MULTI-SOURCE AMBIENT ENERGY POWER SUPPLY FOR EMBEDDED DEVICES OR REMOTE SENSOR OR RFID NETWORKS

摘要

An ambient electromagnetic energy collector has a magnetic core of high permeability ferromagnetic material wrapped in an inductor coil for coupling primarily to a magnetic field component of a propagating transverse electromagnetic (TEM) wave. For coupling to electromagnetic waves of a wide range of frequencies and magnitudes, the collector is coupled to a multi-phase transformer connected to a multi-phase diode voltage multiplier to provide a current source output to an associated energy storage device. An output controller supplies output power as needed to the associated energy-using device. Preferred types of ferromagnetic materials include nickel-iron alloys with a small percentage of silicon, molybdenum, or copper. It may be combined with other types of ambient energy collectors, such as acoustic/vibration, thermoelectric, and photovoltaic collectors, in a multi-source device provided with a collector interface for converting the different outputs for storage in a common energy storage device. The multi-source ambient energy collector device can be used to supply power to embedded devices, remotely deployed wireless sensors or RFID tags, and other types of monitoring devices distributed over large areas or in industrial environments.