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Energy-Harvesting and Self-Powered Devices
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Energy-Harvesting and Self-Powered Devices

A special issue of Journal of Low Power Electronics and Applications (ISSN 2079-9268).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 December 2022) | Viewed by 23273

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Alessandro Bertacchini

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Guest Editor
Department of Sciences and Methods for Engineering — DISMI—University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, via G.Amendola, 2, 42122 Reggio Emilia, Italy
Interests: ultralow power systems design; energy harvesting; energy-aware HW/SW co-design; autonomous smart sensors; embedded systems design; IoT and IIoT; power management
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Pierre Gasnier

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
The French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), Leti, Systems Department, MINATEC Campus, 17 rue des martyrs, F-38054 Grenoble Cedex, France
Interests: vibration and flow energy harvesting; piezoelectricity; electromagnetism; low power electronics; power management circuits

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Ultra-low power consumption, energy harvesting and wireless connectivity are technologies that enable the realization of smart devices that implement new functions such as active safety enhancement, remote diagnostics, or prognostics to predict faults and prevent costly operation breakdowns. These functions are rapidly gaining interest in many application fields, such as Internet of Things (IoT), Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), smart agriculture, Industry 4.0, and the automotive industry.

On the one hand, wireless connectivity enables the realization of miniaturized devices that are able to work in harsh environments and that can be placed in locations unaccessible with traditional solutions. On the other hand, wireless devices are usually battery powered, and their miniaturization means that smaller energy storage devices must be used that can significantly limit the lifetime of devices and consequently lead to an unacceptable battery replacement rate in most applications.

To overcome this limitation, both industry and academia are working towards the realization of energy-neutral devices. In this context, the power management stage located between the harvester and the main storage element should be optimized for the sake of conversion efficiency, energy extraction capabilities and power consumption. In addition, in terms of making the autonomous system more robust, this circuit must adapt to changes in the harvester’s environment (amplitude, frequency, etc.) as well as to the often unavoidable changes in the harvesters’ characteristics (temperature variation, harvester’s aging, etc.).

In light of this scenario, the topics of this Special Issue include, but are not limited to:

  • High-efficiency energy harvesting circuits;
  • Context-aware power management circuits for energy-neutral devices;
  • Ultra-low power front-end electronics;
  • Ultra-low power communication interfaces;
  • Smart wake-up and self-startup circuits for self-powered devices;
  • Smart energy storage circuits or systems;
  • Advancements in energy-aware design techniques and energy harvesting solutions;
  • Real applications of self-powered devices;
  • Ultra-low power hardware architectures for energy-constrained devices;
  • Novel and efficient maximum point architectures for energy harvesting devices, including Microcontroler-based power management circuits;
  • New extraction techniques for vibration energy harvesting, especially non-linear ones;
  • Design methodologies of power management circuits;
  • Simulation tools and modelling of power management circuits.

Dr. Alessandro Bertacchini
Dr. Pierre Gasnier
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Journal of Low Power Electronics and Applications is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  •  Energy harvesting for autonomous wireless sensor nodes
  •  Smart power management circuits
  •  Energy-aware design
  •  Energy-neutral devices
  •  Self-powered sensors
  •  Hardware-software co-design

Published Papers (8 papers)

