Afin d’accomplir les promesses des récupérateurs d’énergie vibratoire (VEHs) qui s’imposent comme unealternative majeure pour garantir l’autonomie des capteurs pour la surveillance, leurs performances en termes debande passante et puissance récupérable doivent être améliorées. Dans cette thèse, à la différence des VEHs classiqueslinéaires et multimodales ou non-linéaires et mono-fréquence, on propose une approche de récupérationd’énergie basée sur des réseaux d’aimants couplés en lévitation ou élastiquement guidés combinant les avantagesdes non-linéarités et des interactions modales. Une étude bibliographique sur les récupérateurs d’énergie vibratoireest effectuée. En particulier, les inconvénients des récupérateurs linéaires et les techniques de réglage de fréquencesont présentées. De plus, les méthodes non-linéaires sont présentées pour définir une procédure de résolution permettantl’étude de la dynamique des récupérateurs non-linéaires. Les équations du mouvement qui contiennentla non-linéarité magnétique, la non-linéarité géométrique et l’amortissement électromagnétique sont résolus enutilisant la méthode de la balance harmonique couplée avec la méthode asymptotique numérique. Une méthodologied’optimisation multi-objectif basée sur l’algorithme Non Sorting Genetic Algorithm est appliquée afin decalculer les solutions optimales pour maximiser les performances du récupérateur d’énergie. Grâce au couplagenon-linéaire et aux interactions modales, pour le cas des trois aimants couplés, l’approche proposée permet la récupérationde l’énergie vibratoire dans la gamme fréquentielle 4;6 - 14;5 Hz, avec une bande passante d’environ190 % et une puissance normalisée de 20,2 mWcm-3g-2. / In order to accomplish the promises of vibration energy harvesters (VEHs) as a major alternative to powersensors, their performances in terms of frequency bandwidth and harvested power have to be improved. In thisthesis, unlike classical VEHs either linear and multimodal or nonlinear and mono-frequency, we propose a vibrationenergy harvesting approach based on arrays of coupled levitated or elastically guided magnets combining thebenefits of nonlinearities and modal interactions.A review of VEHs is carried out. Particularly, the design issues of linear harvesters are addressed and frequencytuning techniques are presented. A review of nonlinear methods is also presented in order to define a solving procedureenabling the investigation of the dynamics of nonlinear VEHs. The equations of motion which include themagnetic nonlinearity, the geometric nonlinearity and the electromagnetic damping are solved using the harmonicbalance method coupled with the asymptotic numerical method. A multi-objective optimization procedure isintroduced and performed using a non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm for the cases of small magnet arraysin order to select the optimal solutions in term of performances by bringing the eigenmodes close to each other interms of frequencies and amplitudes. Thanks to the nonlinear coupling and the modal interactions even for onlythree coupled magnets, the proposed method enable harvesting the vibration energy in the operating frequencyrange of 4.6–14.5 Hz, with a bandwidth of 190 % and a normalized power of 20:2mWcm-3g-2.

Significant advances in wind turbine technology have increased the need for maintenance through condition monitoring. Indeed condition monitoring techniques exist and are deployed on wind turbines across Europe and America but are limited in scope. The sensors and monitoring devices used can be very expensive to deploy, further increasing costs within the wind industry. The work outlined in this thesis primarily investigates potential low-cost alternatives in the laboratory environment using vibration-based and modal testing techniques that could be used to monitor the condition of wind turbine blades. The main contributions of this thesis are: (1) the review of vibration-based condition monitoring for changing natural frequency identification; (2) the application of low-cost piezoelectric sounders with proof mass for sensing and measuring vibrations which provide information on structural health; (3) the application of low-cost miniature Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) accelerometers for detecting and measuring defects in micro wind turbine blades in laboratory experiments; (4) development of an in-service calibration technique for arbitrarily positioned MEMS accelerometers on a medium-sized wind turbine blade. This allowed for easier aligning of coordinate systems and setting the accelerometer calibration values using samples taken over a period of time; (5) laboratory validation of low-cost modal analysis techniques on a medium-sized wind turbine blade; (6) mimicked ice-loading and laboratory measurement of vibration characteristics using MEMS accelerometers on a real wind turbine blade and (7) conceptualisation and systems design of a novel embedded monitoring system that can be installed at manufacture, is self-powered, has signal processing capability and can operate remotely. By applying the conclusions of this work, which demonstrates that low-cost consumer electronics specifically MEMS accelerometers can measure the vibration characteristics of wind turbine blades, the implementation and deployment of these devices can contribute towards reducing the rising costs of condition monitoring within the wind industry.

