A Novel Piezoelectric Based Wind Energy Harvester for Low-power Autonomous Wind Speed Sensor

In this paper, a novel method to harvest wind energy using PZT piezoelectric material for a low power autonomous wind speed sensor has been proposed. The conversion of wind energy into electrical energy is based on direct piezoelectric effect and utilizes the bimorph piezoelectric actuator. Combined with the wireless transmission, this technology provides a practical solution to meet the electrical energy supply need of remote sensors and communication devices. Energy harvested from the piezoelectric based wind harvester is first accumulated in a capacitor and when sufficient energy is harvested to power the wireless radio frequency (RF) transmitter, a trigger signal is initiated to release the stored energy in the capacitor to the RF transmitter. Experimental results obtained show that the harvested stored energy of 917 muJ is able to power the RF transmitter to transmit 5 digital words of 12-bit information during the transmission period of 100 msec. The proposed piezoelectric based wind energy harvester is used to detect wind speed beyond a certain threshold level in an early warning of storm detection system.