Romain Guigon et al 2008 Smart Mater. Struct. 17 015039 doi:10.1088/0964-1726/17/01/015039
Romain Guigon1, Jean-Jacques Chaillout, Thomas Jager and Ghislain Despesse
Show affiliationsAt 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.
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
Issue 1 (February 2008)
Received 11 April 2007, in final form 28 September 2007
Published 11 January 2008
Romain Guigon et al 2008 Smart Mater. Struct. 17 015039
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