KEYWORDS: Sensors, Sensor networks, Thermoelectric materials, Energy harvesting, Resistance, Structural health monitoring, Chemical elements, Transmission electron microscopy, Temperature metrology, Neodymium
This paper describes an approach for efficiently storing the energy harvested from a thermoelectric module for powering
autonomous wireless sensor nodes for aeronautical health monitoring applications. A representative temperature
difference was created across a thermo electric generator (TEG) by attaching a thermal mass and a cavity containing a
phase change material to one side, and a heat source (to represent the aircraft fuselage) to the other. Batteries and
supercapacitors are popular choices of storage device, but neither represents the ideal solution; supercapacitors have a
lower energy density than batteries and batteries have lower power density than supercapacitors. When using only a
battery for storage, the runtime of a typical sensor node is typically reduced by internal impedance, high resistance and
other internal losses. Supercapacitors may overcome some of these problems, but generally do not provide sufficient
long-term energy to allow advanced health monitoring applications to operate over extended periods. A hybrid energy
storage unit can provide both energy and power density to the wireless sensor node simultaneously. Techniques such as
acoustic-ultrasonic, acoustic-emission, strain, crack wire sensor and window wireless shading require storage approaches
that can provide immediate energy on demand, usually in short, high intensity bursts, and that can be sustained over long
periods of time. This application requirement is considered as a significant constraint when working with battery-only
and supercapacitor-only solutions and they should be able to store up-to 40-50J of energy.
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