La quantité d'énergie disponible dans les batteries et le nombre limité de cycles de recharge compliquent singulièrement la conception de réseaux de capteurs sans fil (WSN) autonomes. La récupération d'énergie dans l'environnement direct des nœuds et un stockage d'énergie à base de supercondensateurs sont aujourd'hui considérés comme solutions potentielles pour atteindre une durée de vie du réseau théoriquement infinie. Un gestionnaire d'énergie (PM pour ''Power Manager'') est embarqué dans chaque nœud afin de permettre un fonctionnement en neutralité énergétique (ENO), ce qui veut dire que les énergies récupérées et consommées par un nœud sont équivalentes sur le long terme. Dans cette thèse, nous proposons de nouveaux PMs qui adaptent dynamiquement l'intervalle de réveil des nœuds en fonction de l'énergie récupérée. La faible complexité de nos PMs, leur indépendance vis-à-vis du type de source d'énergie récupérée et leur faible empreinte mémoire facilitent leur implantation sur une plate-forme réelle de réseaux de capteurs sans fil. Par ailleurs, lorsque l'on considère un réseau multi-sauts, une variation trop fréquente de l'intervalle de réveil peut s'avérer pénalisante pour l'établissement de rendez-vous entre les nœuds et risque de fortement dégrader la qualité de services globale. Nous proposons donc un gestionnaire d'énergie (WVR-PM) qui limite autant que possible ces variations et qui permet d'améliorer le débit de près de 60% par rapport aux PMs de l'état de l'art tout en diminuant de 45% l'énergie consommée par une communication réussie. / The limited energy and recharge cycles of batteries are crippling the design of autonomous Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs). To overcome this issue, everlasting harvested energy and supercapacitor-based energy storage are considered as potential solutions to achieve a theoretically infinite lifetime. A Power Manager (PM) is embedded in each WSN node to respect the Energy Neutral Operation condition (ENO), which means harvested energy is equal to consumed energy for a long period. In this thesis, a set of PMs are proposed for energy harvesting WSN nodes to adapt their average consumed energy by changing the wake-up interval according to the available harvested energy. Our PMs are low complexity, independent of energy sources, small memory footprint and therefore, can be easily implemented on a real EH-WSN node. Another issue addressed in this thesis when considering a multi-hop EH-WSN is the effect of wake-up interval variations to the global QoS. Due to its low harvested energy, a relay node is impractical to synchronize with a transmitter if its wake-up interval regularly changes, therefore degrading the global QoS. A new power manager, named Wake-up Variation Reduction power manager (WVR-PM) is proposed to reduce the variations of the wake-up interval. By using WVR-PM, the throughput of a multi-hop EH-WSN can be improved up to 59% compare to state-of-the-art PMs while the average consumed energy for one successful communication is reduced by 45%.

Harvesting energy became one of the most prominent research topics around the world, not only for research institutes and universities but also for technology companies as well. Mainly focused on internet of things (IoT) applications, harvesting energy is a crucial factor for reducing costs that come with the use of batteries and increasing the devices’ working time. Simultaneous lightwave information and power transfer is a technique that seeks to use wireless optical communication to achieve both fundamental objectives in modern communication systems. This work presents the main techniques that are used to achieve SLIPT, a novel circuit that improves the standard methods and applications employing this circuit.

abstract: The structural and electronic properties of compositionally complex semiconductors have long been of both theoretical interest and engineering importance. As a new class of materials with an intrinsic compositional complexity, medium entropy alloys (MEAs) are immensely studied mainly for their excellent mechanical properties. The electronic properties of MEAs, however, are less well investigated. In this thesis, various properties such as electronic, spin, and thermal properties of two three-dimensional (3D) and two two-dimensional (2D) compositionally complex semiconductors are demonstrated to have promising various applications in photovoltaic, thermoelectric, and spin quantum bits (qubits).3D semiconducting Si-Ge-Sn and C3BN alloys is firstly introduced. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations and Monte Carlo simulations show that the Si1/3Ge1/3Sn1/3 MEA exhibits a large local distortion effect yet no chemical short-range order. Single vacancies in this MEA can be stabilized by bond reformations while the alloy retains semiconducting. DFT and molecular dynamics calculations predict that increasing the compositional disorder in SiyGeySnx MEAs enhances their electrical conductivity while weakens the thermal conductivity at room temperature, making the SiyGeySnx MEAs promising functional materials for thermoelectric devices. Furthermore, the nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center analog in C3BN (NV-C3BN) is studied to explore its applications in quantum computers. This analog possesses similar properties to the NV center in diamond such as a highly localized spin density and strong hyperfine interactions, making C3BN suitable for hosting spin qubits. The analog also displays two zero-phonon-line energies corresponding to wavelengths close to the ideal telecommunication band width, useful for quantum communications. 2D semiconducting transition metal chalcogenides (TMCs) and PtPN are also investigated. The quaternary compositionally complex TMCs show tunable properties such as in-plane lattice constants, band gaps, and band alignment, using a high through-put workflow from DFT calculations in conjunction with the virtual crystal approximation. A novel 2D semiconductor PtPN of direct bandgap is also predicted, based on pentagonal tessellation. The work in the thesis offers guidance to the experimental realization of these novel semiconductors, which serve as valuable prototypes of other compositionally complex systems from other elements. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Materials Science and Engineering 2020

