Energy Harvesters for Human-Monitoring Applications

This paper introduces the basics of energy harvesters and demonstrates two specific vibratory-type energy harvesters developed at the University of Hyogo. The fabrication and evaluation results of the vibratory-type energy harvesters, which employ electrostatic and electromagnetic mechanisms, are described. The aim of developing these devices is to realize a power source for an autonomous human monitoring system. The results of harvesting from actual human activities obtained using a data logger are also described. Moreover, challenges in the power management of electronic circuitry used for energy harvesting are briefly discussed. key words: energy harvester, wireless sensor network, WSN, photovoltaic cell, thermo electric generator, RF harvester, electrostatic, electromagnetic, vibratory type