Self-sustaining Energy Harvesting Solution for Transportation Sensing Application

Abstract:
In this paper, a complete stand alone wireless sensor solution suitable for ground transportation is presented. Sensors in transportation applications provide valuable information about onboard power management systems that will significantly increase efficiency and reduce maintenance costs. Battery power and wire power have disadvantages in these environments due to associated costs in installation and maintenance that can be overcome with energy harvesting technologies. Vibration-based energy harvesters designed for these specific environments provide a distinct advantage in cost and flexibility of installation while extending the lifetime of the power supply for sensor data acquisition and communication. The presented study describes a field trial conducted on a passenger train bogey in conjunction with a health monitoring system. The ambient vibration environment analyzed within the application is mostly random in nature with considerable content in the low frequency region. Understanding the available energy source and the application requirement is critical in designing the appropriate energy harvesting solution. In this case, an energy harvesting solution was designed that is suitable for ground transportation applications capable of generating energy from random vibration.