Piezoelectric Energy Harvester for IoT Sensor Devices

Abstract

Limited battery power is a major challenge for wireless sensor network (WSN) in internet of things (IoT) applications, especially in hard-to-reach places that require periodic battery replacement. The energy harvesting application is intended as an alternative to maintain network lifetime by utilizing environmental energy. The proposed method utilized piezoelectricity to convert vibration or pressure energy into electrical energy through a modular piezoelectric energy harvesting design used to supply energy to sensor nodes in WSN. The module design consisted of several piezoelectric elements, of which each had a different character in generating energy. A bridge diode was connected to each element to reduce the feedback effect of other elements when pressure was exerted. The energy produced by the piezoelectric is an impulse so that the capacitor was used to quickly store the energy. The proposed module produced 7.436 μJ for each step and 297.4 μJ of total energy with pressure of a 45 kg load 40 times with specific experiments installed under each step. The energy could supply WSN nodes in IoT application with a simple energy harvesting system. This paper presents a procedure for measuring the energy harvested from a commonly available piezoelectric buzzer. The specific configurations of the piezoelectric and the experiment setups will be explained. Therefore, the output energy characteristics will be understood. In the end, the potentially harvested energy can be estimated. Therefore, the configuration of IoT WSN could be planned.