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Harvesting Vibrational Energy with the Volture™

Vibration & Solar Energy Harvesting seh25w

To take advantage of applications where both solar and vibration energy are available, Midé has combined the Volture™ Vibration energy harvester with the Volture™ Solar Energy Harvester.

This hybrid energy harvester (HeH) is made possible by incorporating a rugged encapsulated solar-panel into the Volture™ enclosure. Currently, the solar panel is integrated with the standard electronics offered for the VoltureT; however, Midé is developing the next generation electronics that will add solar and piezoelectric power in a method that will enable intelligent battery charging.

Diagram

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Data obtained using a LING laboratory shaker.  Sinusoidal vibration profile with amplitude and frequency varied as shown on the plot.  The harvester was tuned by means of a tip mass to each of the frequencies shown on the plot prior to testing.  Load resistance used for these tests was 20 k-Ohm.

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Energy Harvesting Applications

Helicopters
A vibration rich environment and a great need for sensing make helicopters one of the great applications for vibration based energy harvesting. Helicopters are complex systems which require extensive sensing to remain working at peak efficiency. Providing power to these sensors is not only costly and complex, it also adds a significant amount of weight to the vehicle which the helicopter operators can not afford. Midé’s robust energy harvesting devices are a cost effective means to enable wireless power and sensing for helicopter applications.

Oil and Gas
From down hole drilling to refining plant operations, vibration energy harvesting is a low cost and highly effective means to improve the efficiency of and protect high value operations and assets. The cost and complexity associated with replacing batteries in a wireless sensor network assisting an oil and gas operation operate efficiently is not worth the investment. However, if the sensor nodes can harvest vibration energy from the environment and use that energy to power the wireless node, the true value in the sensor network can be fully realized. Midé’s robust energy harvesting systems are perfectly suited for these harsh oil and gas applications

Building and Plant Automation
Every business and individual is striving to improve their efficiency and reduce their footprint. This is achieved by operating assets more effectively and efficiently. The best means to do this is to have detailed knowledge of all parameters affecting your system and respond based on the most detailed information. For many applications and systems such as building and plant automation this means outfitting equipment with many different types of sensors. These sensors need power. Hardwired power can be costly to install. Battery power is costly to maintain. A device that can harvest energy from the environment to power the sensor system enables large scale wireless sensor networks that can drastically improve the efficiency of operations.