A Solar, Thermal, and Piezoelectric based Hybrid Energy Harvesting for IoT and Underwater WSN Applications

Abstract

There has been an increasing interest in the research community regarding the development of new energy harvesting systems/architectures for sensor networks deployed at critical locations. Various types of energy harvesting techniques like solar, thermal, aquatic, and wind energy harvesting systems are popular in the research community. It has been found in a survey that a single energy harvesting technique is not enough for the wireless sensor network, especially when the nodes are deployed in critical areas, like volcanoes, underwater, ocean, rivers, etc. This study aimed to explore energy solutions for perpetual, battery-less, and critical places where human intervention is impossible. In this study, a hybrid energy harvesting solution using solar, pressure, and thermal has been proposed. An optimized framework has been proposed, implemented, and analyzed for the underwater sensor network application. Furthermore, mechanical and electrical schematic models have been designed, implemented, and realized. The physical parameters of solar, thermal, and piezoelectrical transducers have been analyzed along with mathematical equations to find the best possible solutions for the optimized framework. The model was theoretically implemented and investigated, and it was found that 22.3KJ of energy can be extracted in 24hrs from the proposed design, which guarantees a perpetual life of the sensor node.