Title :
Fuel Cell applications in Wireless Sensor Networks
Author :
Chraim, Fabien ; Karaki, Sami
Author_Institution :
Electr. & Comput. Eng., American Univ. of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon
Abstract :
This paper addresses the issue of powering Wireless Sensor Networks. We start with an overview of the current technologies employed for providing electricity at this small scale. We establish that batteries are not the solution of choice since they currently present a limiting factor on Sensor Nodes. We then look at several solutions suggested in the literature before proposing our own design. We target a fully autonomous power supply that matches power and energy densities of a battery but that is based on a Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell. We then describe the operation of our system before ending with a quick discussion concerning the cost of the unit.
Keywords :
costing; proton exchange membrane fuel cells; telecommunication power supplies; wireless sensor networks; fully autonomous power supply; polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell; sensor node limiting factor; wireless sensor networks; Batteries; Biomembranes; Computer networks; Costs; Fuel cells; Power distribution; Power engineering and energy; Power engineering computing; Power supplies; Wireless sensor networks;
Conference_Titel :
Instrumentation and Measurement Technology Conference (I2MTC), 2010 IEEE
Conference_Location :
Austin, TX
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4244-2832-8
Electronic_ISBN :
1091-5281
DOI :
10.1109/IMTC.2010.5488214