sources. Piezoelectric energy harvesters using Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 (PZT) are one of the candidate power sources for WSNs as they efficiently convert mechanical vibration energy into electrical energy. These types of devices are resonated at a specific frequency, which has a significant impact on the amount of energy harvested, by external vibration. Hence, precise prediction of mechanical deformation including modal analysis of piezoelectric devices is crucial for estimating the energy generated under specific conditions. In this study, an experimental vibrational system capable of controlling a wide range of frequencies and accelerations was designed to generate mechanical vibration for piezoelectric energy harvesters. In conjunction with MATLAB, the system automatically finds the resonance frequency of harvesters. A small accelerometer and non-contact laser displacement sensor are employed to investigate the mechanical deformation of harvesters. Mechanical deformation under various frequencies and accelerations were investigated and analyzed based on data from two types of sensors. The results verify that the proposed system can be employed to carry out vibration experiments for piezoelectric harvesters and measurement of their mechanical deformation.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
• /
• v.29 no.5
• /
• pp.293-302
• /
• 2020

Food safety has emerged as a growing concern for human health in recent times. Consuming contaminated food may lead to serious health problems, and therefore, a system for monitoring food freshness that is both non-detrimental to the quality of food and highly accurate is required to ensure that only high-quality fresh food packages are provided to the customers. This paper proposes a method to monitor and detect food quality using a compact smart sensor tag. The smart tag is composed of three ultra-low-power sensors, which monitor four major indicators of food freshness: temperature, humidity, and the concentrations of ammonia and hydrogen sulfide gases. An RF energy scavenging circuit is integrated into the smart sensor tag to harvest energy from radio waves at a high frequency of 13.56 MHz to supply sufficient power to the tag. Experimental results show that the proposed energy harvester can efficiently obtain energy at a distance of approximately 40 cm from a 4 W reader. In addition, the proposed smart sensor tag can operate without any battery, thereby eliminating the requirement of frequent battery replacement and consequently decreasing the cost. Meanwhile, the freshness of preserved pork is continuously monitored under two conditions--room temperature and refrigerator temperature--both of which are the most common temperatures under which food is generally stored. The food-monitoring experiments are conducted over a period of one week using the proposed battery-less tag. Based on the experimental results, the food assessment is classified into four categories: fresh, normal, low, and spoiled.

• The Journal of the Korea institute of electronic communication sciences
• /
• v.13 no.5
• /
• pp.1093-1100
• /
• 2018

Fast progress in miniaturization and reducing power consumption of semiconductors for wearable devices makes it possible to develop extremely small wearable systems for various application services. This results recent wearable applications to be powered from extremely low-power energy harvesters based on solar, piezo, and TENG sources. In most cases, the harvesters generate power in non-linear manner. Therefore, we implemented and experimented the device platforms to utilize natural frequency of around 3Hz. We also designed two-stage power storages and high efficiency conversion platform to consider such non-linear power harvesting sources. The experiment showed power generation of about 4.67mW/min from these non-linear sources with provision of stable energy storages.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
• /
• v.36 no.3
• /
• pp.292-297
• /
• 2023

Triboelectric devices are attracting attention from researchers as self-powered electronic systems that can instantly convert mechanical input into electrical energy output. To improve triboelectric energy harvesting performance, increasing the number of contacts as well as the contact area has been carried out by numerous researchers. In this study, we design a shaker-type energy harvester which is called as maracas triboelectric generator (M-TEG), inspired by the structure of maracas, one of the musical percussion instruments. A tripod frame is inserted to the inside of a cylindrical case, which is a device with the electrodes of aluminum and copper. Then, the triboelectric energy harvesting characteristics between polypropylene (PP) balls and the electrodes are measured. The M-TEG with the frame generates the energy harvesting signals up to ~100 V and ~2.5 ㎂ due to larger contact area and numbers, which enhances the voltage and current output by 250% and 610% compared to that without the frame, respectively. This study presents the feasibility of self-powered sensors and toys using improved triboelectric energy performance with a low-cost and simple manufacturing process in the interesting structure.

