Strain Energy Harvesting for

Wireless Sensor Networks

D.L. Churchill, M.J. Hamel,

C.P. Townsend, S.W. Arms

© 2003 MicroStrain, Inc.

Williston, Vermont, USA
all rights reserved
www.microstrain.com
MicroStrain, Inc.
designs & manufactures
micro-miniature, wireless sensors.

MicroStrain’s Wireless Sensing Networks are Patent Pending

Introduction

Deployment of sensors is often limited by

the high cost of installation & wiring.

Wireless networking enables remote, low

cost monitoring with large numbers of
sensors.
Why go wireless with smart
structures?
„ Easy to retrofit existing structures

„ Hardwiring is expensive and time consuming

„ The ingress/egress points of fiber optic “tails” are subject to breakage

and get in the way during production

„ Fatigue of lead wires, especially at points of abrupt stiffness change, is

a major headache

„ Connectors pose reliability problems in field deployments and can

introduce high stresses on fibers and lead wires
Power remains a major issue
„ Who will replace hundreds of dead
batteries?

„ RF transponders require close coupling of

powering/interrogation wand
Previous work in piezoelectric
energy harvesting

„ MIT (Schenk et. al)

„ Penn State (Ottman, et. al)
„ UC-Berkeley (Roundy et. al)
Objective
To demonstrate a robust
strain energy harvesting
system for powering an
embedded wireless sensor
network without batteries.
Methods
Strain Energy Harvesting
(MicroStrain, Inc. patents pending)

Strain energy is stored by rectifying

piezoelectric fiber output into a capacitor
bank. When the capacitor voltage reaches a
preset threshold, power is transferred to an
integrated wireless sensor.
System Block Diagram
(MicroStrain, Inc. patents pending)

Energy harvesting,
energy storage,
Mechanical & load control
Energy

Vcc

Packetized
Raw Data A/D
Samples MicroController Converter
Antenna
RF Comm.
Link

Program
& Data Sensor Sensor Sensor
EEPROM
 Energy Harvesting Controller
(MicroStrain, Inc. patent pending)

Antenna

Strain Energy
1 2 1 2
2

Vcc
1
1 2 1 2 1
+
47uF
2 Voltage
Sensing StrainLink
Piezo Device Rectifier Storage Cap Switch Transmitter

MOSFET N
 Piezo power output vs. load
Output Pow er vs. Load & Frequency
Piezoelectric Fiber

7.0E-04

6.0E-04

5.0E-04

4.0E-04 60Hz
Watts

120Hz
3.0E-04 180Hz

2.0E-04

1.0E-04

0.0E+00
100 1000 10000 100000 1000000 10000000
Ohms
 Energy harvesting controller w/ buck
converter (MicroStrain, Inc. patent pending)
Short Term
Storage Cap
Small value MicroPower
DC-DC Long Term Controller
High voltage Storage Cap StrainLink
Converter Transmitter
Large value
Low Voltage or transceiver

Antenna
Strain or C2 C1
Vibration
Energy
Monitoring Device
1 2 1 2
LTC1934-1
2

Vcc

+
1 2 1 2
1

1
0.1uF 270uF
2

2
Piezo Device Rectifier

First Switch
Second Switch S1
S2
1. C2 is charged to peak piezo voltage
Threshold 1
2. S2 Enables converter at threshold 1
3. Converter transforms high impedance charge in
C2 to discharged C1

4. When C1 is charged to threshold 2,

controller connects transmitter or
transceiver
5. When charge in C1 is depleted
below threshold voltage 3,
controller disconnects load
Wireless Sensing Node (WSN)
(MicroStrain, Inc. patents pending)

micropower Radio Frequency RF power

Sensor Inputs (RF) transmitter control
voltage regulator
with energy or transceiver
harvesting
power source
Sensor signal
conditioning 8-bit , low
power,
microcontroller
multiplexer, PG A/D converter
instrumentation (16 bit resolution)
Flash EEPROM
amplifier
for sensor logging
WSN microtransmitters
(MicroStrain, Inc. patents pending)

„ Small outline digital wireless sensor

node
„ 45mW power when transmitting,
5mW processing, 15 microwatts
sleeping
„ AA Li-Ion battery life 2-5 years
D Li-Ion 7-10 years
„ Wireless networking protocol
implemented in firmware
„ 16 bit A/D resolution
„ Transmission range 1/3 mile LOS
 WSN microtransmitters
are programmable
„ Software programming (gains, offsets)
allows one hardware design to operate with
many sensor types

„ thermocouples, strain gauges,

magnetometers, capacitive/inductive
sensors, magnetic sensors, temperature &
humidity sensors
Test methodology
„ A composite material specimen was
laminated with unidirectional aligned
piezoelectric fibers (PZT5A, 250 um,
overall size 13x10x.38 mm). The fibers
were embedded within a resin matrix for
damage tolerance (Advanced Cerametrics,
Lambertville, NJ).
Test methodology (continued)
„ A foil strain gauge (Micro-Measurements,
Raleigh, NC) was bonded to the
piezoelectric fiber and shunt calibrated.

„ The specimen was loaded in three point

cyclic bending (75 to 300 microstrain) using
an electrodynamic actuator (60,120, and
180 Hz).
Strain energy harvesting setup
Strain energy harvesting demo
Strain energy harvesting demo
Results
„ The times required for energy storage &
data transmission for 10mW of power
transfer were recorded.

„ For peak strains of 150 microstrain, the time

to transmit was 30 to 160 seconds (for 180
to 60 Hz tests).
Results
Energy Harvesting Demonstration.
Charging Time vs. Frequency and Applied Strain
180
180 Hz Vibration
160 120 Hz Vibration
60 HZ Vibration
Time to Reach Full Charge (Sec.)

140

120

100

80

60

40

20

0
50 100 150 200 250 300 350
Peak Applied Strain (µε)
Applications
„ smart aerospace, civil, and medical
structures
„ machine monitoring
„ smart tires
Navy Applications
„ Damage control
„ Condition based maintenance of
electrical and mechanical systems
„ Ship and aircraft structural monitoring
 Acknowledgments

ƒ NSF SBIR Phase II & IIB

ƒ Navy SBIR Phase I
ƒ Boeing – Phantom Work’s Dan Clingman
 To download an MPEG video of
MicroStrain’s patent pending
strain energy harvesting
wireless sensor demo
link to our server at:
http://www.microstrain.com/MSdemoHI.mpeg

Thank You!