With the advent of energy harvesters, supporting fast and efficient computation on energy harvesting devices has become a key challenge in the field of energy harvesting on ubiquitous devices. Computation on energy harvesting devices is equivalent to spreading the execution time of a lasting application over short, frequent cycles of power. However, we must ensure that results obtained from intermittently executing an application do produce results that are congruent to those produced by executing the application on a device with a continuous source of power. The current state-of-the-art systems that enable intermittent computation on energy harvesters make use of novel compiler analysis techniques as well as on-board hardware on devices to measure the energy remaining for useful computation. However, currently available programming models, which mostly target devices with FRAM as the NVM, would cause failure on devices that employ the Flash as primary NVM, thereby resulting in a non-universal solution that is restricted by the choice of NVM. This is primarily the result of the Flash's limited read/write endurance. This research aims to contribute to the world of energy harvesting devices by providing solutions that would enable intermittent computation regardless of the choice of NVM on a device by utilizing only the SRAM to save state and perform computation. Utilizing the SRAM further reduces run-time overhead as SRAM reads/writes are less costlier than NVM reads/writes. Our proposed solutions rely on programmer-guidance and compiler analysis to correct and efficient intermittent computation. We then extend our system to provide a complete compiler-based solution without programmer intervention. Our system is able to run applications that would otherwise render any device with Flash as NVM useless in a matter of hours. / Master of Science / As batteries continue to take up space and make small-scale sensors hefty, battery-less devices have grown increasingly popular for non-resource intensive computations. From tracking air pressure in vehicle tires to monitoring room temperature, battery-less devices have countless applications in various walks of life. These devices function by periodically harvesting energy from the environment and its surroundings to power short bursts of computation. When device energy levels reach a lower-bound threshold these devices must power off to scavenge useful energy from the environment to further perform short bursts of computation. Usually, energy harvesting devices draw power from solar, thermal or RF energy. This vastly depends on the build of the device, also known as a microprocessor (a processing unit built to perform small-scale computations). Due to these devices constantly powering on and off, performing continuous computation on such devices is rather more difficult when compared to systems with a continuous source of power. Since applications can require more time to complete than one power cycle of such devices, by default, applications running on these devices will restart execution from the beginning at the start of every power cycle. Therefore, it is necessary for such devices to have mechanisms to remember where the were before the device lost power. The past decade has seen many solutions proposed to aid an application in restarting execution rather than recomputing everything from the beginning. Solutions utilize different categories of devices with different storage technologies as well different software and hardware utilities available to programmers in this domain. In this research, we propose two different low-overhead, long-life computation models to support intermittent computation on a subset of energy harvesting devices which use Flash-based memory to store persistent data. Our approaches are heavily dependent on programmer guidance and different program analysis techniques to sustain computation across power cycles.

Energy harvesting technologies have drawn much attention as an alternative power source of roadway accessories in different scales. Piezoelectric energy harvesting consisting of PZT piezoceramic disks sealed in a protective package is developed in this work to harness the deformation energy of pavement induced by traveling vehicles and generate electrical energy. Six energy harvesters are fabricated and installed at the weigh station on I-81 at Troutville, VA to perform on-site evaluation. The electrical performance of the installed harvesters is evaluated by measuring the output voltage and current generated under real traffic. Instant and average power outputs are calculated from the measured waveforms of output voltage and current. The analysis of the testing results shows that the electrical productivity of the energy harvesters are highly relevant to the axle configuration and magnitude of passing vehicles. The energy transmission efficiency of the energy harvester is also assessed. / Ph. D.

Harvesting energy from ultra-low-power vibration energy sources typically employs a rectifier circuit as the first power conditioning stage. The Schottky diode has a 0.15 V - 0.2 V threshold voltage and can not extract energy efficiently at low voltage. Other technologies such as MOSFET bridge or active diode are designed to minimize the voltage drop to reduce the conduction loss. However, these designs require either additional power supplies to operate comparators or have a larger threshold turn-on voltage than Schottky. Therefore, most rectifiers have an unresponsive or significant low-efficiency zone when the input power is low. This dissertation will elaborate on a backward diode based self-powered micro-circuit diode that will operate in the extremely weak or low alternating source applications, where the existing approaches offer poor outcomes. This proposed micro-circuit diode was compared to a Schottky diode in several experiment setup. The micro-circuit based half-wave rectifier circuit harvested 3.1 mV DC at a 239.5 Ohm load when the input magnitude is 50 mV while the Schottky diode was unable to convert this ultra-low AC power. This dissertation also provides the analysis of two alternating sources, the oscillatory electromagnetic generator and the piezoelectric energy harvester, to conduct experiments in a more realistic context. The micro-circuit diode shows excellent advantages in electromagnetic generator experiment, the micro-circuit based half-wave rectifier circuit harvested 5.16 mV DC at a 0.5 kOhm load when the input magnitude is 40 mV. However, due to the large leakage current in negative resistance region, this micro-circuit is unable to show advantages in piezoelectric energy harvester applications.