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Research

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18 pages, 3533 KiB  
Article
Efficient Dual Output Regulating Rectifier and Adiabatic Charge Pump for Biomedical Applications Employing Wireless Power Transfer
by Noora Almarri, Peter Langlois, Dai Jiang and Andreas Demosthenous
J. Low Power Electron. Appl. 2023, 13(1), 20; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/jlpea13010020 - 04 Mar 2023
Viewed by 2187
Abstract
A power management unit (PMU) is an essential block for diversified multi-functional low-power Internet of Things (IoT) and biomedical electronics. This paper includes a theoretical analysis of a high current, single-stage ac-dc, reconfigurable, dual output, regulating rectifier consisting of pulse width modulation (PWM) [...] Read more.
A power management unit (PMU) is an essential block for diversified multi-functional low-power Internet of Things (IoT) and biomedical electronics. This paper includes a theoretical analysis of a high current, single-stage ac-dc, reconfigurable, dual output, regulating rectifier consisting of pulse width modulation (PWM) and pulse frequency modulation (PFM). The regulating rectifier provides two independently regulated supply voltages of 1.8 V and 3.3 V from an input ac voltage. The PFM control feedback consists of feedback-driven regulation to adjust the driving frequency of the power transistors through adaptive buffers in the active rectifier. The PWM/PFM mode control provides a feedback loop to adjust the conduction duration accurately and minimize power losses. The design also includes an adiabatic charge pump (CP) to provide a higher voltage level. The adiabatic CP consists of latch-up and power-saving topologies to enhance its power efficiency. Simulation results show that the dual regulating rectifier has 94.3% voltage conversion efficiency with an ac input magnitude of 3.5 Vp. The power conversion efficiency of the regulated 3.3 V output voltage is 82.3%. The adiabatic CP has an overall voltage conversion efficiency (VCE) of 92.9% with a total on-chip capacitance of 60 pF. The circuit was designed using 180 nm CMOS technology. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Energy-Harvesting and Self-Powered Devices)
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21 pages, 2004 KiB  
Article
Radio-Frequency Energy Harvesting Using Rapid 3D Plastronics Protoyping Approach: A Case Study
by Xuan Viet Linh Nguyen, Tony Gerges, Pascal Bevilacqua, Jean-Marc Duchamp, Philippe Benech, Jacques Verdier, Philippe Lombard, Pangsui Usifu Linge, Fabien Mieyeville, Michel Cabrera and Bruno Allard
J. Low Power Electron. Appl. 2023, 13(1), 19; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/jlpea13010019 - 17 Feb 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2023
Abstract
Harvesting of ambient radio-frequency energy is largely covered in the literature. The RF energy harvester is considered most of the time as a standalone board. There is an interest to add the RF harvesting function on an already-designed object. Polymer objects are considered [...] Read more.
Harvesting of ambient radio-frequency energy is largely covered in the literature. The RF energy harvester is considered most of the time as a standalone board. There is an interest to add the RF harvesting function on an already-designed object. Polymer objects are considered here, manufactured through an additive process and the paper focuses on the rapid prototyping of the harvester using a plastronic approach. An array of four antennas is considered for circular polarization with high self-isolation. The RF circuit is obtained using an electroless copper metallization of the surface of a 3D substrate fabricated using stereolithography printing. The RF properties of the polymer resin are not optimal; thus, the interest of this work is to investigate the potential capabilities of such an implementation, particularly in terms of freedom of 3D design and ease of fabrication. The electromagnetic properties of the substrate are characterized over a band of 0.5–2.5 GHz applying the two-transmission-line method. A circular polarization antenna is experimented as a rapid prototyping vehicle and yields a gain of 1.26 dB. A lab-scale prototype of the rectifier and power management unit are experimented with discrete components. The cold start-up circuit accepts a minimum voltage of 180 mV. The main DC/DC converter operates under 1.4 V but is able to compensate losses for an input DC voltage as low as 100 mV (10 μW). The rectifier alone is capable of 3.5% efficiency at −30 dBm input RF power. The global system of circularly polarized antenna, rectifier, and voltage conversion features a global experimental efficiency of 14.7% at an input power of −13.5 dBm. The possible application of such results is discussed. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Energy-Harvesting and Self-Powered Devices)
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33 pages, 9795 KiB  
Article
Energy Autonomous Wireless Sensing Node Working at 5 Lux from a 4 cm2 Solar Cell
by Marcel Louis Meli, Sebastien Favre, Benjamin Maij, Stefan Stajic, Manuel Boebel, Philip John Poole, Martin Schellenberg and Charalampos S. Kouzinopoulos
J. Low Power Electron. Appl. 2023, 13(1), 12; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/jlpea13010012 - 01 Feb 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 3218
Abstract
