A self-powered wireless motion sensor based on a high-surface area reverse electrowetting-on-dielectric energy harvester

Nishat T Tasneem; Dipon K Biswas; Pashupati R Adhikari; Avinash Gunti; Adnan B Patwary; Russell C Reid; Ifana Mahbub

doi:10.1038/s41598-022-07631-4

A self-powered wireless motion sensor based on a high-surface area reverse electrowetting-on-dielectric energy harvester

Sci Rep. 2022 Mar 8;12(1):3782. doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-07631-4.

Authors

Nishat T Tasneem¹, Dipon K Biswas², Pashupati R Adhikari³, Avinash Gunti², Adnan B Patwary², Russell C Reid⁴, Ifana Mahbub²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Electrical Engineering, University of North Texas, Denton, TX, 76201, USA. nishattarannumtasneem@my.unt.edu.
² Department of Electrical Engineering, University of North Texas, Denton, TX, 76201, USA.
³ Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of North Texas, Denton, TX, 76201, USA.
⁴ Department of Engineering, Dixie State University, St. George, UT, 84770, USA.

Abstract

This paper presents a motion-sensing device with the capability of harvesting energy from low-frequency motion activities. Based on the high surface area reverse electrowetting-on-dielectric (REWOD) energy harvesting technique, mechanical modulation of the liquid generates an AC signal, which is modeled analytically and implemented in Matlab and COMSOL. A constant DC voltage is produced by using a rectifier and a DC-DC converter to power up the motion-sensing read-out circuit. A charge amplifier converts the generated charge into a proportional output voltage, which is transmitted wirelessly to a remote receiver. The harvested DC voltage after the rectifier and DC-DC converter is found to be 3.3 V, having a measured power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the rectifier as high as 40.26% at 5 Hz frequency. The energy harvester demonstrates a linear relationship between the frequency of motion and the generated output power, making it highly suitable as a self-powered wearable motion sensor.

Publication types

Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

Electric Power Supplies
Electricity*
Electrowetting*
Equipment Design
Motion