Human-motion energy harvester for autonomous body area sensors

M. Geisler (1) , S. Boisseau (1) , M. Perez (1) , P. Gasnier (1) , J. Willemin (1) , I. Ait-Ali , S. Perraud (2)

1 CEA-LETI - Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives - Laboratoire d'Electronique et de Technologie de l'Information
2 LITEN - Laboratoire d'Innovation pour les Technologies des Energies Nouvelles et les nanomatériaux

This paper reports on a method to optimize an electromagnetic energy harvester converting the low-frequency body motion and aimed at powering wireless body area sensors. This method is based on recorded accelerations, and mechanical and transduction models that enable an efficient joint optimization of the structural parameters. An optimized prototype of 14.8 mmO x. 52 mm, weighting 20 g, has generated up to 4.95mW in a resistive load when worn at the arm during a run, and 6.57mW when hand-shaken. Among the inertial electromagnetic energy harvesters reported so far, this one exhibits one of the highest power densities (up to 730 mu W cm(-3)). The energy harvester was finally used to power a bluetooth low energy wireless sensor node with accelerations measurements at 25 Hz.

Mots clés: electromagnetic conversion; low-frequency; energy harvesting; body area sensor nodes

Domaines: Sciences de l'ingénieur [physics]

M. Geisler, S. Boisseau, M. Perez, P. Gasnier, J. Willemin, et al.. Human-motion energy harvester for autonomous body area sensors. Smart Materials and Structures, 2017, 26 (3), ⟨10.1088/1361-665X/aa548a⟩. ⟨cea-02202417⟩