The Internet of Things (IoT) is an infrastructure of physical objects connected via the Internet that can exchange data to achieve efficient resource management. Billions of devices must be self-powered and low-cost considering the massive scale of the IoT. Thus, there is a need for low-cost ambient energy harvesters to power IoT devices. It is a challenging task since ambient energy might be unpredictable, intermittent and insufficient. For example, solar energy has limitations such as intermittence and unpredictability despite utilizing the highest power availability and relatively mature technology. Designing a multi-source energy harvester (MSEH) based on continuous and ubiquitous ambient energy sources might alleviate these issues by providing versatility and robustness of power supply. However, combining several energy harvesters into one module must be done synergistically to ensure miniaturization, compactness and more collected energy. Also, additive manufacturing techniques must be used to achieve low-cost harvesters and mass manufacturability. This dissertation presents two different kind of ambient energy harvesters, namely radio frequency energy harvester (RFEH) and thermal energy harvester (TEH). Each harvester is individually optimized and then synergistically combined into a MSEH. First, RFEH is designed for triple-band harvesting (GSM900, GSM1800, 3G2100) using the antenna-on-package concept and fabricated through 3D and screen printing. TEH collects energy from temperature fluctuations of ambient environment through a combination of thermoelectric generators and phase change materials. It is adapted specifically for the desert conditions of Saudi Arabia. Later, TEH and RFEH are combined to realize MSEH. Smart integration is achieved by designing a dual-function component, heatsink antenna, that serves as a receiving antenna of RFEH and a heatsink of TEH. The heatsink antenna has been optimized for both antenna radiation performance and heat transfer performance. Field tests showed that the MSEH can collect 3680μWh energy per day and the outputs of TEH and RFEH have increased 4 and 3 times compared to the independent TEH and RFEH respectively. To validate the utility of the MSEH, a temperature/humidity sensor has been successfully powered by the MSEH. Overall, sensor’s data can be wirelessly transmitted with time intervals of 3.5s, highlighting the effectiveness of the synergistic MSEH.

<p>Ocean-based wireless sensor networks serve many important purposes ranging from tsunami early warning to anti-submarine warfare. Developing energy harvesting devices that make these networks self-sufficient allows for reduced maintenance cost and greater reliability. Many methods exist for powering these devices, including internal batteries, photovoltaic cells and thermoelectric generators, but the most reliable method, if realized, would be to power these devices with an internal kinetic energy harvester capable of reliably converting wave motion into electrical power. Designing such a device is a challenge, as the ocean excitation environment is characterized by shifting frequencies across a relatively wide bandwidth. As such, traditional linear kinetic energy harvesting designs are not capable of reliably generating power. Instead, a nonlinear device is better suited to the job, and the task of this dissertation is to investigate the behaviors of devices that could be employed to this end.</p><p>This dissertation is motivated by the design and analysis of an ocean energy harvester based on a horizontal pendulum system. In the course of investigating the dynamics of this system, several discoveries related to other energy harvesting systems were made and are also reported herein. It is found that the most reliable method of characterizing the behaviors of a nonlinear energy harvesting device in the characteristically random forcing environment of the ocean is to utilize statistical methods to inform the design of a functional device. It is discovered that a horizontal pendulum-like device could serve as an energy harvesting mechanism in small self-</p><p>sufficient wireless sensor buoys if properly designed and if the proper transduction mechanisms are designed and employed to convert the mechanical energy of the device into electrical power.</p> / Dissertation

This work is centered on low-frequency and high-frequency multiphysics problems of piezoelectric structures submerged in a quiescent fluid domain for the applications of vibration energy harvesting, biomimetic actuation, and contactless acoustic energy transfer. In the first part of this research, Macro-Fiber Composite (MFC)-based piezoelectric structures are employed for underwater mechanical base excitation and electrical biomimetic actuation in bending mode at low frequencies (the fundamental underwater bending resonance being in the infrasonic frequency range). The MFC technology (fiber-based piezoelectric composites with interdigitated electrodes) exploits the effective 33-mode of piezoelectricity, and strikes a balance between structural deformation and force levels for actuation to use in underwater locomotion, in addition to offering high power density for energy harvesting to enable battery-less aquatic sensors. Following in-air electroelastic composite model development, the fundamental research problem is to establish semi-analytical models that can predict the underwater dynamics of thin MFC cantilevers for different length-to-width aspect ratios. In-air analytical electroelastic dynamics of MFCs is therefore coupled with added mass and nonlinear hydrodynamic damping effects of fluid to describe the underwater electrohydroelastic dynamics in harvesting and actuation. To this end, passive plates of different aspect ratios are tested to extract and explore the repeatability of the inertia and drag coefficients in Morison’s equation. The focus is placed on the first two bending modes in this semi-empirical approach. In particular, electrode segmentation is studied for performance enhancement in the second bending mode. Additionally, nonlinear dependence of the output power density to aspect ratio is characterized theoretically and experimentally in the underwater base excitation problem. In the second part of this work, Ultrasonic Acoustic Energy Transfer via piezoelectric transduction is investigated theoretically and experimentally. Contactless energy transfer using acoustic excitation offers larger distances of power transmission as compared to well-studied inductive method. Various transmitter configurations (e.g. spherical, cylindrical, and focused) are explored for energy transfer to a piezoelectric receiver bar (operating in the longitudinal/thickness mode) that is shunted to a generalized resistive-reactive circuit. Fixed-free and free-free mechanical boundary conditions of the receiver are explored in detail. The resulting multiphysics analytical model framework is compared with finite-element simulations and experiments conducted in fluid (water and oil). Optimal piezoelectric receiver material and electrical loading conditions are sought for performance and bandwidth enhancement.