• Proceedings of the KIPE Conference
• /
• 2016.07a
• /
• pp.227-228
• /
• 2016

본 논문에서는 압전소자를 이용한 에너지 하베스터의 전기적 모델링을 제안하였고 이를 시뮬레이션 및 실험을 통해 비교 분석하였다. 에너지 하베스터는 압전소자를 이용한 발전기, 풀브리지 정류기, 평활용 콘덴서, 부하로 구성된다. 본 논문에서는 에너지 하베스팅 방법으로 Standard AC 방법과 이에 풀브리지 정류기를 추가한 Standard DC 방법을 사용하였고 전기적 모델링, 시뮬레이션, 실험의 분석을 위해 압전 발전기를 RLC 등가모델로 구성하였다. 에너지 하베스터 실험장치를 구성하였으며, 두 가지의 전력변환 기법 각각 $73.7{\mu}W$, $69.3{\mu}W$를 하베스팅 하는 것을 확인하였다.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
• /
• 2010.06a
• /
• pp.210-210
• /
• 2010

에너지 하베스트 기술은 자연의 빛에너지, 휴대용 기기 탑재/부착장치의 미세 진동에너지, 걷거나 뛰는 인간의 신체활동으로 인한 소산에너지 등을 흡수하여 전기에너지로 변환, 전자기기의 전력으로 사용하는 재생형 에너지원이다. 본 논문에서는 그 중 주변 환경에서 에너지를 끌어 쓸 수 있는 기술 중 압전 효과 방식을 이용한 진동 형태의 에너지 하베스트 기술을 활용하여 설계하고 FEM simulation을 통해 분석해보았다. 압전 물질로는 PZT를 사용하고 메탈기반의 캔틸레버로는 구리를 사용하여 크기를 길이, 넓이, 폭 각각 $6{\times}4{\times}0.025mm^3$으로 모델링하여 444Hz의 공진주파수에서 응력이 $2.68e^{+5}Pa$ 발생하는 결과를 얻었다. 그 결과 $d_{33}$ 모드의 전극형태에서 전압을 2.56V 얻을 수 있음을 추론할 수 있었다.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
• /
• v.40 no.2
• /
• pp.110-114
• /
• 2015

Purpose: A threshing machine for shatter-resistant sesame was designed and developed in this study. Methods: Two types of sesame (shatter-resistant and conventional) were tested using the developed sesame threshing system. Three types of serrated bars were designed and evaluated through performance tests, in terms of the ratio of unthreshed sesame. Results: In the case of conventional sesame, the ratio of unthreshed sesame did not show any difference with bar type or cylinder rotation speed. For shatter-resistant sesame, however, the ratio of unthreshed sesame decreased with increased cylinder rotating speed for all three types of bar. Conclusions: These results are useful for the construction and utilization of an efficient threshing harvester. The type-L bar showed the best result in the energy equation.

• Proceedings of the KIPE Conference
• /
• 2017.07a
• /
• pp.202-203
• /
• 2017

본 논문은 타이어에 적용되는 전자기 에너지 하베스팅 시스템에서 손실 요소를 포함하여 전력변환장치 모델링 하였고, 시뮬레이션과 실험 결과를 비교 분석하여 모델을 검증하였다. 전자기 발전기의 AC 출력은 풀브리지 정류기를 이용해 DC로 변환하였으며, DC-DC 부스트 컨버터를 이용해 전압을 승압하여 배터리를 충전하였다. 전력변환에서 미소 전력을 배터리로 전달하기 위해 에너지 관점에서 해석하였고, 간헐적인 에너지 전달을 이용해 에너지 하베스팅을 구현하였다. 설계된 모델은 전류 제어를 통해 실험과 유사한 입력 및 출력 조건에서 시뮬레이션하였고, 컨버터의 데이터 시트 정보와 비교하여 3% 이내의 오차를 확인하여 제안된 손실 모델을 검증하였다.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
• /
• v.24 no.5
• /
• pp.422-426
• /
• 2011

Piezoelectric materials can be used to convert mechanical energy into electrical energy. In this study, we investigated the possibility of harvesting from mechanical vibration force using a high efficient piezoelectric material-polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF). A piezoelectric energy harvesting system consists of rectifier, filter capacitor, resistance. The experiments were carried out with impacting force to PVDF film with the thickness of 1 ${\mu}m$. The output power was measured with change in the load resistance value from 100 ${\Omega}$ to 2.2 $M{\Omega}$. The highest power was obtained under optimization by selection of suitable resistive load and capacitance. A power of 0.3082 ${\mu}W/mm^2$ was generated at the external vibration force of 5 N (10 Hz) across a 1 $M{\Omega}$ optimal resistor. Also, the maximum power of 0.345 ${\mu}W/mm^2$ was generated at 22 ${\mu}F$ and 1 $M{\Omega}$. The developed system was expected at a solution to overcome the critical problem of making up small size energy harvester.