Home // International Journal On Advances in Networks and Services, volume 4, numbers 1 and 2, 2011 // View article

Durable Solar Energy Harvesting from Limited Ambient Energy Income

Authors:
Sebastian Bader
Bengt Oelmann

Keywords: energy harvesting; wireless sensor networks; environmental monitoring; energy sources; node lifetime

Abstract:
Typical wireless sensor network applications in the domain of environmental monitoring require or profit from extended system lifetime. However, restrictions in sensor node resources, especially due to the usage of capacity limited batteries, forbid these desired lifetimes to be reached. As opposed to batteries, energy harvesting from ambient energy sources enables for near-perpetual supply of sensor nodes, as the utilized energy source is inexhaustible. Nevertheless, the supply from ambient energy sources is rate-limited, wherein this supply-rate is mainly defined by the system deployment location. On the other hand, the attached sensor node has a consumption-rate, which has to be supplied to guarantee continuous node operation. In this paper, we address the matching of supply-rate and consumption-rate in solar energy harvesting systems at locations with limited insolation. The focus lies on the reduction of harvester energy overhead, which in low-duty cycled system easily reaches similar or higher consumption levels than the load it supplies. We suggest and present two harvester architectures cite{Bader2010}, that have their main design consideration on simplicity. The individual modules of the architectures are tested and verified in laboratory measurements and we evaluate the fully implemented systems in an outdoor deployment. Based on the laboratory results, implementation choices for the architecture modules have been made. Whereas both harvesting architectures continuously supplied the attached load during the deployment period, we were able to compare their behavior with each other and present individual advantages and drawbacks.

Pages: 66 to 80

Copyright: Copyright (c) to authors, 2011. Used with permission.

Publication date: September 15, 2011

Published in: journal

ISSN: 1942-2644