The diploma thesis deals with a design of a tester device, a selection and verification of a suitable method for comparing the piezoelectric properties of tested PVDF samples. In the introduction, a basic overview of the theory is important to understand the issue and the various branches of use of PVDF in the field of energy harvesting. The tester device includes a unimorph piezoelectric cantilever beam with tip mass, whose properties are described by three models: a model with N degrees of freedom reduced to one degree of freedom (NDOF), a single degree of freedom model (SDOF), both created in Matlab and a model for verifying results in FEM ANSYS Workbench program. The voltage time response and the voltage frequency response of the models is compared with each other. For two different PVDF samples, the voltage response to harmonic excitation is measured using a tester device, and the piezoelectric properties of one of them are determined using the NDOF and SDOF models.

This master thesis deals with design and numerical modelling of piezoceramic sensor, which is placed on a rail, in order to generate electrical energy, which can be used for wireless monitoring of railway traffic and to monitor the condition of the railway. The thesis is divided into three parts. Theoretically background of piezoelectric energy harvesting is described in first part, where some previous application of piezoelectric generator in railway area are shown. In the second part, parametric analysis of numerical model is performed, which directly leads to finding best location on a rail, where piezoelectric generator should be placed. For this analysis the homogenized model of MFC sensor was used. Results of the numerical model were then compared with the results of the conducted experiment. The third part presented own design of piezoceramic sensor, which is placed onto most suitable location on a rail. Results from numerical analysis shown eligibility of using piezoceramic sensor to monitor the railway traffic.

Masters thesis deals with design and practical implementation of wireless sensor module. The primary requirement for this module is its energy self-sufficiency. In this context, the work gets to the subject of "energy harvesting". Then, in terms of energy requirements, several wireless communication platforms which are favorable for the selected application, are compared. From mentioned technologies was chosen communication platform IQRF. The next parts deals with initial prototype of sensor module, which will be demonstrated as the application of measuring wind direction. This paper describes the hardware and software solution. Followed by a detailed analysis of its properties in terms of energy requirements. Based on the obtained measurements resource parameters are set.

Master’s Thesis deals with obtaining electricity from the vibrations of the surrounding environment through piezoelectric vibration generator. To simulation piezoceramics and design mechanical parts of the generator was used simulation program ANSYS 10.0. First, parameters of the designed piezoelectric generator were numerically calculated, and then these values were compared with the real sample. Further work is in the description of material properties of piezo materials.

This work deals with the power supply of wireless sensors. When using a wireless sensor is desirable application of alternative energy sources, because the primary cells or batteries may reduce the extent or length of service of the sensor itself. Ambient energy can be used as a suitable alternative source. This energy must be in an appropriate form, which allows its conversion to electric energy. These appropriate, already used types include: solar en., temperature gradient en., en. of flowing liquids, vibration, etc. The advantage of vibrations is its presence in almost all mechanical systems. One of the possibilities for using the vibration of machine systems for power supply wireless sensors is using the vibration power generator with oscillating component. The generator must be designed so that its resonance frequency coincides with the frequency of vibration in the machine system. This method can be used only if the machinery system vibrations at least partially constant. Another option is to use the vibrations caused by, for example, transit transport, or different step acting factor. In this case, it is desirable that the generator is designed with variable resonant frequency, which can partly be achieved, for example, integrating several oscillating component in the body of generator. After the general analysis of the problem, graduation theses will be concerned with the possibility of use of energy from the short damped oscillation and step impulse. Focusing on a proposal of multi-element structures.