Electric Field Energy Harvesting from Variable Frequency Voltage Sources
for Battery-less Internet of Things
Abstract
Internet of Things (IoT) aims to bring connectivity and integration of
power system assets, focusing on active management. To ensure the
reliability standards of smart cities, IoT requires a wide range of
distributed network of wireless sensor nodes. However, energizing these
vast networks is highly complex. This work presents a low-power system
for electric field energy harvesting, focusing on smart-city
applications (Urban IoTs). In particular, we examined design aspects
that maximize energy harvesting efficiency according to mains frequency.
Experimental findings disclose that a harvester that works at 5 MHz can
deliver up to 11 mJ, in approximately 5 minutes. Since the leakage
current of diodes is higher than harvester’s current, we introduce a new
management circuit, called serial switch-only rectifier (SSOR). The
proposed approach is simulated and experimentally evaluated. Empirical
results show that a harvester based on SSOR circuit out-performs a
harvester based on a full-bridge rectifier and voltage doubler by
collecting more charge, approximately 40%.