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Harvesting raindrop energy: experimental study

Romain Guigon1, Jean-Jacques Chaillout, Thomas Jager and Ghislain Despesse

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At present, the energy autonomy of a microsystem is limited by the lifespan of the battery. Hence the development of the energy harvesting concept, whereby the energy needed to power the sensor is taken from the operating environment. However, there is no single solution suitable for all types of environment. In this paper, we look at a still unexploited source of energy: rain. Our system scavenges the vibration energy from a piezoelectric flexible structure impacted by a water drop. We present an experimental device that validates the aforementioned theoretical results.


PACS

07.10.Cm Micromechanical devices and systems

46.40.-f Vibrations and mechanical waves

07.07.Df Sensors (chemical, optical, electrical, movement, gas, etc.); remote sensing

46.70.-p Application of continuum mechanics to structures

77.84.-s Dielectric, piezoelectric, ferroelectric, and antiferroelectric materials

Subjects

Instrumentation and measurement

Condensed matter: structural, mechanical & thermal

Dates

Issue 1 (February 2008)

Received 11 April 2007, in final form 28 September 2007

Published 11 January 2008



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