Uncertainty quantification of a corrosion-enabled energy harvester for low-power sensing applications

Scott A. Ouellette; Michael D. Todd

doi:10.1117/12.2009788

19 April 2013 Uncertainty quantification of a corrosion-enabled energy harvester for low-power sensing applications

Scott A. Ouellette, Michael D. Todd

Proceedings Volume 8692, Sensors and Smart Structures Technologies for Civil, Mechanical, and Aerospace Systems 2013; 86921G (2013) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2009788
Event: SPIE Smart Structures and Materials + Nondestructive Evaluation and Health Monitoring, 2013, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

New developments in novel energy harvesting schemes for structural health monitoring sensor networks have progressed in parallel with advancements in low-power electronic devices and components. Energy harvesting from galvanic corrosion is one such scheme that has shown to be a viable solution for powering sensing platforms for marine infrastructure. However, with this particular energy harvesting scheme, the power output is current limited as a result of a high terminal resistance that increases with time. In addition, the output voltage is non-stationary, and is a function of several environmental parameters and the applied resistive load. Variability in the power source requires a robust conditioning circuit design to produce a regulated power supply to the sensing and computing electronics. This paper experimentally investigates the non-stationary power characteristics of a galvanic corrosion energy harvester; and uncertainty quantification (UQ) is performed on the measured power characteristics for two experimental specimens subject to resistive load sweeps. The effects on designing a low-power sensor node are considered, and the uncertainty characteristics are applied to a low-power boost converter by means of a Monte Carlo simulation. Lastly, the total energy harvester capacity (measured in mA-Hr) is approximated from the data and is compared to a conventional battery.

Citation Download Citation

Scott A. Ouellette and Michael D. Todd "Uncertainty quantification of a corrosion-enabled energy harvester for low-power sensing applications", Proc. SPIE 8692, Sensors and Smart Structures Technologies for Civil, Mechanical, and Aerospace Systems 2013, 86921G (19 April 2013); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2009788

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