Harvesting energy for IoT nodes in places that are permanently poorly lit is important, as many such places exist in buildings and other locations. The need for energy-autonomous devices working in such environments has so far received little attention. This work reports the [...] Read more.
Harvesting energy for IoT nodes in places that are permanently poorly lit is important, as many such places exist in buildings and other locations. The need for energy-autonomous devices working in such environments has so far received little attention. This work reports the design and test results of an energy-autonomous sensor node powered solely by solar cells. The system can cold-start and run in low light conditions (in this case 20 lux and below, using white LEDs as light sources). Four solar cells of 1 cm2 each are used, yielding a total active surface of 4 cm2. The system includes a capacitive sensor that acts as a touch detector, a crystal-accurate real-time clock (RTC), and a Cortex-M3-compatible microcontroller integrating a Bluetooth Low Energy radio (BLE) and the necessary stack for communication. A capacitor of 100 μF is used as energy storage. A low-power comparator monitors the level of the energy storage and powers up the system. The combination of the RTC and touch sensor enables the MCU load to be powered up periodically or using an asynchronous user touch activity. First tests have shown that the system can perform the basic work of cold-starting, sensing, and transmitting frames at +0 dBm, at illuminances as low as 5 lux. Harvesting starts earlier, meaning that the potential for full function below 5 lux is present. The system has also been tested with other light sources. The comparator is a test chip developed for energy harvesting. Other elements are off-the-shelf components. The use of commercially available devices, the reduced number of parts, and the absence of complex storage elements enable a small node to be built in the future, for use in constantly or intermittently poorly lit places. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Energy-Harvesting and Self-Powered Devices)
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11 pages, 2925 KiB  
Article
Study of Nitrogen-Doped Carbon Nanotubes for Creation of Piezoelectric Nanogenerator
by Marina V. Il’ina, Olga I. Soboleva, Soslan A. Khubezov, Vladimir A. Smirnov and Oleg I. Il’in
J. Low Power Electron. Appl. 2023, 13(1), 11; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/jlpea13010011 - 22 Jan 2023
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2700
Abstract
The creation of sustainable power sources for wearable electronics and self-powered systems is a promising direction of modern electronics. At the moment, a search for functional materials with high values of piezoelectric coefficient and elasticity, as well as non-toxicity, is underway to generate [...] Read more.
The creation of sustainable power sources for wearable electronics and self-powered systems is a promising direction of modern electronics. At the moment, a search for functional materials with high values of piezoelectric coefficient and elasticity, as well as non-toxicity, is underway to generate such power sources. In this paper, nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes (N-CNTs) are considered as a functional material for a piezoelectric nanogenerator capable of converting nanoscale deformations into electrical energy. The effect of defectiveness and of geometric and mechanical parameters of N-CNTs on the current generated during their deformation is studied. It was established that the piezoelectric response of N-CNTs increased nonlinearly with an increase in the Young’s modulus and the aspect ratio of the length to diameter of the nanotube and, on the contrary, decreased with an increase in defectiveness not caused by the incorporation of nitrogen atoms. The advantages of using N-CNT to create energy-efficient piezoelectric nanogenerators are shown. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Energy-Harvesting and Self-Powered Devices)
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17 pages, 5889 KiB  
Article
Numerical Optimization of a Nonlinear Nonideal Piezoelectric Energy Harvester Using Deep Learning
by Andreas Hegendörfer, Paul Steinmann and Julia Mergheim
J. Low Power Electron. Appl. 2023, 13(1), 8; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/jlpea13010008 - 12 Jan 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2239
Abstract
This contribution addresses the numerical optimization of the harvested energy of a mechanically and electrically nonlinear and nonideal piezoelectric energy harvester (PEH) under triangular shock-like excitation, taking into account a nonlinear stress constraint. In the optimization problem, a bimorph electromechanical structure equipped with [...] Read more.
This contribution addresses the numerical optimization of the harvested energy of a mechanically and electrically nonlinear and nonideal piezoelectric energy harvester (PEH) under triangular shock-like excitation, taking into account a nonlinear stress constraint. In the optimization problem, a bimorph electromechanical structure equipped with the Greinacher circuit or the standard circuit is considered and different electrical and mechanical design variables are introduced. Using a very accurate coupled finite element-electronic circuit simulator method, deep neural network (DNN) training data are generated, allowing for a computationally efficient evaluation of the objective function. Subsequently, a genetic algorithm using the DNNs is applied to find the electrical and mechanical design variables that optimize the harvested energy. It is found that the maximum harvested energy is obtained at the maximum possible mechanical stresses and that the optimum storage capacitor for the Greinacher circuit is much smaller than that for the standard circuit, while the total harvested energy by both configurations is similar. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Energy-Harvesting and Self-Powered Devices)
