Thermal energy harvesting for distributed sensors

摘要

The past decade has seen significant advances in distributed sensors and sensor networks. With these advances has come an increased interest in energy harvesting to provide a continuous power source that will replace or augment existing power storage systems. Energy harvesting is the process whereby a portion of energy is removed, captured, and stored from an existing source of unused but available energy. Thermoelectric power generators (TEGs) convert waste heat from thermal sources into usable electricity, thus eliminating the need to use traditional wired power sources or replaceable batteries.