An Energy-autonomous Wireless Temperature Monitoring System Powered by Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting

Within his publication we demonstrate an energy-autonomous wireless temperature monitoring system that is powered by piezoelectric energy harvesting. An air compressor pump has been chosen as a representative target system. Two different types of piezoelectric generators, cantilever beam with a maximum power output of 37 μW and an impact-type membrane generator with a power output of 120 μW, were employed to harvest energy from vibrations at the host’s case and impacts in the host’s machine pedestal, respectively. A low-power wireless temperature sensor module was developed and fitted together with a specially designed energy management circuit. The realized wireless sensor system is capable of monitoring and transmitting temperature data with a sampling rate of 1 Hz. Its development has revealed a wealth of design hints for energy harvesting and power management.