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17 pages, 2608 KiB  
Article
Ultra-Low-Power Circuits for Intermittent Communication
by Alessandro Torrisi, Kasım Sinan Yıldırım and Davide Brunelli
J. Low Power Electron. Appl. 2022, 12(4), 60; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/jlpea12040060 - 13 Nov 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2533
Abstract
Self-sustainable energy harvesting for Internet of Things devices is challenging since ambient energy may be sporadic and unpredictable. This situation leads to frequent power failures that lead to intermittent operations, which prevent the reliability of data communications. This article presents fundamental hardware circuitry [...] Read more.
Self-sustainable energy harvesting for Internet of Things devices is challenging since ambient energy may be sporadic and unpredictable. This situation leads to frequent power failures that lead to intermittent operations, which prevent the reliability of data communications. This article presents fundamental hardware circuitry that enables reliable intermittent communications over wireless batteryless node networks. We emphasize two main mechanisms that ensure energy awareness and reliability: energy status-sharing and synchronized operation. We introduce novel low-power and self-sustainable plug-and-play circuits to support these mechanisms. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Energy-Harvesting and Self-Powered Devices)
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16 pages, 19646 KiB  
Article
An Experimental Study on Step-Up DC–DC Converters for Organic Photovoltaic Cells
by P. Mendonça dos Santos, António J. Serralheiro, Beatriz Borges, João Paulo N. Torres and Ana Charas
J. Low Power Electron. Appl. 2022, 12(2), 20; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/jlpea12020020 - 08 Apr 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2669
Abstract
This work studies two circuit topologies to step-up the voltage supplied by an organic photovoltaic (OPV) cell. Comparison and validation of the proposed topologies are accomplished throughout analytical, simulation, and experimental results. Two circuit solutions were found more suitable to boost the harvested [...] Read more.
This work studies two circuit topologies to step-up the voltage supplied by an organic photovoltaic (OPV) cell. Comparison and validation of the proposed topologies are accomplished throughout analytical, simulation, and experimental results. Two circuit solutions were found more suitable to boost the harvested OPV cell low voltage, depending on the load condition: the classical hard-switching boost converter and a multilevel boost converter. Both experimental circuits include the drive of the MOSFET switch based on an LC oscillator at 1.2 MHz, allowing the implementation of a conversion system, supplied by voltages as low as 500 mV, with output voltages from 1.2 V up to 7 V, under solar simulator conditions. The circuit area for each converter prototype is 2.35 cm2, with a total area below 3.0 cm2 for the overall energy harvesting system, including the OPV cell, which makes this proposal an extremely compact solution for ultra-low power harvesting applications. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Energy-Harvesting and Self-Powered Devices)
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Review

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26 pages, 2147 KiB  
Review
Energy Sustainability in Wireless Sensor Networks: An Analytical Survey
by Emmanouil Andreas Evangelakos, Dionisis Kandris, Dimitris Rountos, George Tselikis and Eleftherios Anastasiadis
J. Low Power Electron. Appl. 2022, 12(4), 65; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/jlpea12040065 - 16 Dec 2022
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 4275
Abstract
Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are considered to be among the most important scientific domains. Yet, the exploitation of WSNs suffers from the severe energy restrictions of their electronic components. For this reason there are numerous scientific methods that have been proposed aiming to [...] Read more.
Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are considered to be among the most important scientific domains. Yet, the exploitation of WSNs suffers from the severe energy restrictions of their electronic components. For this reason there are numerous scientific methods that have been proposed aiming to achieve the extension of the lifetime of WSNs, either by energy saving or energy harvesting or through energy transfer. This study aims to analytically examine all of the existing hardware-based and algorithm-based mechanisms of this kind. The operating principles of 48 approaches are studied, their relative advantages and weaknesses are highlighted, open research issues are discussed, and resultant concluding remarks are drawn. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Energy-Harvesting and Self-Powered Devices)
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