Hybrid power for wireless sensors

摘要

Wireless sensors provide solutions to otherwise intractable problems in homeland defense and security, building automation, industrial process monitoring and control, structural health monitoring in bridges, aircraft, buildings and ships and a host of applications where the cost or feasibility of deploying wired sensors is impractical. The biggest challenge facing wireless sensors is power. While advances in power management and battery technology may enable 3 to 5 year battery life, in many applications even this is not sufficient. Energy harvesting techniques show potential to provide long lasting power, but suffer from low power density values, meaning that they must be oversized to deliver power for short duty cycle communications functions. In this paper we demonstrate a solution that draws on the benefits of energy harvesting for long life, and microbatteries and microsupercapacitors to provide back-up and pulse power capabilities without the need for refueling or recharging.