Hybrid Energy Harvester for Medical Sensor Node toward Real-Time Healthcare Monitoring

Proceedings of Engineering and Technology Innovation ◽

10.46604/peti.2021.7002 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Saeed Mohsen

Keyword(s):

Sensor Node ◽

Energy Harvester ◽

Sensor Nodes ◽

Physiological Data ◽

Healthcare Applications ◽

Super Capacitor ◽

Hybrid Energy ◽

Pv Panel ◽

Hybrid Energy Harvester ◽

Healthcare Monitoring

In healthcare applications, the remote monitoring for moving patients depends on medical sensor nodes, which should be mobile. Thus, the power mains of medical sensor nodes should be disconnected most of the time to monitor natural movements of patients. In this paper, a self-sustainable medical sensor node is proposed for healthcare monitoring applications. The node implementation consists of a microcontroller unit (MCU), a photo-plethysmography (PPG) sensor, a Bluetooth low energy (BLE) module, and a MPU module that includes a gyroscope with accelerometer. The power supply of the node is a hybrid energy harvester developed to provide a sustainable energy for the sensor node. The harvester is composed of a photovoltaic (PV) panel, a thermoelectric generator (TEG) module, a DC-DC converter, and a super-capacitor. Experimental results illustrate that the proposed node can monitor a physiological data on a mobile device using the BLE Terminal application.

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Performance of a Triple Cantilever Hybrid Energy Harvester (TCHEH) Based on the Triboelectric Surface Modification

International Journal of Engineering and Advanced Technology - Regular Issue ◽

10.35940/ijeat.a2662.109119 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 9 (1) ◽

pp. 3465-3469

Keyword(s):

Surface Modification ◽

Low Power ◽

Sensor Node ◽

Energy Harvester ◽

Hybrid Energy ◽

Piezoelectric Energy ◽

Hybrid Energy Harvester ◽

Power Sensor ◽

Positively Charged ◽

The Ideal

The aim of this study is to characterise the performance of a Triple Cantilever Hybrid Energy Harvester (TCHEH) based on the triboelectric surface modification. The application is to harvest sufficient amount of power for low power sensor node. The whole system comprises of three separated generators being put together into one prototype with the design of triple cantilever beam. The triple cantilever consists of top and bottom triboelectric energy harvester (TEH) and middle section piezoelectric energy harvester (PEH). The top and bottom section is the Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE). The testing for TEH consists of pairing the highest negative charged material which is Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) with few other positively charged materials. The best pair was used for further testing by modifying the triboelectricsurface in order to increase the power output. At the frequency of 13Hz and acceleration at 0.27gms-2 , the ideal opened-circuit voltage, VOC produced for top TEHwas 2.23V and for the bottom TEHwas 2.24V, while for the PEHwas 9.27V. The final prototype of TCHEHproduced an optimum power of 7.29mW at a resistance of 9kΩ. The power density obtained from the prototype was7.36Wm-2 which enable the low power sensor node to power up.

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