This work is centered on the modeling, experimental identification, and dynamic interaction of inherently present and intentionally designed nonlinearities of piezoelectric structures focusing on applications to vibration energy harvesting. The following topics are explored in this theoretical and experimental research: (1) frequency bandwidth enhancement using a simple, intentionally designed, geometrically nonlinear M-shaped oscillator for low-intensity base accelerations; (2) multi-term harmonic balance analysis of this structure for primary and secondary resonance behaviors when coupled with piezoelectrics and an electrical load; (3) inherent electroelastic material softening and dissipative nonlinearities for various piezoelectric materials with a dynamical systems approach; and (4) development of a complete approximate analytical multiphysics electroelastic modeling framework accounting for material, dissipative, and strong circuit nonlinearities. The ramifications of this research extend beyond energy harvesting, since inherent nonlinearities of piezoelectric materials are pronounced in various applications including sensing, actuation, and vibration control, which can also benefit from bandwidth enhancement from designed nonlinearities.

In the past decade, society has become increasingly dependent on portable electronic devices that are almost exclusively powered by batteries. The performance and duration of operation of these devices are constrained by the limited energy per unit mass of batteries. Recent advances in the field of energy harvesting have led to the development of efficient and sustainable technologies that are capable of collecting mechanical energy from human motion, and producing the electrical power required to operate portable devices. This thesis focuses on the design and evaluation of a motion-based biomechanical energy harvester that collects energy from the user’s lower limbs. Two lower-limb energy-driven harvesting backpacks, a belt-driven prototype and a gear-driven prototype, were developed. Human treadmill walking testing showed that the belt-driven prototype was able to produce 19.3-12.2W of electrical power with a device efficiency of 34.4-48.4%. The belt-driven prototype had a low metabolic cost of carrying the device, approximately 18W, but had a large metabolic cost of producing electrical power, approximately 188W. This large metabolic cost of energy production is likely a consequence of the large mechanical power required to drive the device, namely to overcome the moment of inertia and the frictional loss of the device. Preliminary testing of the gear-driven prototype showed that the device was able to produce 7-11.2W of electrical power with a device efficiency of 58-78%. A theoretical model was developed that was able to predict the harvester0s electrical power output and the respective load on the user, from a given input motion wave-form. This model was able to predict the peak voltage and peak force with a percent difference of 2% ± 2% and 6.4% ± 4% respectively. Further reduction of the volume, weight, and number of parts of the energy harvester is essential in making the harvester a viable commercial product for powering portable devices. / Thesis (Master, Mechanical and Materials Engineering) -- Queen's University, 2013-08-27 10:46:27.16

A frequency self-tuning energy harvesting methodology is proposed to achieve efficient energy harvesting. To simulate the self-tuning process, a theoretical model of the harvester made of an aluminum beam bonded with piezoelectric patches is developed for numerical simulation. The energy harvesting is realized by converting ambient vibration to electric charge through piezoelectric patches on the host beam. To accomplish the frequency self-tuning process, a control voltage is applied on a piezoelectric stack actuator to tune the natural frequency of the beam harvester matching the major excitation frequency of the ambient vibration with large power generation. Two tuning methods with different electric circuits are developed to find the efficient and feasible self-tuning process, which is then further verified by the finite element method. Research findings show that the optimal frequency self-tuning method significantly increases the power output from the harvester by more than 26 times compared with the one without tuning. / October 2016

The possibility to manipulate electromagnetic radiation, as well as mechanical and acoustic waves has been an engaging topic since the beginning of the 20th century. Nowadays, thanks to the progress in technologies and the evolution of fabrication processes, realizing artificial materials that are able to interact with the environment in a desired fashion has become reality. The interest in micro/nanostructured metamaterials involves different field of research, ranging from optics to biology, through optoelectronics and photonics. Unfortunately, realizing experimentally these materials became highly challenging, since the size of the nanostructures are shrinking and the precision of the design became crucial for their effective operation. Disorder is, in fact, an intrinsic characteristic of fabrication processes and harnessing it by turning its unexpected effects in decisive advantages represents one of the ultimate frontiers in research. In this work we combine ab-initio FDTD simulations, fabrication process optimization and experimental results to show that, introducing disorder in metamaterials could constitute a key opportunity to enable many interesting capabilities otherwise locked. This could open up the way to novel applications in several fields, from smart network materials for solar cells and photo-electrochemical devices to all dielectric, highly-tunable structural colors.