Energy Harvesting And Energy Efficiency

This book presents basic and advanced concepts for energy harvesting and energy efficiency, as well as related technologies, methods, and their applications. The book provides up-to-date knowledge and discusses the state-of-the-art equipment and methods used for energy harvesting and energy efficiency, combining theory and practical applications. Containing over 200 illustrations and problems and solutions, the book begins with overview chapters on the status quo in this field. Subsequent chapters introduce readers to advanced concepts and methods. In turn, the final part of the book is dedicated to technical strategies, efficient methods and applications in the field of energy efficiency, which also makes it of interest to technicians in industry. The book tackles problems commonly encountered using basic methods of energy harvesting and energy efficiency, and proposes advanced methods to resolve these issues. All the methods proposed have been validated through simulation and experimental results. These “hot topics” will continue to be of interest to scientists and engineers in future decades and will provide challenges to researchers around the globe as issues of climate change and changing energy policies become more pressing. Here, readers will find all the basic and advanced concepts they need. As such, it offers a valuable, comprehensive guide for all students and practicing engineers who wishing to learn about and work in these fields.

Wireless sensors and sensor networks (WSNs) are nowadays becoming increasingly important due to their decisive advantages. Different trends towards the Internet of Things (IoT), Industry 4.0 and 5G Networks address massive sensing and admit to have wireless sensors delivering measurement data directly to the Web in a reliable and easy manner. These sensors can only be supported, if sufficient energy efficiency and flexible solutions are developed for energy-aware wireless sensor nodes. In the last years, different possibilities for energy harvesting have been investigated showing a high level of maturity. This book gives therefore an overview on fundamentals and techniques for energy harvesting and energy transfer from different points of view. Different techniques and methods for energy transfer, management and energy saving on network level are reported together with selected interesting applications. The book is interesting for researchers, developers and students in the field of sensors, wireless sensors, WSNs, IoT and manifold application fields using related technologies. The book is organized in four major parts. The first part of the book introduces essential fundamentals and methods, while the second part focusses on vibration converters and hybridization. The third part is dedicated to wireless energy transfer, including both RF and inductive energy transfer. Finally, the fourth part of the book treats energy saving and management strategies. The main contents are: Essential fundamentals and methods of wireless sensors Energy harvesting from vibration Hybrid vibration energy converters Electromagnetic transducers Piezoelectric transducers Magneto-electric transducers Non-linear broadband converters Energy transfer via magnetic fields RF energy transfer Energy saving techniques Energy management strategies Energy management on network level Applications in agriculture Applications in structural health monitoring Application in power grids Prof. Dr. Olfa Kanoun is professor for measurement and sensor technology at Chemnitz university of technology. She is specialist in the field of sensors and sensor systems design.

In a previous volume (ICT-Energy-Concepts Towards Zero-Power ICT; referenced below as Vol. 1), we addressed some of the fundamentals related to bridging the gap between the amount of energy required to operate portable/mobile ICT systems and the amount of energy available from ambient sources. The only viable solution appears to be to attack the gap from both sides, i.e. to reduce the amount of energy dissipated during computation and to improve the efficiency in energy-harvesting technologies. In this book, we build on those concepts and continue the discussion on energy efficiency and sustainability by addressing the minimisation of energy consumption at different levels across the ICT system stack, from hardware to software, as well as discussing energy consumption issues in high-performance computing (HPC), data centres and communication in sensor networks. This book was realised thanks to the contribution of the project ‘Coordinating Research Efforts of the ICT-Energy Community’ funded from the European Union under the Future and Emerging Technologies (FET) area of the Seventh Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development (grant agreement n. 611004).

For decades, people have searched for ways to harvest energy from natural sources. Lately, a desire to address the issue of global warming and climate change has popularized solar or photovoltaic technology, while piezoelectric technology is being developed to power handheld devices without batteries, and thermoelectric technology is being explored to convert wasted heat, such as in automobile engine combustion, into electricity. Featuring contributions from international researchers in both academics and industry, Energy Harvesting with Functional Materials and Microsystems explains the growing field of energy harvesting from a materials and device perspective, with resulting technologies capable of enabling low-power implantable sensors or a large-scale electrical grid. In addition to the design, implementation, and components of energy-efficient electronics, the book covers current advances in energy-harvesting materials and technology, including: High-efficiency solar technologies with lower cost than existing silicon-based photovoltaics Novel piezoelectric technologies utilizing mechanical energy from vibrations and pressure The ability to harness thermal energy and temperature profiles with thermoelectric materials Whether you’re a practicing engineer, academician, graduate student, or entrepreneur looking to invest in energy-harvesting devices, this book is your complete guide to fundamental materials and applied microsystems for energy harvesting.

This book contains selected and peer-reviewed papers presented at the International Conference on Efficient Solar Power Generation and Energy Harvesting (ESPGEH 2019). The primary focus of the book is on latest advances and scientific developments in the field of solar energy. The book covers various topics such as solar photovoltaics, solar energy harvesting, smart materials for energy applications, hybrid renewable energy plant, and on-grid and off-grid power plant. The book also discusses current techniques to produce energy-efficient solar cells, emerging materials and processes to develop cost-effective solar cells, and different issues in energy management. Given the scope of the contents, this book will be of interest for researchers, professionals as well as policy makers.

Waste Energy Harvesting overviews the latest progress in waste energy harvesting technologies, with specific focusing on waste thermal mechanical energies. Thermal energy harvesting technologies include thermoelectric effect, storage through phase change materials and pyroelectric effect. Waste mechanical energy harvesting technologies include piezoelectric (ferroelectric) effect with ferroelectric materials and nanogenerators. The book aims to strengthen the syllabus in energy, materials and physics and is well suitable for students and professionals in the fields.

This book presents breakthroughs in the design of Wireless Energy Harvesting (WEH) networks. It bridges the gap between WEH through radio waves communications and power transfer, which have largely been designed separately. The authors present an overview of the RF-EHNs including system architecture and RF energy harvesting techniques and existing applications. They also cover the idea of WEH in novel discoveries of information, the theoretical bounds in WEH, wireless sensor networks, usage of modern channel coding together with WEH, energy efficient resource allocation mechanisms, distributed self-organized energy efficient designs, delay-energy trade-off, specific protocols for energy efficient communication designs, D2D communication and energy efficiency, cooperative wireless networks, and cognitive networks.

This book addresses the Internet of Things (IoT), an essential topic in the technology industry, policy, and engineering circles, and one that has become headline news in both the specialty press and the popular media. The book focuses on energy efficiency concerns in IoT and the requirements related to Industry 4.0. It is the first-ever “how-to” guide on frequently overlooked practical, methodological, and moral questions in any nations’ journey to reducing energy consumption in IoT devices. The book discusses several examples of energy-efficient IoT, ranging from simple devices like indoor temperature sensors, to more complex sensors (e.g. electrical power measuring devices), actuators (e.g. HVAC room controllers, motors) and devices (e.g. industrial circuit-breakers, PLC for home, building or industrial automation). It provides a detailed approach to conserving energy in IoT devices, and comparative case studies on performance evaluation metrics, state-of-the-art approaches, and IoT legislation.